San Antonio claims Game 1 from Los Angeles

San Antonio gained the edge by beating the Lakers for the fifth straight time.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- With Shaquille O'Neal on the bench with six fouls, San Antonio was big enough to beat the Los Angeles Lakers.
Unfortunately for the Spurs, Shaq will be back.
San Antonio made the most of its size advantage after O'Neal fouled out with 3 minutes, 26 seconds remaining, posting an 87-82 victory Monday night in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Wednesday night in San Antonio.
"It was good to get this one, but we still have a mountain to climb," said Spurs center David Robinson, who had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
"They're the defending champs and they're not going to give up that easy."
O'Neal agreed, saying, "We wanted to come down here and get two. Now we can just get one, but we can still take the home-court advantage."
Producing the points
Robinson scored San Antonio's only basket after O'Neal left the game on a layup with 2:56 remaining to put the Spurs ahead, 81-73. After that, it was only foul shots -- three by Tim Duncan, two by Robinson and one by Tony Parker.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the court, Kobe Bryant was hot.
Bryant scored 13 of his game-high 37 points in the fourth quarter, including back-to-back 3-pointers to trim the Spurs' lead to 85-82 with 1:08 remaining. But after that, he stepped out of bounds on a drive and then he missed a 3-point attempt with 11.8 seconds on the clock.
"It's a seven-game series," Bryant said later. "You just have to build a rhythm and get a better understanding of the team and how it flows."
Duncan, who received his MVP trophy before the game, had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Spurs, while rookie Manu Ginobili had 15 points, including a key 3-pointer and a pair of steals in the fourth quarter.
"I didn't feel very good in the first half -- I had a couple of penetrations that I couldn't finish," said Ginobili, who had only one point in the first two periods. "I feel much better about my second half."
The win was San Antonio's fifth straight over the Lakers, which needed nine games to eliminate the Spurs in each of the last two postseasons.
Quick fouls
O'Neal picked up three fouls in little more than a minute of the fourth quarter, his sixth coming when he went over Robinson's back while trying to rebound his own miss.
He finished with 24 points and 21 rebounds.
"Shaq did a great job getting low," said Duncan, who matched up against him for part of the game. "We did a decent job defending him."
San Antonio went up 64-54 on a jumper by Speedy Claxton with 10:41 remaining.
Then, the Lakers went on a 12-3 run to close the gap to 67-66 on an 8-foot jumper by O'Neal.
The Spurs got the lead back to 79-71 on a pair of free throws by Robinson after O'Neal's sixth foul.
Derek Fisher started the final burst for Los Angeles with a 3-pointer before Bryant hit his two 3-pointers from almost the same spot on the right wing.
Bryant struggled offensively in the first half, making only six of his 19 field goal attempts. After that, he was 10-for-19.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.