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Saturday, Mar. 3 3:30pm ET
Shaq, Lakers disappoint sellout crowd in B.C.

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – The Los Angeles Lakers ditched their running game and went to Shaquille O'Neal.

Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal hits a fourth-period basket over Vancouver's Tony Massenburg.
O'Neal scored 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds Saturday as the Lakers beat the Vancouver Grizzlies 98-88 Saturday before 19,193 fans, the first sellout of the season in Vancouver.

"We have a semi-old team," O'Neal said. "We don't have a young team no more. And most teams we play are younger. We have to be smarter. We're like a young Utah."

O'Neal was 13-for-19 from the field and 8-for-12 from the line as the Lakers made it four straight over the Grizzlies this season, sweeping the series, including a controversial 113-112 victory in Los Angeles when O'Neal rebounded a miss and scored at the buzzer on Jan. 15.

The Grizzlies shot 39.1 percent.

"Obviously, Vancouver had some trouble shooting the ball today," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "They had a lot of shots in the first half and too much pace on the ball, so we had to slow it down a little bit in the second half. In doing so, we got Shaq some good looks and he finished."

In his second game since returning from a sprained right ankle, Kobe Bryant had 20 points, but committed seven turnovers. Horace Grant finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds and the Lakers improved to 38-19.

"When they double-team Shaq and Kobe, they just hit me with the ball and I'm wide open and they basically don't rotate to me," Grant said. "If I have open shots, more than likely I'll hit it."

The Grizzlies were led by Michael Dickerson's 22 points. Eric Strickland had 13 points and Mahmoud-Rauf 12 points.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Mike Bibby scored a combined 16 points on 8-for-31 shooting as Vancouver lost its sixth straight.

Abdur-Rahim was ejected after drawing his second technical foul with 1:44 remaining and the Grizzlies trailing 94-83. He finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, but did not go to the line.

"Without actually trying to slight the officials, he should have gotten to the foul line more this afternoon than he did, especially a player of his caliber," said Grizzlies forward Grant Long of Abdur-Rahim's frustration.

"There are going to be nights like that," said Bibby, who finished with six points and eight assists. "I think if we had hit some shots, it would have been a different story. I was tired out there. I can't talk about anybody else, but I was tired out there."

Game notes
In the month of February, the Grizzlies committed an average of 18.3 turnovers. Against the Lakers on Saturday, Vancouver turned the ball over only seven times. ... The Lakers have taken the last 10 from Vancouver and are 22-1 lifetime. ... The Vancouver bench outscored the Lakers' bench 34-14.

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RECAPS
LA Lakers 98
Vancouver 88

Dallas 100
Houston 95

Milwaukee 126
Chicago 122

San Antonio 124
Atlanta 95

Phoenix 97
Denver 82

Portland 122
Golden State 91

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 Kobe Bryant spins by his defender and goes up for the dunk.
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