RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bothered by sore thumbs, Shaquille O'Neal had
his third consecutive mediocre game. This time, the Los Angeles
Lakers managed a victory.
|  | | Houston's Steve Francis dishes off behind Kobe Bryant. |
With O'Neal hurting and in foul trouble, Kobe Bryant scored a
season-high 37 points and ended the Lakers' two-game losing skid
with a 105-99 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night.
O'Neal sprained his right thumb during the game and X-rays were
negative. Other than admitting both thumbs were sore, O'Neal
brushed off questions about the injury.
"His thumb was really bothering him," said teammate Brian
Shaw, who started at guard. "The ball hasn't been rolling off his
hand like it normally does."
O'Neal had 14 points and five rebounds before fouling out with
4:34 remaining. He had 13 points and 17 rebounds in a loss at San
Antonio on Wednesday and 24 points and seven rebounds in an 84-74
defeat at Houston on Tuesday.
"I was trying to get everybody else involved so we played an
overall better team game, and we were able to win a game even
though I fouled out," O'Neal said. "It's vital that we build
momentum from this win."
The Lakers tied a franchise low for points scored in the
previous Houston loss. Their offense recovered this time behind
Bryant, who dominated the third quarter when O'Neal was scoreless
in nine minutes.
"When you lose two in a row, you've got to come out and win
that third game," said Bryant, who played 44 minutes. "I told
(coach) Phil (Jackson) I felt like going the full 48. I told him
that in San Antonio, too. I felt good in practice and I felt
comfortable tonight."
Los Angeles led most of the way, but saw a 16-point lead shrink
to three points early in the fourth quarter. O'Neal came off the
bench with 7:30 remaining to score three quick points before
fouling out with 4:34 remaining. He finished with 14 points and
five rebounds.
"He was taken out of the game. I thought there was a couple of
bad calls, unnecessary calls," Jackson said. "He did a good job
defensively for us. There's a lot of things that he did well out
there that don't show up on the stat sheet."
Reserve Moochie Norris led the Rockets with 15 points. Houston's
bench produced 52 points on a night when the starters struggled.
Hakeem Olajuwon had 13 points and seven rebounds, leaving him
two boards short of 13,000 for his 16-year NBA career.
"We played them the same way we did the first game," said
Maurice Taylor, one of two Houston starters held to single digits.
"They just made some shots down the stretch that they didn't make
last week."
Bryant, who scored 32 points in the San Antonio loss,
contributed to a 14-8 spurt at the start of the third quarter that
put the Lakers ahead by 16.
"When Shaq is not in the game, Kobe is going to hit the
shots," said Cuttino Mobley, who had 13 points. "That is who
takes the shots, Kobe and Shaq. When you make your shots, you get
in a rhythm, and that's what he did."
Even with O'Neal quiet in the third, Los Angeles built a
10-point lead going into the fourth quarter. With O'Neal on the
bench, the Rockets cut their deficit to 84-81 by scoring nine of
the first 11 points of the fourth.
Houston got within three on a basket by Kenny Thomas with 8:56
remaining.
"We gave ourselves a chance, but we couldn't get a break at the
end," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "Even though we had a
better second half, we were just shooting ourselves in the foot in
the first half with (11) unforced errors."
A 3-pointer by Robert Horry kept the Lakers ahead 89-81. A
three-point play by Isaiah Rider gave the Lakers their first
double-digit lead of the quarter with 4:55 left. The Rockets never
got closer than four in the final 3:27.
Los Angeles began the third quarter with a 14-8 spurt, dominated
by O'Neal and Bryant, to take a 68-52 lead. The Rockets were in
foul trouble, with Olajuwon picking up his third and Maurice Taylor
getting his fifth.
The Lakers built their first big advantage in the second quarter
with an 18-2 run that gave them a 43-31 lead. O'Neal had six
straight points, Bryant had four consecutive and Rick Fox hit
back-to-back 3-pointers before Horry punctuated the outburst with a
tip-in.
The Rockets rallied with a 13-4 spurt to get within three when
O'Neal was on the bench, but O'Neal and Bryant combined to score
the final seven points to take a 54-44 lead into halftime.
Game notes
Lakers guard Tyronn Lue was placed on the injured list
Sunday after spraining his ankle in practice on Saturday. He'll be
out a minimum of a week. ... Rookie guard Mike Penberthy, who
played in Germany last season, was activated. He scored a basket in
the fourth quarter. ... Wednesday's loss to the Utah Jazz was the
first game in which O'Neal (34) and Bryant (31) both scored 30 or
more points in a Lakers' defeat. ... Mobley is the only NBA reserve
to lead his team in scoring, averaging a career-high 17.7 points.
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RECAPS
Detroit 101
Seattle 92
Denver 95
LA Clippers 79
Orlando 105
Golden State 99
Sacramento 109
Dallas 84
LA Lakers 105
Houston 99
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