Their Body Language Told the Whole Story

The good news is, there was one “Laker” who flexed his muscles Monday, running onto the Alamodome court with fire in his eyes, grabbing the biggest guy around, holding on tight.

The bad news is, the game was over.

And the “Laker” was Jerome Crawford, bodyguard for Shaquille O’Neal.

And he was pulling Shaq away from official Steve Javie during a heated postgame argument.

But there was a message there. And it is hoped that the rest of the Lakers, trudging quietly off the confetti-strewn court, lifted their heads long enough to pick it up in the wake of their 87-81 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Lakers don’t necessarily need to better their jump shots or passes.

They need better jabs. Stronger hooks. Quicker uppercuts.

They don’t need to show more talent. They need to show more toughness.

Not, start-a-brawl-and-get-thrown-out-of-the-game toughness.

More like, throw-an-elbow-and-get-back-in-the-game toughness.

If they can’t add Jerome Crawford to the roster, then they need to add his position.

They need to begin Game 2 Wednesday with a center, two forwards, a shooting guard, and a bodyguard.

They need to look at the four quarters as four rounds, they need to wear mouthpieces, and call timeout to spit into buckets, and . . .

OK, OK, enough of the cute metaphors.

The Lakers need to begin Game 2 by knocking the Spurs on their big, fat alamos.

Maybe J.R. Reid nails Tim Duncan. Maybe Glen Rice muscles Mario Elie. Maybe Shaq roughs up David Robinson.

Nothing real loud. Just enough to get inside their heads. As tough as the Spurs have become, one still suspects that a little hard whispering will do.

And if the Lakers don’t understand that mandate, they will probably understand this:

They need to do to the Spurs what the Spurs just did to them.

“It was a, uh, different game today,” Kobe Bryant admitted after being knocked into a seven-turnover orbit. “Today, it was like playground basketball.”

And the Spurs were the skins, the muscle guys who treated those purple shirts like the sort of rags you keep under the sink.

The Lakers jumped to a 12-point lead late in the first quarter, playing gorgeous basketball, passing and flying and swishing.

Then the Spurs paused, took a deep breath, and turned the rest of it into grunge.

They began triple-teaming Shaq, fouling him virtually every time down the floor, but doing it subtly, when his arms were at his sides, so the referees didn’t notice.

They began double-teaming Bryant or Rice, knocking them with their hips, bumping them with their chests, very underground and very smart.

The Lakers missed seven consecutive shots. Then the Spurs got serious.

Duncan knocked Robert Horry flat on his back en route to a dunk.

Jerome Kersey grabbed Horry and threw him away from a potential rebound.

Elie tackled Reid, just tackled him.

Then, in the final compelling play of the first half, a Spur big man grabbed a rebound from Shaq, streaked past him on the baseline, missed a layup, but then grabbed another rebound and laid it in at the buzzer to give the Spurs a 47-41 lead.

That big man was Will Perdue.

And Perdue ended up with nine rebounds, more than any Laker but Shaq.

“We’re going to be facing this the whole series . . . it’s going to be a matter of who can be more physical longer,” said Sean Rooks, who had a good idea by shoving Robinson across the lane early in the fourth quarter.

Several Lakers think it should start with Shaq, as if he can whip 700 pounds of men by himself.

“The big fella is getting upset, he’s going to turn it up physically,” Reid said. “He’s going to be coming after them in the next game, and I’m going to be watching his back.”

The most important thing Reid said was the last thing. The part about watching his back.

That’s what has to happen Wednesday.

The Lakers’ idea of retaliation cannot be a Shaq temper tantrum. Heck, he tried that once Monday by knocking Duncan on his shorts late in the third quarter, and was immediately tagged with a flagrant foul.

If Shaq tried it, he will either be thrown out or foul out, and then where are they?

It can’t be the big guy throwing the haymaker. It has to be everybody else, throwing the body stuff.

“We’re going to have to stay strong,” Rooks said. “These guys play very physical defense. We’re going to have to match that.”

They can. There should be no worry here, no panic. The Lakers were outmuscled for most of Game 1, and still had a chance to win at the end.

They can do this.

After all, these are still the Spurs, who have still not completely lived down their reputation for being soft.

And that large sign under one basket Monday proclaiming, “No More Mr. Nice Guys?” Yep. It was pink.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.