Nets Have No Answer for O’Neal

The monster was out riding again Friday night, and the New Jersey Nets heard his footsteps.

They shuddered, put up a tiny fight, then went ahead and got dropped.

Sometimes, all you have to do is show up with Shaquille O’Neal, play solidly around him, and let the heads roll.

“I’m like the Pythagorean Theorem,” O’Neal said after his 31-point, 17-rebound, seven-assist, four-blocked shots performance (all game highs) in a 103-80 Laker rout. “Not too many people know the answer to my game. Quote me on that.”

New Jersey, without Jayson Williams, Kerry Kittles and Kendall Gill, had no answer, and no chance.

Inspiring fear and desperation with just about every move he made, O’Neal notched his sixth consecutive huge statistical game and generally rode down the Nets before 18,997 at Staples Center.

The Nets didn’t seem to even have the energy to try to foul him and force him to the line--O’Neal shot only six free throws, making two.

O’Neal made 14 of 24 shots, many of the misses from close range, just rimming out.

Meanwhile, the Lakers (10-4) held the Nets to 34.6% shooting, forcing Stephon Marbury into a three-for-16 performance and Keith Van Horn into a five-for-14 outing.

In addition to O’Neal, the Lakers got 17 points from Ron Harper (on seven-for-12 shooting) and 12 apiece from Rick Fox and Derek Fisher.

“I was told to say that Ron Harper was brilliant and that’s why I brought him here,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said with a grin.

Things got so comfortable for the Lakers and Jackson that he actually took O’Neal out with 7:15 to play (but not before), which meant that O’Neal turned in his shortest outing in six games--41 minutes of continuous action.

Jackson said he thought about taking O’Neal out a time or two in the first three quarters, but said the timing was never right.

“I thought about it for a second . . . but I said, ‘Let’s just push it through,’ until I felt we had kind of cracked the egg there.”

O’Neal said he had no problem with the long minutes.

“I’m feeling good--my stomach and knees aren’t hurting,” he said.

Said Harper: “If he isn’t tired of playing, I’m not tired of seeing him play.”

Once O’Neal’s dominance was established early, it looked basically routine, although Jackson quibbled with that particular term.

“We hope it’s systematic, not routine--routine connotes boredom or robotic-type behavior,” Jackson said of the O’Neal-led devastation against an overmatched opponent.

“We want to grind it out, but we want to have a type of team that can take a team to a certain space and make them pay almost 75% of the time.”

It was a game that celebrated consistency: Not only was it O’Neal’s sixth consecutive dominant outing, but A.C. Green played in his 1,042nd consecutive game, breaking the professional basketball record formerly held by Ron Boone.

After looking not very sharp while cruising to a nine-point halftime lead, the Lakers started the third quarter on a 10-2 burst, and never looked back.

The Lakers even got out on the fast break for sustained stretches for the first time this season, scoring 16 points from transition, including one spinning, over-the-shoulder layup by Harper, who was fouled on the play.

How did a 35-year-old veteran perform such aerial magic?

“Close my eyes and pray every night,” Harper said. “Hope that goes in.”

The Lakers got very little defensive opposition from New Jersey from the start, as O’Neal roamed the middle and dumped the ball off to his teammates whenever the Nets came with a double-team.

In building a 47-38 halftime lead, the Lakers racked up 14 assists, among them a team-leading five by O’Neal, who could have had at least seven if a few other open jumpers by his teammates had fallen.

O’Neal scored 19 points and had 10 rebounds in the first two quarters, playing every minute, but it was his passing that Jackson spoke about before the game.

“I told him I think four or five [assists] a game is not beyond his limits,” Jackson said. “Because with the ball going through him so often, he’s got the ability to find people and make the right passes.”

New Jersey made only 14 of 42 shots in the first half, with Marbury and Van Horn each going three for 10.

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SEATTLE: 98

CLIPPERS: 93

Vin Baker scored 24 points to help SuperSonics to their ninth victory in a row over the Clippers.

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