LOS ANGELES -- It was with ease that he went through and around Todd MacCulloch, who at 7-foot and 280 pounds, is a rather large man. It was with little effort that he went over Aaron Williams who, at 6-9 and 225, is too small to provide much of a challenge.

	O'Neal

By the time rookie Jason Collins got his shot at Shaquille O'Neal on Wednesday, the Nets were doing a better job of cutting off passing angles and providing help in the post. But in the end, the matchup in the series that the Nets figured was their most difficult challenge proved to be too much: Shaq scored 36 points and shot 21 free throws -- 16 of those attempts in the fourth quarter -- as the Lakers held off the Nets 99-94 to take a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

At one point in the first half -- when the Lakers led by as many as 23 points -- Shaq hit eight consecutive shots by consistently getting great position in the lane. In playing all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter, Shaq scored 14 points -- eight of those coming from the free-throw line -- and grabbed nine of his 16 rebounds.

Here are the positives that the Nets can take out of Game 1: They overcame their first-quarter jitters to get within three points of the defending NBA champs in the fourth quarter; and they got a triple-double from Jason Kidd (23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists) despite tight defense from Kobe Bryant.

But unless the Nets can find a better way to contain Shaq, they have no shot at winning in this series.

"He's physical, he's quick and they got the ball too him early," said MacCulloch, who, despite having only three fouls, played only 25 minutes because of his lack of defensive success. "We just have to find a way to make him work."

Make him work?

Shaq didn't have to work for much in the first quarter, when he scored 10 points, hitting five of seven shots before Phil Jackson sat him down for a rest after just nine minutes (maybe the rest was for MacCulloch and Williams, who appeared in need of help on defense).

	Big Man, Big Games
	Shaquille O'Neal's 36-point performance in Game 1 increased his career NBA Finals scoring average to 33.8, just ahead of Michael Jordan for the highest finals average in history. Jerry West, another Laker, is the only other player with a career average of over 30 points per game in the finals. Shaq's average in Game 1 of the NBA Finals now stands at over 37 points per game.
		PPG
	Shaquille O'Neal	33.8
	Michael Jordan	33.6
	Jery West	30.5
	Bob Pettit	28.4
	Hakeem Olajuwon	27.5
	>>Min. 15 games played

Shaq opened the second quarter by hitting his first three shots, with his six-foot fadeaway jumper with 6:59 left in the half giving the Lakers their biggest lead, 42-19.

Why the Lakers stopped going to Shaq over the latter part of the half and for most of the third quarter is unclear. But that strategic shift allowed New Jersey to get back into the game, closing to within 48-36 at halftime and 72-63 at the end of three quarters.

Only after two free throws by O'Neal with 8:31 left in the game and the Nets trailing 81-71 did Nets coach Byron Scott turn to Collins.

No, the 7-foot, 260-pound rookie from Stanford did not stop O'Neal -- 12 of Shaq's 14 fourth-quarter points came after Collins checked into the game. What Collins did was make Shaq work hard for position, making it difficult for the Lakers center to score easily.

"On defense, you have to be physical and you have to meet him up high," Collins said of his approach to O'Neal. "On offense, you have to get loose on the pick-and-roll and you have to be willing to shoot that 12-foot jumper without hesitation. You have to attack him."

Attacking Shaq is something that neither MacCulloch nor Williams was successful at: O'Neal didn't have a personal foul while the two of them were on the court. By being aggressive, Collins did manage to draw two fouls on O'Neal. Collins had five points in his short stint.

Nets' coach Byron Scott appeared upbeat after the loss. He felt his team settled down after being effected by the nervousness of being in their first championship.

"We had jitters and we had a lot of one-pass-and-shoot, and that's not our style," Scott said. "We were doing things that we weren't accustomed to. Now that guys have gotten their jitters out of the way, it will be a better series than people think."

But in reality, the Nets got back in the game because the Lakers -- seemingly bored after a grueling series against Sacramento -- allowed them.

It will only get better for New Jersey if they find a better way to contain Shaq, who got off to his third straight strong start in the NBA Finals (his Game 1 numbers over the past three years: 36 points in 2002, 44 points in 2001, and 43 points in 2000).

"We want to attack them inside," Phil Jackson said of his team's strategy against the Nets. "It's always a shock to have to play Shaquille. So we made an extra effort to go inside early and often."

Which, for the Nets, was too much to overcome.

Jerry Bembry is general editor (NBA) at ESPN The Magazine. He can be reached at Jerry.Bembry@espnpub.com.