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Tuesday, Mar. 6 10:30pm ET
O'Neal's all-around dominance propels Lakers

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – The birthday boy had his way with the Golden State Warriors.

Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal didn't celebrate his birthday with 61 points this year, but he did rip the Warriors all the same.

Shaquille O'Neal had 26 points, 17 rebounds and a dominant defensive game on his 29th birthday as Los Angeles beat the Warriors 97-85 Tuesday night.

The last time the Lakers visited Golden State, Kobe Bryant and Antawn Jamison scored 51 points apiece as the Warriors won an overtime thriller. There were no such dramatics this time -- just a solid, balanced performance by the Lakers, who won for the seventh time in eight games as they warm up for the playoffs.

"I wasn't really looking to score 61," said O'Neal, who scored 61 points against the Clippers on his birthday a year ago. "They were doubling a lot in the second half. ... I don't have to score 61 every night for this team to win."

Bryant scored 12 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, and Horace Grant added 15 as all five Lakers starters had double figures.

Mookie Blaylock scored 25 points and Jamison had 21 for the free-falling Warriors, who lost for the 12th time in 13 games. Golden State was held scoreless in the first -- minutes of the fourth quarter, but the Warriors stayed close until two big shots by the Lakers' stars.

After the Warriors pulled within eight, Bryant threw down a breathtaking dunk over Bob Sura on an alley-oop pass from Brian Shaw with 4:15 left. O'Neal's 3-point play moments later put the Lakers up 88-77.

"After I missed (an earlier dunk), I went back to the bench and I told the guys, 'Watch the next one. I'll dunk the next one so hard,"' Bryant said. "I got the chance to throw it down, and I threw it down so hard."

A crowd of 20,181 ? the largest home crowd in the Warriors' history ? gave Oakland Arena a festive atmosphere it rarely sees these days. With a large portion of fans cheering the Lakers' every basket, Los Angeles beat its upstate rival for the second time in three days and the 19th time in 23 games.

"We should have got it over with earlier," O'Neal said. "They played inspired ball over there, and we had a couple of mistakes."

The Lakers fans spent much of their time cheering O'Neal. Rookies Mark Madsen and Mike Penberthy led the Lakers in a pregame rendition of "Happy Birthday" for O'Neal, who then had the kind of dominant game he produced almost every night during his MVP season.

"Shaq was good tonight," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "Sometimes we left him out of the offense at times, but he played well."

Bryant, who went 14-of-15 from the free throw line, shot 58 percent in his first three games against Golden State this season, but he missed his first six shots Tuesday night and had just two points until a thunderous dunk shortly before halftime.

"Phil said this was the kind of game where he wanted his starters to play 30 minutes and rest and get ready for tomorrow night," Bryant said. The Lakers play host to Toronto on Wednesday night.

O'Neal also excelled on defense, with three big first-half blocks on Warriors rookie Marc Jackson, who went 2-for-15 from the field. Jamison, who was held scoreless by the Lakers on Sunday, looked better but still never got his jumper into a groove, shooting 8-for-23.

"It's a familiar tune: We couldn't make a basket," Warriors coach Dave Cowens said. "It always seems to come to that. We only had three turnovers in the second half, and we outrebounded them."

The Warriors are healthier than they've been in months, yet they're still at the bottom of the Western Conference. Golden State played without Larry Hughes, who has a strained left shoulder, but Adonal Foyle, Erick Dampier and Chris Porter all are back in the lineup after lengthy stints on the bench.

Game notes
The Lakers' ties to Oakland run deep. Isaiah Rider, Greg Foster, Shaw and Madsen are all from the East Bay. ... Run DMC's Jam Master J had a tough night as the Warriors' guest public address announcer and halftime entertainment. He misidentified one of the Warriors' starters during pregame introductions, and heavy microphone feedback during his halftime mixing performance threatened to deafen the crowd of children dancing for him. ... Bryant missed on an attempt at a 360-degree putback dunk in the third quarter, but the crowd still gave him a standing ovation.

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RECAPS
Minnesota 95
Charlotte 89

New York 97
Indiana 83

Chicago 87
Cleveland 74

Phoenix 93
Denver 82

Sacramento 98
Toronto 91

Vancouver 105
Portland 97

San Antonio 101
Seattle 73

LA Lakers 97
Golden State 85


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