Shaquille O'Neal once gain got the better of his former teammate as the Miami Heat extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 102-89 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
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O'Neal said he didn't lose any sleep thinking about meeting Bryant for the second time as an opponent.
"I wouldn't put this (game) in my top 2,000," O'Neal said. "This was a good team against a so-so team."
O'Neal also had little concern about his relationship with Bryant, whom he teamed with to win three NBA titles.
"I couldn't care less about any relationship (with Bryant)," added O'Neal, who was sporting a huge grin. "I don't have a relationship with any man.
"This was no more than another stop in the direction we want to go. We don't care who we have to go through to reach our goal."
Just like they did in the first meeting on Christmas Day, O'Neal and Bryant failed to acknowledge each other prior to the tip. They did get better acquainted with 3:58 left in the first half, when O'Neal committed a hard foul on Bryant.
"It's not about individual matchups at all," Bryant said.
O'Neal threw his 325-pound frame around for much of the night and collected 25 points and 12 rebounds as the Heat tied a franchise record with their 14th straight home win.
Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said the media made too much of the meeting of Shaq and Kobe.
"Did they shake hands? Did they hug? Who cares, it's a basketball game," Van Gundy said.
Bryant scored 21 of his 26 points in the first half, keeping the Lakers in the game. But he went ice cold after intermission, missing his first nine shots and going 1-of-10 overall.
"I thought we did a great job on Kobe Bryant in the second half," said Van Gundy, who added that the team didn't change things up in the second half. "I'm not smart enough to do anything tactically different."
"I heard a statistic that Kobe Bryant is 3-for-29 in the second half of the last three games," Lakers coach Frank Hamblen said. "(Bryant) missed fourteen games in a row this season, he should not be tired. I know that we play him a lot of minutes, but you have to have skin."
Dwyane Wade scored 27 points and Keyon Dooling added a career-high 17 off the bench for Miami, which held a 69-67 lead entering the fourth quarter before pulling away.
"We didn't execute down the stretch," Bryant said. "We came out and played well in the third quarter, but they jumped all over us in the fourth and that was the difference."
Wade's follow shot with 3 1/2 minutes remaining capped a 13-3 surge and gave the Heat a 90-76 lead. O'Neal added a pair of thunderous dunks as the lead grew to 16 with under two minutes left.
"We focused in and started to rebound and get good looks," Wade said.
Chucky Atkins added 23 points for the Lakers, who have lost three straight after opening a seven-game road trip with consecutive wins. They have fallen 1 1/2 games behind Denver for the Western Conference's final playoff berth.