LOS ANGELES -- I thought the Los Angeles Lakers' defense was very good in Game 1. They got back quickly in transition. The Lakers didn't let the New Jersey Nets get into their running game, and they got off to a good offensive start at the beginning of the game.

I think the constant for the Lakers was the fact that, over the whole 48 minutes, they never let the Nets really run up and down the court like they wanted. When one of the Lakers shot the ball, there were always two defenders going back, so the Nets never really got to establish the running game and were held to 39.4 percent shooting (37 of 94). That was the thing Los Angeles did best -- that and get the ball to Shaquille O'Neal in various positions in the basket area.

Shaq had no problem getting high-percentage shots the entire game. He took 22 shots. That's not a lot of shots to score 36 points. That's high efficiency. O'Neal gets good position and re-positions himself very well. He'll get the ball outside the lane, pass it out and re-position himself in the lane again to get high-percentage stuff.

The Nets, despite the loss, did some very good things Wednesday night. With the negative of not getting into the open court as often as they needed, they forced 16 turnovers and scored 24 points off of them. For the Lakers, that's a lot of turnovers. In the regular season, they averaged a little under 13. New Jersey also got 21 offensive rebounds and scored 25 points off of them. That was also a positive.

And after giving up a 23-point lead and getting the deficit down to three on two occasions in the fourth quarter, the Nets have to feel that they're still in this series. They hung around in this game with Kerry Kittles and Keith Van Horn shooting a combined 8-for-21. They need to get those guys going, especially Kittles.

I wondered why Kittles didn't get back in the game in the fourth period -- and Todd MacCulloch, too. I thought MacCulloch was having a pretty good game. He ended up with 10 points and eight rebounds, but Byron Scott went with the rookie, Jason Collins, instead against Shaq.

Kobe Bryant was kind of passive overall in his game. In the first half, he was 3-for-11 with nine points and took only five shots in the second half to finish with 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting. That's very uncommon for him. Although the Lakers would like to have as many easy opportunities for Shaq like they did in Game 1, they may not get them next time. Kobe may assert his own game more in Game 2.

Dr. Jack Ramsay, a Hall of Fame coach who won an NBA title with Portland in 1977, is an NBA analyst for ESPN.