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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – The Los Angeles Lakers
ditched their running game and went to Shaquille O'Neal.
|  | | Shaquille O'Neal hits a fourth-period basket over Vancouver's Tony Massenburg. |
O'Neal scored 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds Saturday as the
Lakers beat the Vancouver Grizzlies 98-88 Saturday before 19,193
fans, the first sellout of the season in Vancouver.
"We have a semi-old team," O'Neal said. "We don't have a
young team no more. And most teams we play are younger. We have to
be smarter. We're like a young Utah."
O'Neal was 13-for-19 from the field and 8-for-12 from the line as
the Lakers made it four straight over the Grizzlies this season,
sweeping the series, including a controversial 113-112 victory in
Los Angeles when O'Neal rebounded a miss and scored at the buzzer
on Jan. 15.
The Grizzlies shot 39.1 percent.
"Obviously, Vancouver had some trouble shooting the ball
today," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "They had a lot of shots
in the first half and too much pace on the ball, so we had to slow
it down a little bit in the second half. In doing so, we got Shaq
some good looks and he finished."
In his second game since returning from a sprained right ankle,
Kobe Bryant had 20 points, but committed seven turnovers. Horace
Grant finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds and the Lakers
improved to 38-19.
"When they double-team Shaq and Kobe, they just hit me with the
ball and I'm wide open and they basically don't rotate to me,"
Grant said. "If I have open shots, more than likely I'll hit it."
The Grizzlies were led by Michael Dickerson's 22 points. Eric
Strickland had 13 points and Mahmoud-Rauf 12 points.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Mike Bibby scored a combined 16 points
on 8-for-31 shooting as Vancouver lost its sixth straight.
Abdur-Rahim was ejected after drawing his second technical foul
with 1:44 remaining and the Grizzlies trailing 94-83. He finished
with 10 points and 11 rebounds, but did not go to the line.
"Without actually trying to slight the officials, he should
have gotten to the foul line more this afternoon than he did,
especially a player of his caliber," said Grizzlies forward Grant
Long of Abdur-Rahim's frustration.
"There are going to be nights like that," said Bibby, who
finished with six points and eight assists. "I think if we had hit
some shots, it would have been a different story. I was tired out
there. I can't talk about anybody else, but I was tired out
there."
Game notes
In the month of February, the Grizzlies committed an
average of 18.3 turnovers. Against the Lakers on Saturday,
Vancouver turned the ball over only seven times. ... The Lakers
have taken the last 10 from Vancouver and are 22-1 lifetime. ...
The Vancouver bench outscored the Lakers' bench 34-14.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
LA Lakers Clubhouse
Vancouver Clubhouse
RECAPS
LA Lakers 98
Vancouver 88
Dallas 100
Houston 95
Milwaukee 126
Chicago 122
San Antonio 124
Atlanta 95
Phoenix 97
Denver 82
Portland 122
Golden State 91
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Kobe Bryant spins by his defender and goes up for the dunk.
avi: 526 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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