The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 818

14B THE PALM BEACH POST SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2004 HEAT 104, LAKERS 102 (OT) TV RADIO After big buildup, ABC delivers winning show Thepre-game coverage focuses on the Kobe-Shaq 'greeting' in i changed elbows and forearms or whatever." Throughout the whole thing, Michaels said, "Shaq never looked at him right over the top of Kobe's head." Off-the-court analyst Bill Walton said: This is bigger than a basketball game. This is a battle for the hearts and minds of a totally polarized basketball universe." The whole setup followed literally months of promotion, from the pre-season to ABC's Monday Night Football broadcast from Miami. All that hype was like promising the best Christmas ever, and it wasn't even sealed with a handshake. Yet it was a terrific game. At the end, Bryant's three-point attempt to beat the Heat in overtime surprised Michaels by not dropping through the net.

"Amazing that it didn't go in with all his history and the pre-game drama," Michaels said. "Instead, the Miami Heat and Shaquille O'Neal will fly home with an 11th straight win." O'Neal wasn't even in the game at the end, having fouled out, but ABC let him have the last word in a post-game interview. "I knew it wasn't going to go in," O'Neal said of Bryant's last shot "I fouled out and felt like I let my team down a little bit Flash (Dwyane Wade) told me have no fear, Flash is here." As for the icy pre-game greeting, O'Neal said: "I was just doing the same thing I always do I didn't want to get caught up in the nonsense you guys do. Now there's a hearty holiday chuckle. That's pretty rich material for a guy who managed to compare Bryant to a Corvette, and himself to a brick wall.

"I think it was a fun game to watch on TV, and it was all about winning," O'Neal said. ABC did its part well, despite minor glitches, including reporter Michelle Tafoya's microphone problems. Mostly, the network just turned the cameras on and let Kobe, Shaq and their teammates deliver some-, thing the NBA hasn't seen often enough lately more reasons to watch what is happening on the court than off of it charteselmorepbpostcom The NBA got everything it wanted on this holiday: no felony charges in the Pacers-Pistons rematch and a Heat-Lakers game that somehow lived up to heavier promotion than Christmas itself. From Los Angeles, ABC had us at hello with probably the most intensely analyzed pre-game greeting in league history. There's Kobe Bryant greeting some of the Miami Heat players," pre-game host Mike Tirico said.

Will he greet Shaq before the tip?" An on-court camera captured the action: Bryant approached Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal pretended 'One of the reasons we were able to win was because we're obsessed with KOBE BRYANT, on his relationship with Shaquille O'Neal This entertaining feud is far from over Charles Elmore to be interested in greeting other Lakers, but allowed a halfhearted elbow bump. He defrosted the gesture a couple of degrees by squeezing Bryant's elbow as both moved on. The first of many replays soon followed. Play-by-by announcer Al Michaels noted that the two "ex KOBE WINS A BATTLE: Bryant clenches a I i TV -t frs'J vi i f-g si 'y Wy v- 1 Jfr) If II Ui'VS' ti i i '-Vi 3rm fjk HEAT NOTEBOOK feteran reheats his game Eddie Jones, who defended Kobe Bryant, has improved his offense.

By CHRIS PERKINS Palm Beach Post Staff Writer LOS ANGELES If you thought Heat guard Eddie Jones was done, if you thought Jones should have been traded, if you thought Jones no longer could produce, take notice. Jones, who not long ago was struggling mightily on offense, is averaging 19.4 points per game in his past five games and shooting 57.6 percent from the field during that time. Saturday, he had 18 points, shooting 6-of-14 from the field and 2-of-2 from the line. He also drew the unenviable task of defending Los Angeles guard Kobe Bryant "I thought Eddie worked really hard," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. "He didn't give him anything real easy.

He didn't get layups on cuts and things like that The guy was just on fire," Van Gundy said of Bryant. The bottom line is he had a lot of points, but if you look at his line you've got to be happy with Eddie." Bryant had 42 points, but Van Gundy was happy that it came on 12-of-30 shooting (40 percent) from the field. Bryant made 13 of 13 free-throw attempts but also had nine turnovers. "It's a great game scoring-wise," Van Gundy said, "but you force a guy into 18 missed shots and nine turnovers, you can't be all that upset with the defense." Take that! Heat center Shaquille O'Neal had a sweet spin move for an alley-oop dunk on a pass from guard Keyon Dool-ing in the second quarter. As O'Neal ran down court he thumped his chest and yelled at rapper Snoop Dogg, who was seated in the front row, "I built this (expletive)!" O'Neal, who sometimes before has claimed that he built Staples Center, then repeated the boast while Snoop laughed.

