OAKLAND, Calif, March 14 (Ticker) -- Danny Fortson and the Golden State Warriors learned the hard way you don't get Shaquille O'Neal riled up.

O'Neal scored nine straight points after taking a flagrant foul from Fortson late in the fourth quarter, powering the Los Angeles Lakers to a 110-102 victory over the reeling Warriors.

Golden State beat the undermanned Lakers here on December 26 and forged a 92-92 tie in this one on an alley-oop layup by Fortson with 3:43 remaining.

Moments later, however, Fortson got tangled up with O'Neal and was called for a flagrant foul, his sixth. A fired-up O'Neal made two free throws with 3:29 left to put Los Angeles ahead for good. He converted two more from the line, dunked and converted a three-point play before gesturing to the crowd heading into a timeout.

NBA TV highlights from Lakers-Warriors: 56k | 300k When the going gets tough, (as it did on Thursday), Shaq gets going. Rocky Widner NBAE/Getty Images

"I don't waste my time with average high school players," O'Neal said. "He had to run his mouth, but he's too little for me. He knows that everybody knows he's too little for me. He started running his mouth and he woke me up and the referees let him get more physical than I'm allowed to get. He's a bum. Quote me on that and underline bum three times."

"He kept telling me that he was a legend, so I told him that I wanted to be famous," Fortson said. "I want to get notorized just like he is. That's basically how we got into it. But it was out on the court, nothing personal. The referee saved his butt tonight, probably from embarrassment."

O'Neal had 40 points and 13 rebounds, reaching the 40-point mark for the third time in his last five games. He and fellow All-Star Kobe Bryant -- not in the lineup on December 26 -- helped the Lakers defeat the Warriors for the 22nd time in the last 27 meetings.

"Every team plays above their heads when they play us," O'Neal declared. "The fans are pumped up, the crowd is pumped up, but guys were coming to me late in the fourth quarter. I had to wake up so I want to thank Danny Fortson."

"I haven't seen (Shaq) play this angry in a long time," Bryant added. "It was good to see. He likes playing that way. He needs that. He needs somebody to motivate him and push him, and that's what happened tonight."

Bryant contributed 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists and Rick Fox had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Los Angeles, which has won three in a row and 10 of its last 12 games.

"Well, the big guys are making some free throws down the stretch and it felt good," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "At one point, (Shaq) was 4-of-16 out there and he ended up making 10-of-12 at the end of the game, and it changed our chances in that ballgame."

Antawn Jamison and Jason Richardson scored 23 points apiece for the Warriors, who have lost four straight and 14 of their last 16 games.

"We have a lot of young guys out there that get a little excited when the game gets close, especially at the end. Quite simply, it's frustrating for me and it's frustrating for them also,"Golden State coach Brian Winters said. "They get a little too frantic at the end of the game. That's the bottom line."

The Lakers opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 burst and took an 81-73 lead on a layup by O'Neal with 10:38 to play. They were up 87-81 after another layup by O'Neal, but Jamison made two free throws and a driving layup by Bobby Sura got the Warriors' deficit to 87-85.

O'Neal dunked, then made 1-of-2 free throws after Fortson was called for his first flagrant foul with 5:16 remaining. Moments later, Fox was whistled for a flagrant foul on Fortson, who made both free throws to get Golden State within 90-88.

"I think Danny played well until he fouled Rick Fox, which was an unnecessary foul," Winters said. "And then from there, it kind of disintegrated a little bit. But Fox wrapped him up and threw him down. Just go up and shoot your free throws and just play. We didn't need to do that."

Fortson was one of three Warriors who fouled out in the final 3 1/2 minutes. He finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Jamison pulled down 12 boards and Sura contributed 17 points off the bench for Golden State, which shot 41 percent (36-of-88).

The Warriors had seven turnovers in the fourth quarter after committing just six in the first three periods.

Derek Fisher scored 13 points off the bench for Los Angeles, which shot 44 percent (37-of-84) and mae 32-of-48 free throws. The Lakers had a 25-22 lead after one quarter and extended it to 50-41 at halftime.