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LAKERS 99, NETS 94: L.A. takes Game 1 by opening big lead, then withstanding rally.
Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 6, 2002
LOS ANGELES -- A game that began as a mismatch offered a little intrigue at the end.
The Lakers let a 23-point lead slip to three in the fourth quarter before Shaquille O'Neal & Co. finished off the Nets 99-94 on Wednesday in the NBA Finals opener.
Nobody will remember this one as an NBA classic, especially the underdogs representing the East. The Nets were out of their league in the first 15 minutes of the game, digging themselves a hole that was too deep to climb out.
"I thought we played on cruise control," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "The Nets were obviously embarrassed early in the game. They are tenacious."
"It's the biggest stage in basketball and you're going to have jitters," Byron Scott, coach of the 9-1 underdog Nets, said. "I just wanted them to calm down and relax."
O'Neal was as dominant as everyone expected, totaling 36 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks. Kobe Bryant did his thing, too, scoring 22 points with six assists -- the biggest of which was his feed to Rick Fox for a layup with 1:11 left that gave Los Angeles a 95-87 lead.
"Shaq had his way inside," Jackson said. "We made an extra effort to go inside to Shaq early and often."
For the most part, Los Angeles stayed in control and dictated the style of play, keeping the Nets from playing the up-tempo game they prefer.
The Lakers also were the more aggressive rebounders and the more accurate free-throw shooters -- two huge intangibles on a night when the Lakers weren't crisp offensively in the final 21/2 quarters.
The Lakers wrapped things up by going 6-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes. The Nets had chances to convert 3-pointers and turn it into a two-point game in the final 30 seconds, but they couldn't come up with the key baskets.
Game 2 is Friday night at Staples Center.
Jason Kidd had 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the first triple double in the NBA Finals since Charles Barkley did it for Phoenix in 1993. But no one else seemed prepared to assert himself for the Nets, whether it was Kenyon Martin refusing to take wide-open jumpers, Keith Van Horn failing to get going early or Kerry Kittles not doing much of anything.
"We were kind of feeling the (Nets) out. They were feeling us out," Bryant said. "We're not real familiar with each other yet."
Fox added 14 points and Derek Fisher had 13 for the Lakers, whose only deficit was 2-0.
The game lacked the level of electricity normally found at an NBA Finals, the celebrity-studded crowd acting as relaxed and casual as the Lakers played. The Nets gave them only scant opportunities to get nervous, pulling within four points midway through the third and within three with 5:26 left.
"I think we were kind of lackadaisical," O'Neal said.
The pace of the game changed drastically in the fourth quarter, with fouls whistled on nearly every possession. O'Neal missed two free throws with 6:12 left, and Kidd hit a long 2-pointer to pull the Nets to 81-77.
O'Neal then made one of two, and a dunk by Van Horn off an offensive rebound got New Jersey within three.
Fox restored a five-point lead, Van Horn missed a 3 and O'Neal bulled Jason Collins for a layup and a seven-point edge with four minutes left.
New Jersey was able to get within four points four times after that, but never closer.
The Lakers got off to a fast start in their bid for a three-peat.
O'Neal, dominating inside, made eight shots in a row after missing his first two and scored 16 points as Los Angeles took a 48-36 halftime lead.
Two baskets by O'Neal gave the Lakers a 42-19 lead before the Nets went on a 17-6 run to finish the second quarter and get within 12 points.
"Now that we know what they have and what they're going to do I think we'll be a little bit more focused," O'Neal said. "This is the type of team that's never going to give up so we have to do everything right and we will."