Friendly yapping: With 3:13 left in the game, Bryant drove past Jones and tried to throw down a dunk, but guard Dwyane Wade blocked it A foul was called on Jones. Bryant smiled and laughed briefly with Wade about the play. "It was a friendly conversation," Bryant said. "He's an excellent shot-blocker. He and I are both great shot-blocking guards.

He said he would challenge me again if I came down again and I said, 'All right' Missing you: O'Neal said among the things he misses about Los Angeles are the police officers and the kids. "I don't miss the traffic," he said. "I don't miss two or three people." Asked to name those people O'Neal said: "I don't know I don't know their names. Their names have been erased from my memory." Assume Bryant and Mitch Kupchak, the Lakers' general manager, are among those people. chrisj3erkinspbpost.com "CR0USE from IB ed of a feeble bump of fists.

Each gave the other a no-look pat on the back. Go to the mall today and youll see more interplay from two strangers reaching for the same box of half-priced holiday cards. The closest the former teammates came to connecting was when Bryant drove the lane on the game's opening possession and put up a shot that was blocked by O'Neal. He went right at O'Neal the second time the Lakers had the ball, too, and hit a 7-foot jumper over his former teammate's outstretched arm. O'Neal would foul out with 2:15 left in the fourth quarter when Bryant got the ball and made a beeline for the 7-foot-l center.

He knew better than anybody that O'Neal's pride wouldn't allow him to grant Bryant an uncontested basket even if O'Neal was saddled with five fouls. By the same token, O'Neal was positive Bryant's pride would require him to hang a number on the Heat as bedazzling as the gaudiest Christmas ornament. Win or lose, it wasn't going to be a team effort for the Lakers. Sure enough, Bryant finished with a season-high 42 points on 12-of-30 shooting. Lamar Odom, the second-leading scorer, had 24 points on 15 shots from the field.

Odom had eight of his points in the overtime period. He was hotter than the Laker Girls. Still, you just knew Bryant would end up with the game in his hands. After all, he has controlled pretty much everything else in this saga, from coach Phil Jackson's leaving to O'Neal's departure to power forward Karl Mal-one's non-return. Bryant let go of a three-pointer as time expired.

It was the same shot he made against Detroit to send the Lakers to victory in Game 2 of the NBA Finals in June. This time it went wide left, enabling the Heat to escape with a 104-102 victory. That's how the ball bounces. Not every ending can follow the Hollywood script. Haven't O'Neal and Bryant taught us as much? "I had a pretty good look," Bryant said.

"I did not get the balance that I would have liked to on the shot and as a consequence the shot went left." That's Bryant, always looking at things with a clinical eye. O'Neal is far more emotional. He said he couldn't watch the pre-game video the Lakers put together to honor his eight years with the organization. He was afraid he'd get too teary-eyed. He probably was right Only somebody who wears his feelings as outerwear could finish an alley-oop play from Keyon Dool-ing, then run up the court and shout in the direction of the rapper, Snoop Dogg, who was watching from a courtside seat, "I built this (expletive)!" It was beyond Bryant why anybody expected two players who couldn't stand to share a stage to share a Hallmark moment.

If there was any larger truth to be gleaned from this much-anticipated reunion, it was that the competitiveness that drove Bryant and O'Neal apart after eight years and three NBA titles won't allow them to let bygones be bygones. "I mean, if you know myself, if you know Shaquille, one of the reasons we were able to win three of five championships was because we're obsessed with competition," Bryant said. If the two superstars can't bury the hatchet, the loss is theirs. All that's left for the rest of us is to sit back and enjoy the show. This soap opera could have a long run.

karencrousepbpost.com fist after inducing Shaquille O'Neal to foul out KEVORK DJANSEZIANThe Associated Press with 2:15 left in the fourth quarter. FIRING AWAY: Kobe Bryant who missed 18 of 30 shots from the floor, finds an opening between Shaquille O'Neal and Eddie Jones. Bryant missed the final shot in overtime as the Heat prevailed. NOAH GRAHAM NBAE Getty Images Vv i IlJ vJ t-j U- V-t' fc.f) -u "if.