FOR CHAMPS, THIS ONE HURTS SO GOOD.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

SAN ANTONIO - By the end, Shaquille O'Neal was hobbling on an aggravated left ankle, Kobe Bryant was shaking the sting out of a twisted left wrist, Robert Horry was holding a sore rib cage and licking a bloody lip, and Derek Fisher was checking to make sure he had all of his original three dimensions after he was sat upon by the San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan during a loose-ball scramble.

The Lakers had been torn, spindled and mutilated Friday night during the 48 hardest minutes of these playoffs.

And they had never looked or felt better.

You and I thought that what the Lakers needed to shake their lingering cobwebs was a blowout victory, something they'd failed to achieve while sweeping Portland and trading close victories with San Antonio. We were wrong.

What the Lakers needed was everything they got at the Alamodome in front of 35,520 enemy fans. They got the message that they're in a fight with these Spurs. They got thoroughly tested by an opponent who didn't crumble. They got a 99-89 victory in which the double-digit margin doesn't tell the story.

If the Lakers, 2-1 leaders in this best-of-seven-game quarterfinal series, keep advancing and edge close to their third consecutive NBA championship, somebody is bound to type up the cliche that they're more talented but less tough than their Eastern counterparts.

Anybody who writes that this year should immediately be strapped to a chair and forced to watch a videotape of this game.

This was O'Neal hitting the floor wrong with his left foot after making a shot in the first half, limping to the bench with a grimace during a panicked timeout to get a quick tape job on the ankle he first injured Tuesday night - and then trotting back onto the court before missing a second of action.

This was Bryant hitting the floor face-first after being fouled on a breakaway in the third quarter, coming up holding his nonshooting wrist - and then sinking his team's next basket on a clever drive.

This was Horry getting belted in the ribs as he and Bruce Bowen chased a bouncing ball in the fourth quarter - yet staying in the game - and Horry taking a Duncan forearm in the teeth later in the period - and going to the sidelines only because he'd been charged with his fifth foul on the play.

This was Fisher absorbing all 260 pounds of Duncan and losing the ball - but immediately getting it back with a steal and passing to Rick Fox for an important fast-break dunk.

That sequence occurred four minutes from the buzzer as the Lakers began to inch away after a game of millimeters.

The first half was a sensational display of the Spurs' resolve as the Lakers drew within a basket of the lead 15 times only to be repelled, before breaking through to take a 38-36 lead on a Samaki Walker dunk.

The first three quarters were a war of nerves as neither team went ahead by more than four points. In the third quarter alone, the lead changed hands 10 times.

This was an angry O'Neal grabbing 15 rebounds and scoring 22 points - having lent Bryant the keys to the offense - on the night he had to watch the hated Duncan receive the NBA Most Valuable Player trophy at midcourt before the game.

This was Bryant playing every minute and firing away until he had come through in his determination to step into O'Neal's sore shoes, scoring 31 points, 11 in the fourth quarter, some on impossible shots.

This was Walker, motivated by the embarrassment of returning to San Antonio only to have Horry take his starting assignment, coming off the bench to sink five of his six shots.

Walker, having joined the Lakers in mid-dynasty, had remarked all season about how lackadaisical his new teammates could seem in the face of defeat. He said earlier this week that he expected that attitude to change once the playoffs started.

``I did. I really did. And it hasn't,'' Walker had said in all honesty. ``I thought that intensity would pick up. It's picked up a little bit, but it's not to the point where you feel a major difference. ... That attitude is definitely here: 'We can flip the switch and make it happen.' I can't necessarily say that's not true.''

The change might have come Friday night.

Lakers 99-89. Lakers 2-1.

It hurt. It was hard. It was just what the Lakers needed.

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2002 NBA PLAYOFFS