Nothing but Net for Lakers on Road

By TIM KAWAKAMI

Feb. 23, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. —

With rubbery legs and suitcases packed, the chase continued.

With less spark than usual but with more than enough Shaquille O’Neal (35 points, 13 rebounds) to cover for it, the winning streak was maintained.

With a mix of cunning and brute force intimidation, the Lakers took care of the New Jersey Nets, 97-89, on Tuesday before 20,049 at Continental Airlines Arena.

And with James Gandolfini of “The Sopranos” watching intently from courtside, the Lakers went into New Jersey and came out with their honor intact and their position in the Western Conference reinforced.

It was the Lakers’ eighth consecutive victory, and fifth in a row on the longest trip of the season, which finally ends tonight in Cleveland.

With Tuesday’s victory, the Lakers (42-11) moved within a half-game of first-place Portland, and can tie the idle Trail Blazers for the first time since before the All-Star break with a victory tonight.

“We haven’t gained any ground on Portland,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said, “but that doesn’t matter. We’re keeping the pressure on them.

“Right now, we have to play the second fiddle. And to do that, we have to stay really solid and play hard and keep the pressure on really tight. . . .

“We’ve got a game against Portland [on Feb. 29]. We’ll see how that turns out. Right now, we just have to stick to business as is.”

On Tuesday, that meant absorbing the best Net guard Stephon Marbury could toss at them, including a 17-point third-quarter explosion that momentarily got the Nets back into the game.

But O’Neal, matched against the tag-team of Jim McIlvaine and Evan Eschmeyer, shook off early problems and romped for 20 second-half points on nine-of-13 shooting.

“I wouldn’t call it struggling, as long as we get the wins,” O’Neal said of his two-for-eight shooting start. “I’m still putting certain numbers on the board. The other day [in Philadelphia] I was off. But I don’t think I was off today.”

Said Jackson of O’Neal: “He shot poorly to start the game. And he didn’t get going on the kind of roll we expect him to have. He didn’t shoot his free throws well tonight [five for 12]. And yet you come out and look at the box, it looks great. He had a wonderful game, all in all.”

Jackson gave O’Neal a rare five-minute break in the second quarter, and the Lakers actually increased the lead from 18-16 to 28-19 in the span, with backup Travis Knight helping the surge.

Kobe Bryant, who scored 21 points, had two baskets and an assist in the run.

“Yeah, it was nice,” O’Neal said of the rest time. “Travis came in and got a couple points and did a nice job. And we were able to get like an eight-to-10 point lead.”

In the third quarter, after the Lakers had seized a double-digit lead, Marbury scorched them on seven-of-eight shooting, flying around picks and attacking the basket.

Marbury finished with 33 points on 11-for-21 shooting.

“It’s tough when [Marbury] makes up his mind that he’s just going to completely go to his scoring game,” Laker guard Brian Shaw said. “That’s what he decided to do in the second half.

“You’ve just got to try to stay between him and the basket and hope that your teammates are there to provide some support when he does get by you. . . .

“You know, he still got his points, but what it did is it took some of their other guys out of their rhythm. So it was a good exchange for us.”

Meanwhile, the Lakers look to close out this potentially perfect trip in Cleveland, with first place directly in sight.

“It was a weird game,” Shaw said. “It seemed like we were kind of flat. But we came away with a win, and now we’ve just got one more segment of business to take care of before we head back.”

Said O’Neal: “You know, Portland is also winning games. . . . We just have to try to win that one up there, so we can get back in first.

“We’re going to be up there, first, second, the rest of the year. . . . I know that they’re playing well, and they’re winning. And they’ve got a lot of close games, but they always seem to pull it out.

“And we just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BEST ON ROAD

Best road records in the NBA this season:

PORTLAND

22-8: .733

LAKERS

19-7: .731

SEATTLE

16-13: .552

MIAMI

14-14: .500