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Putting on a show Lakers pound Sixers as O'Neal takes scoring lead
Posted: Saturday April 01, 2000 06:07 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Shaquille O'Neal did it all, blocking eight shots, grabbing 14 rebounds and dishing off five assists. And highlighting his fine, all-around performance, O'Neal scored 37 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 100-88 victory Friday night over Philadelphia to inch ahead of the 76ers' Allen Iverson for the NBA scoring lead. Iverson was averaging 29.2 points coming in, but had an off night and scored 15 points on 6-of-20 shooting. That dropped his average to 28.918 to O'Neal's 29.097. "I wanted to come out and be very active," O'Neal said after the Lakers won their eighth straight and 27th in 28 games. "We tried to make Iverson and those guys drive on us, and we tried to meet them at midpoint, so I got a couple of blocks. "I just got into a groove and shot my high-percentage shots, and they were falling. My teammates were looking for me." Said Lakers coach Phil Jackson: "Shaq dominated, and it took us a while to figure out how to initiate our offense and to get the ball to him at the best angle. Once we did, he got going."
Los Angeles, which led almost all the way, was up 78-69 to start the fourth quarter and steadily widened the gap in the final period, with O'Neal scoring 14 points. The Lakers' largest lead was 100-81 with 2:13 remaining. Los Angeles shot 53 percent from the floor to 38 percent by the 76ers, with the Philadelphia reserves making just three of 19 shots. Aaron McKie was 0-for-7 off the bench, and Tyrone Hill went 1-for-6. The Lakers' Rick Fox, with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting, outscored the entire Philadelphia bench, which totaled just 12 points. Starter Ron Harper added 16 points for Los Angeles. Matt Geiger had 20 points and Toni Kukoc 19 for the 76ers. Philadelphia coach Larry Brown said O'Neal is the most dominant player in the league. "I've been watching him, and he's been great at both ends of the court," Brown said. "He doesn't care about scoring, and he gets everybody involved. "He doesn't have an ego, other than to try and win, and they've got a lot of complementary players that are just doing a great job."
"I feel bad because we didn't play like we've been playing," Iverson said. "We really felt like we had a shot to win this game, but we couldn't pull it off. It's hard to beat that team when Shaq's playing like that." Brown said of Iverson's performance: "You're not going to beat the best team in the league with him going 6-for-20." The victory ran the Lakers' record against Eastern Conference teams to 26-3, with Sunday's game against the New York Knicks their last against an Eastern Conference opponent. Geiger outscored O'Neal 14-13 in the first half, but O'Neal had a 12-3 rebounding edge over the 76ers' center and the Lakers led 51-46. Los Angeles opened a 32-23 lead on two free throws by Glen Rice early in the second quarter, but the 76ers refused to let them pull away. Kukoc scored six points in the final two minutes of the half to keep it close. Iverson was held to 16 points in this season's earlier meeting between the teams, an 87-84 Lakers' victory. With Kobe Bryant guarding him, Iverson missed all 11 of his shots in the second half of that game. Bryant, who had 10 points this time, and Derek Fisher split defensive duties against him in the rematch.
Notes: If the Lakers beat the Knicks on Sunday, Los Angeles will finish with the highest winning percentage ever by a Western Conference team against the East, topping the .868 (33-5) mark by the 1971-72 Lakers led by Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West. The only Eastern teams that have beaten Los Angeles this season are Indiana, Toronto and Washington. ... The 76ers (42-30) already are assured of their best record since 1990-91, and they have a good shot at bettering that season's mark of 44-38.
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