SPURS NOTEBOOK: '99 SWEEP TRIVIAL.

Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer

SAN ANTONIO - When it's a tight matchup, you find your advantages where you can. Even if you don't completely believe it.

The Spurs, though, know what happened the last time they met the Lakers in the playoffs. The Lakers probably remember, too, what with getting swept 4-0 in 1999.

``It's a different year, a different time,'' Spurs center David Robinson said. ``We match up well. Both teams match up well. It's going to be interesting, it's going to be fun.

``No one could have predicted last time we would have swept them. Obviously, no one is expecting that this time. We really can't go by the past a lot.

``It's nice to have a little success and play off that a little bit, but it's another time. They're defending champions. They got a little bit of success to kind of ride off. It's a pretty good matchup.''

--Whither Anderson? Lakers coach Phil Jackson is convinced guard Derek Anderson, the Spurs' second-leading scorer, will return from his separated shoulder at some point in the series. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he's not counting on it.

Anderson has been shooting with the team the past few days but Popovich said he won't play him in a game until he's gone through a couple of normal practices.

``We assume he's out,'' Popovich said. ``He's obviously healing, but he doesn't have the strength and the stability to go out and have contact, and get it tweaked in one direction or the other, where the chances are too great he'll do the same thing again.''

The Spurs have to be encouraged Anderson reports he is without pain.

``I don't really don't know when I can come back,'' he said. ``Hopefully this series.''

Anderson hopes he can practice with the team Tuesday, which could get him back as early as Game 3.

--The old hand: The Spurs continue to get something of an unexpected lift from 38-year-old Terry Porter.

Porter took over the starting job from another veteran, Avery Johnson, halfway into the regular season and has started all nine San Antonio playoff games, averaging 9.2 points and 3.9 assists.

``Terry Porter has made a deal with the devil,'' Popovich said. ``To be doing what he's doing is a real testament to his will and the way he's taken care of himself.''

--That's three: Porter is also one of four Spurs shooting over 40 percent from the 3-point line, which just happens to help free Robinson and Tim Duncan inside.

As a team, the Spurs are hitting a remarkable .424 percent of their 3- pointers in the playoffs. This is not exactly an upset. The Spurs were the only NBA team to hit over 40 percent of their 3s in the regular season.

--Grab your theory: The Spurs are 7-2 in the playoffs to the Lakers' 9-0 playoff run. Who has the edge?

If you're San Antonio, you believe you've already been tested so you might have an advantage.

``It's tuned us up maybe,'' Duncan said. ``It gave us an opportunity to know what we're going to run into down the stretch. Maybe feel a little more comfortable. I don't think there are going to be many blowouts in this series.''

Said Popovich: ``That's the conventional wisdom. ... We're all full of (garbage). Whatever the situation is, we figure out what the positive is and go from there.''

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DEREK ANDERSON

The Spurs' guard, out with a separated shoulder, could be back before the series ends.