Shaquille O'Neal was ejected early, Kobe Bryant took over with 30 points, including eight in a key third-quarter run that propelled the Lakers to a 107-92 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics.
 Kobe Bryant took over when Shaquille O'Neal was tossed. Jeff Reinking NBAE/Getty Images |
Off to the best start in franchise history, the Lakers (14-1) cruised past Seattle -- which had won three straight home games -- despite playing most of the contest without O'Neal, who received his second technical late in the first quarter.
"Well, the secret was to get Shaq out of the game early so we would be playing with a deficit tonight," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "That's the only way we can beat this team. I thought we moved the ball well. We matched the intensity of the game to start with."
O'Neal finished with just eight points, the first time he has failed to reach double figures in 144 games. The ejection was his first since November 6, 1999 at Portland.
Even without their star center, the Lakers built a 50-43 halftime lead that quickly ballooned to 12 points in the early stages of the second half.
The Sonics fought within 63-58 on a baseline jumper by Rashard Lewis with just over five minutes to play in the third quarter, but Samaki Walker buried a short jumper that ignited a 13-4 Lakers' burst.
Bryant made two free throws and scored three times from the field during the run, including a 17-foot jumper that capped the spurt and gave Los Angeles a commanding 76-62 advantage with 2:20 to play in the period.
"We just had to be patient," Bryant said. "I just wanted to make sure everybody didn't get too excited (after O'Neal's ejection). We just needed to relax and just execute."
Derek Fisher contributed 14 points in 24 minutes off the bench and Lindsey Hunter added 12 points for Los Angeles, which has won seven straight since suffering its lone loss at Phoenix on November 16.
Desmond Mason scored 21 points to lead Seattle. He converted on just 2-of-8 shots from the field but went 17-of-18 at the foul line.
"All I know is that we didn't play good basketball the whole night," Sonics coach Nate McMillan said. "It was just bad execution offensively with no patience, playing 1-on-1 basketball and no execution on the offensive end."
The Lakers took the lead for good by outscoring Seattle, 30-19, in the second quarter. They led by as many as 22 points.
"When a team loses a big gun like we lost, a lot of times you pick up the intensity," Lakers forward Robert Horry said. "A lot of times, the other team will get happy and lackadaisical, and I think we caught them. They didn't expect us to do as much as we did."
Stanislav Medvedenko had seven rebounds for Los Angeles, which held a 38-33 advantage on the boards, shot 51 percent (41-of-81) and committed only eight turnovers. Bryant was 10-of-19 from the field.
Gary Payton dished out nine assists for Seattle but scored just 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting.
The SuperSonics connected on 43.5 percent (30-of-69) of their shots.
"I'm shocked," said Seattle forward Vin Baker. "To get down that many points without their best player and then lose the game, it's mind-boggling right now. We thought with him going out, obviously we thought we had an advantage, but they evened the score quickly by putting me on the bench with three fouls."