West Has Big Day in Victory

Twin Towers? How about the Western Conference’s Triple-Tower lineup across the frontline.

By themselves, 7-1 Shaquille O’Neal, 7-foot Tim Duncan or 6-11 Kevin Garnett probably could have caused plenty of havoc, and do so almost every NBA night.

But Sunday, they started together and took over the NBA All-Star game, combining for 70 points, 33 rebounds and all kinds of swats, smacks and slam-dunk shenanigans to lead the West to a 137-126 victory at the Arena in Oakland .

The East was left to counter with Allen Iverson (a game-high 26 points and nine assists), Ray Allen and several other speedy cohorts, which was interesting but not nearly enough to answer the West’s above-the-rim attack.

O’Neal (22 points, nine rebounds in only 25 minutes) and Duncan (24 points, 14 rebounds) were voted co-MVPs, and Garnett (24 points, 10 rebounds), easily could have made it a three-headed award.

“I think,” O’Neal said, “that’s a historical front line.”

For O’Neal, splitting the award was at least a partial make-up for the 1996 All-Star game in San Antonio when he was the high scorer but was beaten in the voting by a guy named Michael Jordan.

Sunday, he sat out the fourth quarter--after the game O’Neal and Coach Phil Jackson said his shoulder stiffened--but peppered the previous three with open-floor acrobatics and sky-high energy.

“I wasn’t really thinking about it,” O’Neal said of the ’96 MVP snub. “I just came here to have fun. This award is very nice, but I’m trying to get the big picture award [MVP of the NBA finals], and Tim has the big picture award. . . .

“It was an honor to be voted co-MVP, right next to this great player here,” O’Neal said, standing with Duncan on the podium. “I’m just happy.”

Duncan was his regular consistent force throughout this game, playing 33 minutes, making 12 of 14 shots, and finishing up with a left-handed dunk that Jackson, for one, called the best play of the day.

“[That play] was an incredible display of versatility and power at the same time,” Jackson said.

O’Neal wouldn’t specify which shoulder bothered him, but it presumably is a remnant of the soreness he felt early in the season before and after Portland’s Jermaine O’Neal twice fouled him hard by jerking on his right shoulder.

“I’ve had a shoulder injury throughout the season, but I’ve never said anything about it,” Shaquille O’Neal said.

Jackson said O’Neal strained his shoulder in the second quarter Sunday, though it was not obvious in O’Neal’s play.

Late in the second quarter, O’Neal grabbed a defensive rebound, turned and dribbled coast-to-coast, finishing with a soft flip; a few series later, he fired down a massive alley-oop slam over Alonzo Mourning on a pass from Jason Kidd.

“He rose to the occasion and tried to highlight himself a little bit,” Jackson said of O’Neal, who made 11 of 20 shots. “I thought he had fun out there.

“Also, Shaq, when he plays light or in an easy mood, is sometimes a better player than one where the responsibilities and the weight of the game come into his game and into his play.

“When he’s carefree, he’s a very fluid player--shots were going in and things were happening well for him.”

Was winning the All-Star MVP important?

“I think it’s meaningful for him,” Jackson said. “I’m happy for him.”

O’Neal, meanwhile, made sure to praise Duncan, who led the San Antonio Spurs to the NBA title last season, which is what O’Neal hopes to do this season with the Lakers.

“This is nice and exciting,” O’Neal said. “[But] if I would not have won today, I still would have moved on. I moved on in San Antonio when you gave it to Mike.”

The East squad only had two power players--Mourning and Dale Davis--and often had to field Glenn Robinson and Jerry Stackhouse as the forward tandem, which was not a fair fight against any combination of Duncan, O’Neal, Garnett, Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber.

“I don’t think there’s ever been as many talented, athletic seven-footers as we had out there in our lineup today,” Jackson said.

Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant had 15 points (including a flying alley-oop dunk), Kidd had 14 assists, Payton had eight assists, and old man John Stockton chipped in 10 points.

Said Toronto’s Vince Carter, who pulled off one 360-degree twirl dunk but otherwise was mainly held down: “We were a little overmatched. They were bigger than us, pretty much everywhere.”

THE LOCALS

SHAQUILLE O’NEAL

MINUTES: 25

POINTS: 22

Laker center had a few monstrous dunks, grabbed nine rebounds, blocked three shots and shared the game’s most-valuable-player award with San Antonio’s Tim Duncan.

*

KOBE BRYANT

MINUTES: 28

POINTS: 15

Laker guard made seven of 16 shots and had two steals, but was overshadowed in a game that was dominated by the Western Conference’s bigger players.

*

IN THEIR SHADOW

The game proved how far the Western Conference has surpassed the East in talent. Mark Heisler’s column. Page 7