 The Lakers' Kobe Bryant flies toward the hoop against the Grizzlies. Catherine Steenkeste NBAE/Getty Images 56k | 300k |
Lindsey Hunter had 16 points and Kobe Bryant contributed 13, seven assists and six rebounds as Los Angeles improved to 13-0 against the Grizzlies at home.
"I like when we take care of business," O'Neal said.
The two-time defending NBA champions raised their record to 5-0 this season and won their 13th straight overall and eighth in a row at the Staples Center dating to April 1.
Stromile Swift scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Spanish rookie Pau Gasol had 12 and 12 for Memphis, which dropped to 0-6. The Grizzlies fell to 1-23 all-time vs. Los Angeles.
"(The Lakers) are too good," Memphis coach Sidney Lowe said. "They were too good for us. We can't play. We can't play with them. Not tonight. We were never really in it. Even when we had the lead (in the first quarter) we still weren't really in it."
Memphis, off to the franchise's second-worst start, played without guard Michael Dickerson, who was placed on the injured list before the game with a right groin injury. Forward Nick Anderson, who has a sore ankle, and center Bryant Reeves, suffering from a back injury, also are out.
In a ragged first quarter, the Grizzlies took a 6-2 lead on Gasol's 16-foot jumper with 9:03 left. But Los Angeles closed the period with an 8-1 run over the last 2:29 to go up, 19-10.
"Acutally, I thought we had pretty good tempo early," Lowe said. "We got a couple of stops and scored a couple of baskets, but we're just not shooting the ball. We don't have people out there that are making shots. We're confused on defense, not paying attention and guys were losing concentration."
The Lakers converted just one of their first eight field goals and finished the first quarter shooting 7-for-20 (35 percent) while Memphis missed 18 of its first 21 shots and was just 5-for-31 (16 percent) in the period.
"Guys were wide open. We're just not knocking them down," Lowe said. "We are missing two of our guys but you have to have some shooters. You have to have guys who can make open shots. If you don't have guys who can make open shots in this league, you are going to struggle."
O'Neal had 18 points and seven rebounds by halftime as the Lakers scored seven unanswered points over the last 1:11 of the second quarter to go into the intermission with a 55-43 lead.
"Earlier we were really out of sync," Hunter said. "When we finally got going and got our rhythm offensively, and defensively we did some good things I think. We got some run-out baskets and some transition baskets and then we established Shaq and Kobe and they did their thing as usual."
Los Angeles put the game with a 16-3 run over the final 4:18 of the third quarter to take an 87-60 advantage.
"You could just see that they were a much better team than we were tonight," Swift said. "We kind of hung in there with them for a little while but Shaq and Kobe made some big baskets and kind of put it away in the third quarter."
The Lakers forged their largest lead, 98-66, with 7:05 remaining on a jumper by Mitch Richmond. None of Los Angeles' starters played in the fourth quarter.
"The starters did a good job of really finishing the game off and gave us bench guys an opportunity to come in there and get a rhythm to our game," said Richmond, who finished with 11 points.
Rick Fox also had 11 points and Robert Horry chipped in eight for the Lakers, who finished with a 51 percent mark (45-for-88) from the field and scored 23 points off 19 Memphis turnovers.
Jason Williams and Lorenzen Wright scored 12 points apiece for Memphis, which shot 37 percent (36-for-98) and was outscored, 50-34, in the paint.