LOS ANGELES, 27 May 2004 — Kobe Bryant scored all of his 22 points in the second half and Gary Payton had a playoff-high 18 as Los Angeles took Game Three of their NBA semifinal series from Minnesota 100-89 on Tuesday.
The Lakers bounced back from a bruising game-two loss, in which they scored a franchise-record low 71 points, to take a 2-1 series lead.
Los Angeles kept their perfect postseason record at home alive and moved to 7-0.
“We were playing so well as a team. Everybody’s contributing,” Bryant said. “Second half they looked to stop everybody else and I got going.”
Shaquille O’Neal rebounded from a poor performance in Game Two, muscling his way to 22 points and 17 rebounds. He had four blocks.
O’Neal overwhelmed the Timberwolves big men who spent 16 fouls trying to contain him.
“Today was a wild style of game, a scrappy style of game and we just scrapped it out,” O’Neal said.
By the end of the game, O’Neal was being intentionally fouled by Minnesota, who have no other way of containing him.
The 7ft 1in, 340-pound O’Neal made 7-of-10 shots and 8-of-22 foul shots to move past NBA legend Michael Jordan as the all-time postseason leader in free throw attempts with 1,768. “This was an opportunity to get 40 points. I just missed a couple of free throws,” O’Neal said.
With Kevin Garnett carrying a heavy load and point guard Sam Cassell hobbled by an injury, the Timberwolves turned to “Hack-a-Shaq” in the final minutes.
The plan didn’t work as O’Neal nailed six of his last nine foul shots, choking off a Minnesota rally.
“He had a good game. You saw it coming,” said Karl Malone of his Laker teammate O’Neal. “He got riled up and all of a sudden he got it going. “That is what I came here for, to play with a guy like that.”
After the teams traded technical fouls late in Game Two, Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said the series is now personal. Payton made it his personal quest to set the tone early in Game Three, scoring 14 points in the first quarter.
“He came out with a big start, explosive right out of the box,” said Bryant of Payton.
Bryant finished with a flourish after allowing point guard Payton to guide the offense early. Bryant attempted just two field goals in the first half.
But he finished with six assists as he sacrificed his game to get the rest of his teammates involved in the offense. All five Laker starters finished in double figures.
“I was sabotaging the game man,” Bryant joked of his lack of scoring in the first half.
“They were just crowding me and trapping me every time I came off a pick and roll.
“We had a nice lead. There was no reason for me to try and push through it or force shots.”
Garnett led the Timberwolves with 22 points, while Wally Szczerbiak came off the bench to score 21. Cassell and Latrell Sprewell also reached double figures with 18 points each.
“We wanted to go up 2-1 and we are disappointed,” said Timberwolves Mark Madsen. “But give the Lakers credit they deserved to win tonight.”
The Timberwolves started point guard Cassell who has been suffering from a bad back. Cassell lasted just 43 seconds in game two before hobbling off the floor with back soreness.
“It was a struggle from the beginning,” Cassell said. “It gets fatigued having that constant pressure, having to dribble the ball a lot. But that is the hand I have to play.”
