LOS ANGELES -- The voice over the P.A. system kept trying to prod the fans to "Make some NOISE!" and the plea was failing miserably. Most of the 18,997 at the Staples Center sat as if they were attending an NBA Finals scrimmage.

Then, with nine minutes left in the Lakers' insomnia-curing 99-94 win over the Nets, Kobe Bryant gave the sellout crowd a reason to leap out of their seats and go nuts for a change with a flying dunk over New Jersey's Aaron Williams.

The fans cheered. Then they sat back down, hit the snooze button and fell asleep again.

"It was a different atmosphere tonight," Lakers guard Derek Fisher said. "Even before the game started, you could kind of tell that our fans and us felt like everybody was used to being here. It wasn't the Game 1 excitement of the NBA Finals that you would expect.

"We came out with a great start and a lot of people, especially our fans, they feel like there's no way we're going to lose this series. They really got comfortable and we seemed to follow right behind them."

If free-throw shooting is your idea of great hoops, then Wednesday's game was right up your alley, especially in the fourth quarter. A combined 21 fouls were called in the final period, and surprise, surprise, a good portion of them involved a certain 7-foot-1, 350-pound Laker.

Shaquille O'Neal scored 14 of his game-high 36 points in the fourth quarter, all but six coming on free throws. The Lakers center made only eight of 16 attempts, thereby somewhat validating New Jersey's decision to resort to fouling O'Neal to keep its comeback hopes alive.

However, closeups of O'Neal at the foul line settling the ball on his fingertips like he's ready to replace a light bulb hardly makes for great television and is less-than-riveting basketball. The incessant fouls right from the start of the fourth quarter prevented any chances of an offensive flow or a crowd-pleasing show.

	“	I guess you can credit the Nets for improving as they went along in the game. But also, we got off to such an exciting start, and after that point, there was such a lapse because the simple things we did in the first quarter we got away from. ”
		— Rick Fox

According to Rick Fox, the Lakers' decision to "experiment" on offense after their first-quarter explosion didn't help matters, as Los Angeles' shooting percentage dipped from 50 percent in the opening period to 38.1 percent in the second, waxed in the third to 54.5 and then waned to 42.9 percent in the fourth.

"Simplicity in our offense is what makes it great," said Fox, who scored 14 points. "But at times, it's also what bores us. And sometimes we create an extra angle on the triangle (offense) and it gets us in trouble."

Fox was the recipient of the only other eye-appealing play of the fourth quarter. With the Lakers up 93-87, Bryant performed a shake-and-bake dribble drive, then dropped a bounce pass to Fox on the baseline for a layup and a seemingly safe eight-point lead with 1:11 remaining.

It wasn't exactly poster material, but it had to suffice as a thrill on a night in which TV production assistants across the country struggled to piece together an entertaining highlight reel.

"I guess you can credit the Nets for improving as they went along in the game," Fox tried to explain. "But also, we got off to such an exciting start, and after that point, there was such a lapse because the simple things we did in the first quarter we got away from.

"We'll look at that and we'll see there's a better way to play Game 2 by going to certain things that work. Hopefully, excitement will come out of that."

Those holding tickets for Game 2 can only hope and pray.

Joe Lago is the NBA editor for ESPN.com.