LOS ANGELES -- Shaquille O'Neal has had some big games before in the NBA Finals, but his performance in Game 2 on Friday was his most magnificent and most dominating of them all.

The Nets did as good of a job as they could in trying to keep O'Neal out of the paint, but their preference to pressure the ball in the backcourt opened up long passes for the Lakers to get Shaq the ball at the basket. He hurt them there and in Los Angeles' halfcourt offense.

Even though they kept him from receiving the ball in the paint, O'Neal worked himself down low and still scored. He shot 14-of-23 from the field and he made 12 out of 14 free throws. And when the Nets double-teamed him, O'Neal had eight assists when L.A.'s 3-point shooters knocked down shots, hitting nine of 16 threes.

Just how dominating was O'Neal? When he was out of the game for three minutes and 34 seconds at the end of the third quarter and into the beginning of the fourth, the Nets went on a 15-2 run. As soon as he gets back into the game, though, the Lakers went on a 12-zip run.

I don't know where the Nets go from here. If Shaq plays at this level, there's no team that can beat the Lakers anywhere. O'Neal seems to be focused at performing at this level, too.

However, there's one thing the Nets still haven't capitalized on: Shaq's soft defense.

O'Neal is playing off his man. But starting center Todd MacCulloch was just 1-for-3 with two points and backup Aaron Williams shot just 2-for-7 for four points. When Shaq is laying back in the lane and clogging the middle, those guys need to hit their shots.

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