O’Neal Is Singular Sensation With 43 Points as Lakers Set the Pace

This was the beginning of the end, the first part of the last round of Shaquille O’Neal’s greatest, grandest journey.

The Lakers on Wednesday took a giant’s step toward their first championship in a dozen seasons, lining up behind O’Neal and blasting the Indiana Pacers, 104-87, in Game 1 of the NBA finals before 18,997 at Staples Center.

Yes, maybe the big-bang conclusion is near. Possibly, three or four games away.

This was the Lakers’ predictable, undefendable opening Game 1 Shaq Gambit, and the Pacers--like the Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers before them--were smashed and silenced, with nowhere to go and nothing to do but wait for another day.

Given surprising room to roam and air to breathe--and few of the hard double- and triple-teaming that he suffered through against Portland--O’Neal scored 43 points, grabbed 19 rebounds and blocked three shots, and just about by himself knocked over the Pacers, who neither hacked nor harried the league most valuable player.

“We rode Shaq’s coattails tonight for that victory,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said.

“He’s our first frontal piece of our offensive machinery, and our primary weapon. And teams are going to have to adjust if they’re going to beat us in a series.

“We anticipate they’ll make adjustments at some level, and we’ll have to counter them.”

O’Neal, who recorded his first victory in an NBA final, after losing, 4-0, in his last appearance, also smacked away Indiana’s best chance in this game, blocking Reggie Miller’s driving layup attempt with less than 40 seconds left in the third quarter, with the Lakers’ holding a 73-69 lead.

So, 100 games into this season, one game into the NBA finals, the Lakers can still suit up O’Neal, send him at an opponent unprepared for him, and they almost always win.

Indiana, meanwhile, suffered through a game-long Miller shooting malaise--he missed his first eight shots, made one, then missed seven more in a row to finish his one-for-16, seven-point performance.

“Reggie’s carried us a long way,” Pacer Coach Larry Bird said. “In the playoffs, he’s been awesome. He has one bad shooting night, there’s no one giving up on him.”

For deeper Pacer portents: Indiana is 0-11 when losing the first game of a series. The Pacers are 11-0 when they win Game 1.

Jackson, though, quickly pointed out that O’Neal has been dominant in all four Game 1s this postseason--averaging 41.8 points--but, once defenses adjusted to his presence and began send hard double- and triple-teams, has averaged 25.3 points in all other games.

“I just got the ball in deep position and I was making a quick move, taking my high-percentage shot,” said O’Neal, who took advantage of the open space to make 21 of his 31 field-goal tries. “And it felt pretty good to be able to get deep touches and go with single coverage . . .

“I think if my shots are falling, we’re going to be a hard team to beat.”

Said Kobe Bryant, who joked that he was not needed in this game (he scored 14 points and had five assists): “Shaq told me before the game that he was going to get deep--get deep position all game long. And that’s what he did.

“By the time they started double-teaming him, it was too late. He was just punishing them all game long.”

“When he starts getting into that groove, you just got to get the ball to him.”

O’Neal scored 15 points in the first quarter (and carried the Lakers to a 33-18 lead), had 21 by halftime, and finished off the Pacers in the fourth quarter by scoring four baskets and assisting on two others in the 19-8 run that put the game away.

The Pacers, who were led by Mark Jackson’s 18 points and seven assists, and Austin Croshere’s 16 points off the bench, rallied several times at the Lakers, but each time a few errant shots or O’Neal put-back baskets ended the threat.

The deepest threat came late in the third, when a 17-4 Indiana run narrowed the Laker lead to 71-69, with the Lakers looking slightly disconnected on offense and sloppy on defense.

Jackson did not call timeout, because his players knew what to do: Get it to O’Neal.

The Lakers steadied somewhat, finishing with the O’Neal block of Miller and a mini-run to close the quarter ahead, 77-71, climaxed by a Shaw jumper on an assist from O’Neal to finish the quarter.

