LOS ANGELES, 3 February 2004 — When Vince Carter put his head down, Gary Payton was heads up to give the Los Angeles Lakers a superb start on their road trip from hell.
Shaquille O’Neal scored a season-high 36 points, and Payton stripped Carter of the ball with 4.9 seconds left, allowing the short-handed Lakers to escape with an 84-83 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
“It was a pretty good game for me,” said O’Neal, who made 13-of- 20 shots in 39 minutes in just his third game back after missing 12 with a strained right calf.
The Lakers kicked off their longest road trip in 12 seasons — seven games in 11 days — without injured stars Kobe Bryant (cut right index finger) and Karl Malone (sprained right knee).
“It’s always important to get these to start it off,” said Payton, who finished with 14 points. “We’ve been beat up, so we have to take wins where we can get them, especially on the road. This was a great win for us.”
O’Neal scored 22 points and the Lakers built a 16-point halftime cushion, that was trimmed to 84-83 on Carter’s 3-pointer with 48 seconds to play.
With under 10 seconds remaining, Carter tried to slice down the lane through Rick Fox and Payton. Though he appeared to be held, no call was made. Instead, Payton stripped the All-Star swingman from the ball. O’Neal picked it up, and fed a long pass to Payton, who ran out the clock under his own basket.
Carter had 27 points and 10 rebound to pace Toronto, which has dropped seven of its last eight games. Donyell Marshall finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds while rookie Chris Bosh collected 17 points and 14 boards.
Timberwolves 106 Philadelphia 101
Kevin Garnett had 32 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, rallying the Timberwolves from their biggest deficit of the season to edge the visiting 76ers for their 21st win in the last 27 games.
Sam Cassell had 29 points, including two free throws in the waning seconds, and Latrell Sprewell added 21 as Minnesota overcame an 18-point first-half deficit for its 12th consecutive home victory.
Allen Iverson scored 28 points and Glenn Robinson had 27 for Philadelphia, which has dropped nine of its last 12 games.
Cavaliers 104 Wizards 100
Teenage rookie sensation LeBron James poured 19 of his career-high 38 points in the third quarter, leading the visiting Cavaliers past the Wizards.
“I was feeling it,” said James, who hit 14 of 27 field goals and 9-of-11 from the free throw line. “My teammates kept feeding me the ball, and I was able to get the shots I wanted.”
Carlos Boozer had 21 points to go along with 14 rebounds and four steals as Cleveland’s 18th victory of the season eclipsed its entire total of 2002-003 campaign. Rookie Jarvis Hayes scored 20 points to pace Washington. Jerry Stackhouse scored 13 points on five-of-14 shooting in his season-debut after undergoing knee surgery on Oct. 21.
