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Friday, Mar. 17 8:00pm ET
Shaq's 35 points, Bryant's 25 lead L.A. | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- A slow start on Thursday ended the Los Angeles Lakers' 19-game winning streak. A slow start Friday cost the Detroit Pistons a chance at handing the Lakers a second straight loss.
Shaquille O'Neal scored 35 points, including 19 in the second half, Kobe Bryant rebounded from his worst performance of the season with 25 points and Glen Rice added 19 points as the Lakers beat the Pistons 110-82. "It was important to get an easy one tonight so we can put last night behind us," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "Detroit is a team that plays in fits and spurt, and we were able to keep their spurts down to a minimum." The Lakers started the game with a 5-0 spurt, took a 12-point lead early in the second quarter, opened a 19-point lead in the third and never let the Pistons back in it. "We had an opportunity. They really weren't clicking that well early and we still fell behind," Pistons guard Jerry Stackhouse said. "We tried to sag on Shaq and it didn't work." The 82 points matched the Pistons' lowest scoring game of the season, a 104-82 loss to Miami on Jan. 31. Jackson said he told his team before the game that he didn't expect them to hold the Pistons under 100 points. "But defense has to be our mainstay. That's what we win on," he said. The undersized Pistons had no one to stop the oversized O'Neal as a trio of centers tried unsuccessful to push the 315-pound center from under the basket. But even fouling did not help, as O'Neal shot 5-of-7 at the line. "Shaq is just too big," Pistons center Mikki Moore said. "To be that big and have a touch like that around the basket, it's basically unstoppable." Terry Mills, who played against O'Neal the most, said it's impossible to play against O'Neal if the referees don't call fouls. "He's cutting through the middle of the lane and saying, 'You have to let me through,"' Mills said. O'Neal said the Lakers wanted to improve on their slow start against Washington. "We wanted to start off quick, not like we did last night," O'Neal said. "It was still a little slow, but we were able to keep the game at our pace. We didn't let Detroit get into their run-and-gun." But Stackhouse said the Pistons knew O'Neal would put up big numbers. He said it was Bryant and Rice who caused the problem. "We allowed the other guys to contribute too much. We had to do a better job of containing Kobe and Glen Rice and we just didn't do it. Bryant, coming off a season-low seven points against the Wizards, scored 25 despite sitting out half of the second quarter with three fouls. "We did a really good job of keeping them (Hill and Stackhouse) out of the lane," Bryant said. "That's been killing us in the last few games -- guys driving down our throats. We knew that if we let those two do that, they would be on the free-throw line all night." Rice scored all but two of his 19 points in the first half. Jerry Stackhouse led the Pistons with 18 points on 4-of-16 shooting. The Pistons only shot 35.3 percent for the game. Grant Hill, who got in foul trouble early and sat out much of the second quarter, scored only 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Hill hit a 17-foot jumper at 12:43 of the second quarter to cut the Pistons' deficit to 22-21. O'Neal then scored seven points during a 14-3 run that gave the Lakers a 36-24 lead. O'Neal started the run by converting a three-point play and Bryant capped it with a 17-foot jumper. The Lakers led 54-44 at the start of the second half and used a 9-2 run to open a 63-46 lead. O'Neal later converted another three-point play to give the Lakers a 74-55 lead with 5:05 left in the third quarter.
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard LA Lakers Clubhouse Detroit Clubhouse Anatomy of Lakers' win streak
Wizards make Lakers' 19-game streak disappear
RECAPS Indiana 111 Houston 102
LA Lakers 110
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