SALT LAKE CITY -- This is no elbow talk, L.A, or kick talk. Or thoat-slashing-gesture talk. Just your basic, read-the-lips, A-B-C playoff kind of talk. You have to win four of the next five games against the best team in pro basketball to make the NBA Finals.

And the way the Lakers wilted down the stretch Monday night against the Jazz, there will be a good deal of introspection from now until Game 3 Friday night at the Great Western Forum about the mettle of the Showtime Gang.

It was quite obvious, from the way Utah outscored the youngsters from the beach 40-28 over the final 15½ minutes, that the gauntlet has been thrown down by the veterans of this pairing to the not-quite-ready-for-prime-time rap group.

And if the rip-snorting Jazz finish wasn't ample validation, the vulgar-laced, postgame tirade unleashed by the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal toward referee Steve Javie was the exclamation point.

Grow up, Shaq, and learn to shoot something besides dunk shots. And when you dare to be mean, bring something besides your mouth.

The Lakers still have a lot of climbing to do up the maturity ladder.

True to their postgame boasting -- you know, that 112-77 humiliation the Jazz wrapped them in Saturday on national TV? -- L.A. came out to lay the two-by-four equipment over Utah's back. The Lakers brought no more than a flimsy twig. Oh, they used up 34 fouls in attempting to pole-axe the Jazz, but -- you may have guessed it -- Utah won by four free throws.

These wet-behind-the ears Lakers, the ones whose starters bring 20 years of experience to the table compared with the Jazz's 43, just don't get it.

Utah's Karl Malone and John Stockton still execute the pick-and-roll to perfection. Just as a refresher to the befuddled Lakers, who once led in Game 2 by nine points, the Hall of Fame-bound duo scored 55 points between them on 21-for-30 field-goal shooting.

And they know how to handle victory with class. If there are war-room wannabes who castigate them for perceived dirty tricks during the game -- and why the hell hasn't anyone been able to figure them out in 13 years? -- the critics must swallow their derogatory puff when it comes to the bottom line.

Malone and Stockton simply devoured the Lakers on Monday. While L.A. fiddly-flopped around whining for calls in the stretch, the Olympians commanded the stage with a combined 15 points and leadership that the petulant O'Neal, Nick Van Exel, and Kobe Bryant -- and a non-supporting cast of several -- could only watch and envy.

You can't teach heart, said Malone after the Jazz had protected their home-court advantage and moved six Delta Center wins of an NBA title. Nor can you teach courage.

Added Malone, "John isn't afraid to stick his nose in." Remember now, that was one of the noses O'Neal had threatened to reposition. All talk. As usual.

While the Lakers were plotting verbal strategy Sunday on just how to lay waste to Utah, Stockton said the Jazz concentration was "dead-on" in practice. Utah won a league-best 62 regular-season games with similar focus.

The Lakers simply aren't good enough to match the Jazz's veteran energy. Take the next Michael Jordan -- as we're led to believe, with all the Bryant idolatry. In the fourth quarter, Kobe suffered meltdown again -- revisiting the nightmarish land of his playoff air balls of last May. This time, it was his botched shot and an offensive foul that pumped up Utah and earned Bryant a spot on the bench.

The Jazz may not have witnessed L.A.'s best shot yet. The pair at The Forum over the weekend will tell us that. But in terms of stealing a win, the invaders dropped their plunder in the final five minutes. For 38 minutes, they were walking the walk. Then the talking started and real men don't talk.

Hey, L.A., you gotta win four of five from the best team in basketball. The Lakers have three days to think about winning their first.