| Shaq-Kobe III Has Familiar Ending Authored by Graham Flashner - December 26, 2005 - 6:59 pm
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For the third time in a row since Shaquille O’Neal took his act to South Beach, the Miami Heat defeated the Los Angeles Lakers. And while Kobe Bryant outdueled his latest nemesis, Dwayne Wade, it was another ex-teammate, Gary Payton, who proved the difference for the Heat in a thrilling 97-92 victory.
Bryant had the flashiest numbers – 37 points, 6 assists—but Payton scored 21 points on 9-11 shooting, held Bryant down in the fourth quarter, and generally played like the Glove of old. Wade, hampered by foul trouble all game, including a flagrant foul on Bryant in retaliation for an elbow that the referees didn’t catch, scored 18 points. Shaq also had 18; more significantly, he pulled down 17 rebounds.
The NBA clearly knows a good thing when it sees one: for the second consecutive year, the Lakers and Heat went down to the final seconds on Christmas Day. Last year, the Heat won at Staples Center in overtime, even with Shaq fouled out and Kobe scoring 42. Like last year’s game, this one had playoff-like intensity, and, unlike the never-ending Shaq-Kobe feud, lived up to the hype.
As they walked out to center court for the opening tip, Shaq made a point of greeting everyone but Kobe, who stayed off to the side, hands at his shorts. Asked by ABC’s Lisa Salters at halftime why he never looked at Kobe, Shaq gave her a silent stare that would’ve made Clint Eastwood proud.
Their first contact came 23 seconds in, when Shaq knocked Bryant to the floor while trying to set a pick for Wade. Otherwise, it was business as usual, with Bryant pouring in 24 points in the first half, and O’Neal, looking over-hyped, shooting only 4-11. The Heat led 53-48 at the half, but once Wade went to the bench early in the third quarter, Bryant got hot, Brian Cook chipped in 11 points, and the Lakers snuck ahead by four. They never could build on their momentum, however, in large part to a blown Kwame Brown layup that could’ve extended the lead to 6. An 11-2 run by the Heat early in the fourth was countered by a 9-0 Lakers run, capped by Bryant’s last basket of the game.
But O’Neal scored 6 of the Heat’s next 8 points, including a tip-in that gave the Heat a 91-90 lead they never lost. A three-pointer by Payton extended the Heat lead to94-91, but the Lakers had their opportunities. Trailing by two, Bryant swung the ball to Lamar Odom for a wide-open three, but he wasn’t close. Bryant missed a potential game-tying three in the final seconds, and James Posey sealed it with two free throws.
As if Shaq vs. Kobe wasn’t enough, the game also marked the return of a once-fierce coaching rivalry, Phil Jackson vs. Pat Riley. The Heat are now 5-2 since Riley replaced Stan Van Gundy, and are still integrating new players like Jason Williams and Antoine Walker into the system. The Lakers, meanwhile, are a tougher team to figure out. They’ve proven that they can win with Bryant scoring 62, as he did against Dallas, and with Bryant setting up his teammates, as he did Friday night in a 21point, 9-assist performance at Orlando.
What they haven’t figured out yet is how to take charge when Bryant has one of his in-between games, like today’s. Though he shot the ball 30 times – one less than in his 62-point extravaganza – he only made 12, missed 6 free throws, and was 0-8 from beyond the arc. Given a chance to play Scottie Pippen, Lamar Odom failed to deliver the clutch basket.
Luckily for Odom, however, everything was overshadowed, as usual, by the feud that Kobe Bryan wishes the media would let die already. Hard to do when the next meeting is only 22 days away, on the Lakers’ home court. |