“It seemed like every time we got down six, four points, Shaq took over the game,” Bird said.

With O’Neal busting loose, the other Laker players, as usual, had space to work with and little pressure to do much other than set up, wait for the pass, and shoot.

Rick Fox came off the bench to score 11 points, and the Lakers had 25 assists as the offense flowed from outside to inside and back out again.

“You don’t expect them to leave single coverage on him as much as they did,” Fox said. “When that happened, we all started to feel comfortable . . .

“We executed our offense I think 10 times better than any game in these playoffs. When Shaq’s playing like that on both sides, patrolling the paint like that, it’s easy to have the games we all had.”

Said Brian Shaw: “I think it was different. We had some breathing space tonight. We swung the ball a little more freely.”

After the anxiety of the seven-game Portland series, and the long arms of Scottie Pippen and Rasheed Wallace, the Lakers acknowledged that things were vastly different Wednesday.

“Portland played a more smothering defense, which sometimes is a little easier to penetrate and drive into because they’re so aggressive on the perimeter,” Shaw said.

“Indiana pretty much just played solid, just tried to stay in front of you, and if they hit their shots, they’re in this game and it’s a good defense.”

But both teams said that they figured Game 2, with Indiana’s adjustments to O’Neal and Miller due to shoot better, would be a far more accurate symbol of what this series will be.

“By no means is this game an indicator of what this series is going to be like,” Bryant said.

“They’re going to be ready to play Game 2. They’re going to be more physical. Reggie will take more shots. We can’t take this game and run with it.”

Miller had open shots--other than the ones he took directly at O’Neal, of course.

“It’s scary, man--he was one for 16,” Fox said of Miller, who had averaged 23.8 points in the playoffs before this game. “He may go 16 for 16 the next game. You don’t count on him missing those kinds of shots every night.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Game 1 By The Numbers

Points scored by Shaquille O’Neal: 43

Points scored by O’Neal against Portland in Games 6 and 7 combined: 35

Field goals by O’Neal, one short of NBA finals record (Elgin Baylor and Rick Barry): 21

Field goal for Indiana’s Reggie Miller, in 16 attempts: 1

Points in first half for Miller, who finished with seven: 0

Indiana’s record in playoff series after losing Game 1: 0-11

Victories for Lakers in 100 games this season: 79

COVERAGE

BIG TROUBLE

As expected, the Pacers, who don’t have Portland’s size, don’t have an answer for Shaquille O’Neal. S3

BEHIND THE SCENES

Man on the street figures he can make about $250 outside Staples Center on game days, enough to pay his hotel bill. S4

NO LETDOWN

Any concern that the Lakers might still be celebrating their win over Portland ended in a big first quarter. S5

PETE NEWELL’S ANALYSIS

The Pacers might have a chance, but they’re going to need Rik Smits to make some shots and keep O’Neal busy. S6

GAME REPORT: S6

LAKER REPORT: S7

PACER REPORT: S7

AT THE CROSSROADS

With Reggie Miller and Jalen Rose struggling, Austin Croshere was a major factor for the Pacers. S8

OTHER VIEWS: S9

NBA NOTES: S10

For Starters

Seven of the last eight teams that have won Game 1 in NBA finals have gone on to win the championship:

*--*

SEASON GAME 1 SERIES WINNER 1991-92 at Chicago 122, Portland 89 Chicago, 4-2 1992-93 Chicago 100, at Phoenix 92 Chicago, 4-2 1993-94 at Houston 85, New York 78 Houston, 4-3 1994-95 Houston 120, at Orlando 118 (OT) Houston, 4-0 1995-96 at Chicago 107, Seattle 90 Chicago, 4-2 1996-97 at Chicago 84, Utah 82 Chicago, 4-2 1997-98 at Utah 88, Chicago 85 Chicago, 4-2 1999 at San Antonio 89, New York 77 San Antonio, 4-1

*--*