This is a rivalry?

	Stojakovic and friends have become formidable, but not against L.A.

Says who?

The Los Angeles Lakers have won 13 of the last 17 meetings against the Sacramento Kings the last two-plus seasons, including 3-1 in the 2000-01 regular season and 4-0 in the second round of the postseason that followed. Even the great Arco Arena homecourt advantage -- versus everyone else, at least -- has been little more than a speed bump, or another play toy for Phil Jackson. He is the cat, you are the string.

This is a rivalry.

Says us.

Partly because of geography -- both teams from California. Partly because of the contrasts that add to the intrigue -- small market versus major city, the Lakers as one of the league's monument franchises forever and the Kings as the fast-charging team that stands as what the league would like to be in excitement and fan support. Partly because of circumstance -- two consecutive playoff matchups, and genuine rivalries are forged by postseasons. And partly because, well, um, there just aren't that many options for the defending champions and the Kings are the second-best team in the association.

	“	They all talk too much. Yap, yap, yap. What have they done to talk about? ”
		— Fox on the Kings

This is not just a recent development either. They were at the start of the season, too, with stability in the starting lineup, the depth to go a proven two-deep at every position, versatile pieces who could match up, or create mismatches, with any team. Or at least any team that didn't have a center who is so good even when overweight that it's a wonder that Shaquille O'Neal bricked the chance to come up with his next nickname: The Big Big.

He's a handful at 350 pounds -- 360? 370? -- as long as that hand is from the Statue of Liberty. The Kings can't do anything about that. Same as everyone. But they still started November as No. 2 and remain as such, distant or otherwise given the way the Lakers have made folly of even the most optimistic predictions of their dominance. That's why Friday night at Arco Arena, the second meeting between the teams, gets the spotlight.

Not that people in Sacramento look forward to these visits or anything, but a radio DJ on Wednesday was billing the arrival of "the anti-Christ Lakers" and fans were chanting "Beat L.A.!" at the end of the victory over the 76ers. That was on Tuesday. That Chris Webber may also make his debut, after being out since Oct. 14 with a sprained ankle, adds to the hype, for a game in which none is needed. It's the West Coast version of those pulsing Indiana-New York/Reggie Miller-Spike Lee years: Knicks vs. Hicks, the difference being that Indy found the fun in the contrast and could laugh along, even parking a tractor outside Market Square Arena, and Phil Jackson tweaking the fellers in Northern California farm country sparks hostility.

That's the thing about this (so called) rivalry. In Sacramento, any game with the Lakers, home or road, is big. In Los Angeles, it's another chew toy. Part of that comes with being the two-time defending champions, meaning you need to put the flak jacket on every night so it's tough to dwell too much on any one team, and part comes because the Lakers only now are acknowledging the presence of the contender. Of course, they're looking down the ends of their noses to do it, but that's part of the fun.

The Lakers mock the Kings. Not privately, either behind closed doors of the locker room or with anonymous quotes, but stand there, throw a water balloon and dare the challengers to do something about it. And every time the Kings don't, the Lakers show them less respect. Maybe taking the time to poke at Sacramento is a sign of arrival -- beats being ignored, right? -- except this isn't exactly what a team that won 56 games and last season, got better during the summer, broke from the gate in 2001-02 in great shape and had earned the respect of everyone else had in mind.

	Fox

	Bryant

It started in a preseason game. Kobe Bryant and a summer-league team -- Slava Medvedenko, Joe Crispin, Isaac Fontaine and Dickey Simpkins -- started coming back on the Kings regulars in the fourth quarter, Bryant wanting to send a message even if it was October in Las Vegas. He wanted to get inside Sacramento's head even then. Bryant also went to work on the best King on the court, Predrag Stojakovic, asking if Peja was finally able to go to his right to create a pull-up jumper.

"He said he worked on it this summer," Bryant said of the shot in question.

Pause.

"So I know what to do against him in the playoffs," Bryant said.

In other words: That's what you call working on it?

Stojakovic has turned into an All-Star level player and is even more of a hellacious shooter than last season -- yeah, a lot of teams are going to stop a step-back three-pointer from a 6-9 guy -- but that never has mattered to the Lakers. He is tough and plays with heart, and yet remains a target. Rick Fox tried to rattle him with trash talking and physical defense a year ago and admitted Stojakovic had passed the test the way all elite players must at some point to gain acceptance among peers. One of these decades, Peja will finally earn his stripes in Los Angeles.

It wasn't just preseason, though. The teams met again Nov. 18 at Staples Center, the Kings scored 85 points and lost by eight, and the Lakers jumped them after the game, too.

"If they want to beat the defending champions, going to Las Vegas two nights before the game isn't the (answer)," Bryant said.

That was in reference to Vlade Divac, Scot Pollard and injured Webber attending the grand opening of the $265 million Palms Casino Resort, owned by the Maloof family that also owns the Kings. Actually, that was three nights before, and the Kings had a cruise-control victory over the Bulls in between, but who's counting? Not the Lakers, who still laugh at the way the Kings celebrated after beating the Suns in the first round last spring.

"They all talk too much," Rick Fox said. "Yap, yap, yap. What have they done to talk about?"

The answer being obvious:

In the overall scheme, plenty ... and in front of the Lakers, nothing.

"We have to answer on the court," Stojakovic said. "That is the only way."

Maybe this time.

Scott Howard-Cooper covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.