Yesterday was the Lakers? fourth consecutive day off and they are admittedly squirming to start the NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night at Staples Center.

Gary Payton?s mouth to the rescue.

Payton went heavy on the trash talk at practice and got into a little mischief with Kobe Bryant.  Payton?s chatter helped keep the competitive spirit up among his Laker teammates as they get more and more eager to start playing games again.

"Gary's had his moments before, but this was a long duration of them," coach Phil Jackson said.  "We just had a lot of fastbreak, animated drills and he got going.  He and Kobe got into kind of a kidding match and it kept going farther and farther, but it was in good fun."

"It was good to see," Bryant said.  "It was good to see him get fired up.  He plays his best when he's going like that. He's been calm in practice, but he's at his best when he's extremely dynamic."

When they do take the court Sunday night, five days between games will have matched their longest break of the regular season.