Lakers 98, Rockets 84

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shaquille O'Neal had a game to forget.

The Los Angeles Lakers will remember it as a victory.

O'Neal had the lowest-scoring playoff game of his career, but Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone picked up the slack as the Lakers beat the Houston Rockets 98-84 on Monday night for a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

O'Neal played 33 minutes and was in foul trouble most of the way.

”I had to turn my aggression level down a little bit,” O'Neal said after getting just seven points and seven rebounds. ”I was trying to play good defense, but they called a couple of wrist fouls on me. But overall, the team played well and stepped up.”

O'Neal, who scored two points in 14 first-half minutes, picked up his fourth foul less than three minutes into the third quarter with the game tied.

”I really don't know how Shaquille O'Neal got himself behind the eight-ball, but he did,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

With backup Slava Medvedenko sidelined by a strained right Achilles' tendon, Jackson had no choice but to leave O'Neal in.

It paid off.

”There were times out there tonight I didn't know if we were going to have enough players,” Jackson said. ”We were able to get a win.”

Medvedenko was injured late in the second quarter. Jackson said afterward he didn't know the extent of the injury.

Bryant scored 17 of his 36 points in the third quarter, and Malone had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, who won by outscoring the Rockets 54-38 in the second half.

”When Shaq picked up those fouls, everyone realized what they had to do,” Malone said. ”We made some shots. We shot the ball with confidence. We defended, also.”

The best-of-seven series moves to Houston for Games 3 and 4 Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

In the only other action Monday night, the San Antonio Spurs went on a 14-0 run early in the fourth quarter and held Memphis without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes in an 87-70 win for a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.

Three games are scheduled Tuesday night — New York at New Jersey, Boston at Indiana and Dallas at Sacramento. The home teams lead 1-0 in each of those series.

In the Lakers' 72-71 victory in Game 1, O'Neal had 20 points and 17 rebounds and made the winning basket. Bryant, meanwhile shot 4-of-19 for 16 points and Malone was 3-of-14 for seven points.

It was a much different story this time, with Bryant shooting 9-of-20 from the field and 16-of-17 from the foul line. Malone shot 7-of-12, and O'Neal was 3-of-9.

Derek Fisher scored 11 points and Kareem Rush had 10 for the Lakers, who shot 45.3 percent after being held to a season-low 32.9 percent in the opener.

”That's the sign of a good team, (winning) when one of your big dogs is in single figures,” O'Neal said. ”I just tried to do the little things.

”I knew Karl wasn't going to have two off-games. He took a lot of shots this morning. We were playing one-on-one before the game and his stroke was looking pretty good.”

Bryant didn't speak to reporters in the locker room, continuing his boycott that began after his motivation was questioned in several media outlets when he attempted only one shot and wound up with eight points in a one-sided loss at Sacramento on April 11.

”I took the initiative in the game, made sure we came out with the proper energy and put the pressure on them,” he said in a televised post-game interview with Turner Sports.

Steve Francis, appearing in just his second playoff game, became the fourth Houston player to record a postseason triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. He has six in the regular season during his five-year career.

”I thought today might be Kobe's birthday, how generous they were to him out there,” Francis said. ”To me, that's what opened the game up. They caught a lot of breaks we didn't catch.”

Yao Ming scored 21 points and Jim Jackson added 19 for the Rockets.

Rush made two 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter for his first points as part of a 19-7 run that gave the Lakers an 85-69 lead.

The Rockets didn't threaten after that.

”What I didn't like was in the second half defensively, we started making it up,” Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. ”Instead of getting tougher … we tried to take the short cut. The short cut doesn't work for us. We need our best players playing their best against a great team.”

Regarding Bryant's 17 trips to the foul line, Van Gundy said: ”If you're us right now, you can't whine your way to a win. Bryant, what I saw, earned his way to the line tonight. The officials are the least of our concerns.”

Spurs 87, Grizzlies 70

Tony Parker led San Antonio with 27 points, and Tim Duncan scored 14 of his 23 in the second half. Robert Horry added 14 points for the Spurs, who shut down Pau Gasol in the second half to win their 13th straight game.

Game 3 is Thursday night at Memphis.

Memphis trailed by 11 at halftime, but drew within one. However, the Spurs outscored the Grizzlies 27-6 to finish the third quarter and start the fourth for an 82-60 lead.