A Cakewalk for Lakers, O’Neal

Before the game, the Laker girls presented Shaquille O’Neal a birthday cake with purple and gold icing and three candles. One for each decade.

O’Neal turns 30 today.

Neither age nor any opposing center show any signs of catching up with O’Neal, who on Tuesday night at Staples Center led his team to a 101-92 victory over the New Jersey Nets, owners of the best record in the Eastern Conference at 39-20, and into a tie with the idle Sacramento Kings for first place in the Pacific Division and the best record in the NBA at 42-17.

The way O’Neal is playing these days, his sore right toe seemingly much improved, those three candles might also come to symbolize three NBA titles for the Lakers’ dominating center.

Taking advantage of the absence of teammate Kobe Bryant, serving the second half of his two-game suspension for fighting, and of the Nets’ starting center, ToddMacCulloch, out with an injured left foot, O’Neal was at times unstoppable, scoring on dunks with either hand and showcasing his increased mobility since his return from the injured list.

O’Neal scored 40 points, hitting 16 of 21 field-goal attempts, and added 12 rebounds, four assists and a blocked shot.

If only he could hit those darn free throws. O’Neal made only eight of 20 as the Nets reverted to that old standby when all else fails, the Hack-a-Shaq.

“Even though I missed a lot of them,” O’Neal said, “all of them were right there, they were just popping in and out.”

But as many problems as he had at the line, O’Neal caused more problems for the Nets. Both Jason Collins and Aaron Williams, the two men assigned to guard him, fouled out in the closing minutes.

“We’ve ridden Shaq’s coattails the last two games,” said Laker Coach Phil Jackson, referring to the games Bryant missed. “Now it’s time to play the team game.”

Jackson is also worried that his Lakers, in catching the Kings, are peaking to early.

Net Coach Byron Scott would love to have such concerns.

A few weeks ago, Jackson’s biggest concern was O’Neal’s sore toe.

In last week’s Laker game against the Timberwolves, a Minnesota television station referred to O’Neal as “a big, fat liar” for claiming he was injured.

He is certainly big and he has been known to add a few unwanted pounds to his massive frame, but anyone who has seen O’Neal soaking his aching toe in ice water after every game knows he was being honest about the injury. And anyone who has seen him move in recent games knows that he is feeling better.

Given the unenviable task of trying to stop the 7-foot-1, 335-pound O’Neal Tuesday were the 7-0, 260-pound Collins and the 6-9, 225-pound Williams.

Before attending Stanford, Collins played his high school ball at Harvard-Westlake in North Hollywood. Back then, he could only dream of playing on the same floor as O’Neal, the hometown hero. Tuesday that dream became a nightmare.

“I need to gain about 100 pounds and increase my bench press by about 200 pounds,” Collins said, describing how he could become capable of stopping O’Neal.

The Nets, playing without star forward Kenyon Martin, serving a one-game suspension for amassing six flagrant-foul points, spent most of the night chasing the Lakers.

New Jersey shot only 35.2% from the field, hitting 32 of 91.

“If we shoot 41 percent,” Scott said, “we win the game. That’s how well I thought we playing.”

The Lakers surged in front by 18 in the third quarter, but the Nets, using deadly outside shooting, kept edging ever closer, until they moved ahead, 77-75. But it was all Lakers down the stretch.

For New Jersey, Jason Kidd had a team-high 19 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, but he made only eight of 25 shots. The Nets’ Keith Van Horn had a game-high 14 rebounds.

But none of it was enough to offset old man O’Neal, who blew out the candles on his cake and then blew away the Nets.

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Second-Half Surge

During the last two championship seasons, the Lakers have had a better record over the last two months of the season than the first four. And they are continuing that trend this season:

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