LOS ANGELES -- For the past 20 years, every time the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers met up, one of their rosters featured either Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant, two stars who anchored their respective teams throughout one of the league’s most compelling rivalries.

Gregg Popovich shared a moment with Kobe Bryant before Bryant's final game against the Spurs in February. Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports

But Friday, when the two squads faced off at Staples Center, that trend came to an end, and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich noted how odd it felt to be playing the Lakers with both Duncan and Bryant absent, each having retired at the end of last season.

“It makes me feel older, to be honest with you. It does,” Popovich said before the game. “You look around like, ‘Exactly, what’s going on here?’ But the new young guys that come into the programs, they’re fun. They’re bright-eyed, and they’re ready to learn. They want to jump in. They’re happy to be there. So you take your satisfaction in bringing them along. You quit your crying that you lost your 20-year date [Duncan].”

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Bryant first faced the Spurs in 1996; he and Duncan first met Dec. 5, 1997. Counting the postseason, Bryant and Duncan faced each other 82 times, the length of an NBA regular season. Bryant finished with a 43-48 record against the Spurs (that includes nine games in which Duncan did not play). Bryant's .410 regular-season winning percentage against the Spurs is the lowest against any opponent; the next-lowest is .469 against the Miami Heat.

Bryant retired after 20 seasons in April, and Duncan announced his retirement this summer after 19 seasons. Both players spent their entire careers with their respective franchises.

“It’s really weird,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said of facing the Spurs without Duncan. “As a basketball fan, it’s kind of sad. You miss someone like that, what his skill and just the type of person he was. But as an opponent, it’s kind of nice.”

Even without Duncan, Walton said the 9-3 Spurs are still rolling, as always.

“You’re always going to struggle when you lose someone like Tim, but they have the best coach in the business right now and he keeps them sharp,” Walton said. “So even though it’s an adjustment to playing without Tim, they’re still one of the premier teams in the league and they execute the heck out of their plays and they defend like crazy. The general way that the Spurs have played in the last 15 years is still being played."

ESPN's Michael Wright contributed to this report.