No Shaq, No Win For Lakers

For 41 minutes, the Los Angeles Lakers looked perfectly comfortable without Shaquille O'Neal. For the last seven, they missed him.

Playing without their injured MVP, the Lakers wasted a 13-point fourth-quarter lead as the Denver Nuggets rallied for an 87-86 victory Saturday night.

"This was a big disappointment," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "This was a game that we gave away."

Antonio McDyess, able to roam the lane without O'Neal lurking in the middle, scored 28 points and George McCloud hit two 3-pointers to key Denver's comeback.

McDyess also had 18 rebounds and Nick Van Exel added 15 points and 11 assists for the Nuggets, who outscored Los Angeles 18-4 over the game's final seven minutes.

With O'Neal and his 28-point scoring average sidelined by a sprained left ankle and a sore Achilles' tendon, Los Angeles turned to Kobe Bryant and Horace Grant for offense.

Bryant finished with 32 points his fifth straight game with at least 30 points but did not get the ball in the final seconds when the Lakers failed to get a shot off on their final possession.

"We felt Shaq's absence all night," Grant said. "The main fous is to win, regardless if he's out there or not. We had the opportunity. We just didn't get it done. It's as simple as that."

Bryant, who was 10-for-25 from the field, declined to talk to reporters after the game.

Grant was effective in O'Neal's absence with 18 points and 12 rebounds, but the Lakers looked lost in the final quarter without their 7-foot-1, 315-pound center.

Leading 82-69 after Bryant's reverse dunk, the Lakers missed six straight shots and committed two turnovers while Denver went on a 17-0 run.

"That was the height of inefficiency at the end of the game," Jackson said. "I don't know what we were thinking about, shooting 3-pointers like that. We didn't have penetration on our minds."

McCloud scored eight points and McDyess had five during the spurt, which ended when Bryant hit two free throws to make it 86-84 with 1:39 left.

James Posey made one of two free throws 10 seconds later, and Bryant answered with a jumper with 1:18 remaining.

Neither team could score in the final 78 seconds, and the Lakers' final chance ended in chaos as they could not execute a play designed for Isaiah Rider in the low post.

"I looked behind me and saw a few white jerseys," Rider said. "It was all bunched up. You know the rest."

Rider kicked the ball out to the perimeter, and Brian Shaw's rushed 3-point attempt came well after the buzzer.

"I've seen too many games where a team is without their star player and still manages to win," Denver coach Dan Issel said. "They're the world champions because they have a pretty good team, not because they have Shaq and Kobe."

Bryant and Grant combined to score the Lakers' final 14 points of the third quarter to help Los Angeles take a 71-62 lead into the final 12 minutes.

The Lakers, who beat Denver by 16 on Tuesday, trailed by 11 after the first quarter but held the Nuggets to 4-for-17 shooting in the second to take a 51-47 lead at the half.

Notes