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Diesel and Company Leave Sonics Burning Fumes
O'Neal's 41 Points More Than Enough to Extend Seattle's Struggles
By SonicsKevin
Vin Baker, left, bounced back from recent poor play with nine points and eight rebounds off the bench.
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Over the last two seasons, the Los Angeles Lakers have remarkably served as the light at the end of the
tunnel for the Seattle Supersonics when they've played at the Staples Center. The Sonics brought a
four-game losing streak to Los Angeles last March, and had slipped to below .500 before a win over the
Lakers started a six-game winning streak. Earlier this season, Seattle again took a four-game winning streak
south to take on the defending champions. Again, they emerged victorious and won seven of their next
eight games.
This time, the Sonics had not lost eight straight, but have struggled in the month of April, winning just one of their six games. And a hot streak would be perfectly timed for the team, carrying over into the start of the playoffs just two games away. But the Lakers would have none of it, with 41 reasons for winning coming from Shaquille O'Neal, one for each of the points he scored in tearing apart Seattle's defense in a 111-104 Los Angeles victory. O'Neal was slowed not in the least by 7-1 Sonics center Jerome James, making his debut against the perpetual MVP candidate. Part of James' appeal to the Sonics this summer was the possibility that a player of similar size would give them a better chance to slow the NBA's answer to Superman, but O'Neal quickly served noticed that this would not be the case. Three minutes into the game, James was on the bench with two fouls while O'Neal already had four points and two assists as the Lakers jumped out to an early 11-6 lead. By the end of the first quarter, despite O'Neal's 10 points, the Sonics led by a 29-28 count. That fact was likely of little importance to the Sonics, who led Dallas most of Saturday night's first quarter before the Mavericks delivered crushing blows in the second and third quarter. After the teams stayed close most of the second quarter, Los Angeles looked to perhaps be on the way to a similar run with seven unanswered points. This time, however, the Sonics slowed the run before the Laker lead went higher to 10, and consecutive scores by Ansu Sesay before halftime produced a six-point game. Early in the third quarter, the Lakers took charge of the game. Kobe Bryant, who took a back seat to O'Neal in a quiet first half that saw him score just two points, got eight during an 18-4 run which spanned six minutes. It ended with Los Angeles up 21, 83-62, and the Sonics reeling yet again. Bryant finished the third quarter with 15 points as the Lakers maintained an 18-point advantage. The Sonics would not roll over. A 13-2 run which spanned the third and fourth quarters cut the Los Angeles lead to single-digits with plenty of time -- eight minutes -- remaining in the game and a chance to come back. O'Neal's return made that impossible. Immediately after he was re-inserted at the 6:39 mark, the Lakers ran off 10 straight points (six of them by O'Neal) to put the game away, leading by 18 with three and a half minutes to play. Seattle's reserves produced some added drama with a game-ending 11-0 run to cap a night full of them, but it was far too little and too late as Los Angeles held on by a 111-104 final score. O'Neal's strong finish gave him 41 points on 16 of 21 shooting and, perhaps more remarkably, 9 of 11 from the free-throw line. It was proof yet again that, despite injuries which have plagued him all season, O'Neal is the NBA's best player. He had help, as all five Laker starters scored in double-digits, combining for 95 points. The bench, however, provided little resistance in the fourth quarter and scored only 16 points. The Sonics got a strong effort off their bench from Peja Drobnjak, who -- despite having to battle Shaq defensively -- scored 18 points and six rebounds. Gary Payton led the Sonics with 20 points, but had to battle for all of them, shooting 7 of 18 from the field.
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