West is best: Lakers clip Nets

Kobe Bryant also posted a double-double in the win for Los Angeles with 11 points and 10 assists, while grabbing six boards. Gary Payton scored 16 points and Horace Grant came off the bench to net 14, as the Lakers won for the seventh time in the last eight contests.

Richard Jefferson paced the Nets with 19 points and seven rebounds, as New Jersey lost for the second time in its last three contests after a 14-game winning streak. Both losses have come to teams from the Western Conference after the Nets played only one team from the West during the winning streak.

Kenyon Martin scored 11 points despite being hampered by foul trouble the entire game. Jason Kidd added 10 points in the losing effort before being pulled after aggravating a knee injury. He played a season-low 28 minutes.

Martin and Jefferson hit back-to-back jumpers in the first 13 seconds of the second half to get the Nets within 10 at 49-39.

However, Martin picked up his fourth foul five seconds later and the Lakers blew it open from there.

Los Angeles outscored New Jersey 26-12 the rest of the quarter to take a commanding 75-51 advantage after three.

The burst was aided by a pair of three-pointers from Rick Fox and five points from Bryant, including a fadeaway three from the baseline. O’Neal added four points, as his thunderous alley-oop slam dunk kick-started the spurt.

"We knew what they were capable of doing offensively, so we wanted to be just as aggressive offensively," O’Neal said. "We limited them to one shot on several possessions and kept them from fast-breaking a lot."

The Lakers led by as many as 28 in the fourth quarter on Bryon Russell’s 16- foot jumper for a 92-64 lead with 6:44 to go.

New Jersey never got closer than the final margin.

"The Lakers were the better team tonight," New Jersey head coach Lawrence Frank said. "There’s not excuses. It is what it is and that’s a loss."

Payton scored six points as the Lakers opened with a 12-3 lead 3 1/2 minutes into the contest. The Lakers led by as much as 11 in the period in building a 26-17 edge after one.

The Nets stayed within eight to nine points early in the second quarter, but Los Angeles went on a 10-2 run to expand a 33-24 lead into a 43-26 advantage with 3:23 left until halftime. The run was capped by four points from O’Neal, as the Lakers kept the lead above double-digits the rest of the quarter in building a 49-35 lead at the intermission.