Tonight is the night. East meets West. Or should I say West meets West. Western America vs Western Europe. Los Angeles Lakers vs Regal FC Barcelona.

For the first time, the Lakers will be facing a European team in their preseason. Other NBA franchises have spent time in Europe for training camp and have faced off against teams outside of the US. Tonight is the Lakers first chance at international battle, as a Los Angeles based team.

Regal FC Barcelona is one of the best ball clubs in all of Europe and especially in it’s own league, Liga ACB.

Although it is sure to be an exciting game, keep in mind that the team’s have completely different goals. The matchup is simply for the fans, the game is nothing what the publicity behind it is like. The Lakers will continue to look at it as just another match up in which they can practice what they need to practice. “Right now we’re concentrating on trying to get our stuff together,” said assistant coach Brian Shaw. “Whatever opponent we have to play we’ll adjust to.”

Pau Gasol use to play for Barcelona, together with his best friend Juan Carlos Navarro. Navarro was picked up byt the Memphis Grizzlies when Pau was there. Since Gasol got traded to LA, Navarro left the Grizzlies and moved back to Spain.

The FC Barcelona website has an interesting report from the dinner that was occupied by the Lakers and Spanish teams staff titled “Dinner With The Stars“…

When the sun sets in L.A. it’s time for the stars. And so this Friday the Lakers held a dinner for their guests from Barcelona attended by Pau Gasol, Phill Jackson and Lamar Odom.

The dinner organised by the Californian franchise was a splendid affair. Any event organised by one of the best, if not the best, teams in the world sparks off a lot of interest and this was no exception. Pau Gasol was obviously one of the biggest stars to attend, and at the last minute the legendary Magic Johnson also came along.

Pau and Navarro

Gasol knows how these things work, especially in Los Angeles. He turned up at 9.15 when the Barça party had already been in the venue for the dinner, the Petros Restaurant, for three quarters of an hour.
The first thing he did was to greet his great friend Juan Carlos Navarro. Both spoke to a local TV station at the doorway to the restaurant and shortly afterwards came in, with Pau being greeted by fellow diners. The Catalan centre was accompanied by Slovenian guard Sasha Vujacic.

No expense spared

The dinner had it all, right down to the smallest details. At the doorway a girl from the PR office checked everyone’s invites against the guest list while inside Barça and Lakers staff chatted away happily as they were served by numerous waiters and a duet played some Spanish guitar. The Lakers’ cheerleaders, perhaps the most famous in the NBA, also put in an appearance which was popular with all concerned.

Jackson, Laporta and Cubells

The Lakers’ coach, accompanied by his wife, spent a good while chatting with FC Barcelona chairman Joan Laporta and the Board secretary and director in charge of basketball Josep Cubells.

In addition to Pau Gasol, other Lakers players also came along such Lamar Odom – who played with Barça’s André Barrett at the Clippers – Congolese centre Mbenga and Sasha Vujacic, who as mentioned before arrived with Pau Gasol.