Shaq has big role in big win

By MARY SCHMITT BOYER

O’Neal finished with 11 points and seven boards in Cleveland’s victory.

LOS ANGELES — Friday was why the Cavaliers got Shaquille O’Neal.

O’Neal finished with 11 points and seven rebounds in 22 productive minutes of the Cavaliers’ 102-87 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday afternoon. But it wasn’t the specifics of that line as much as the effect he had.

He was the centerpiece in a big lineup that featured him with, alternately, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao, Jamario Moon and/or J.J. Hickson. That allowed the Cavs to neutralize the Lakers’ size advantage and pretty much dominate from start to finish.

With O’Neal matching Pau Gasol’s 11 points and six rebounds, the Cavs trio of O’Neal, Ilgauskas and Varejao outscored Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom, 22-21, and outrebounded them, 25-17.

“We know we can match-up well with anybody,” said O’Neal, who led the Lakers to three titles earlier this decade but was booed often Friday. “I felt it was going to be a good test for us. The Lakers are the best team in the league. They have won it before. They have a lot of experience playing together. We’re still a somewhat new group. But there’s no quit in this team.

“Most of the games we’ve lost, we’ve beaten ourselves. But today we came out and stepped up to the challenge and got a good win here today. We know that if we buckle up and play the way we’re supposed to play, we can play with anybody.”

Of course, the anybodys who concern the Cavs most are teams with big, physical inside players like the Lakers and Orlando Magic. Historically, Cleveland has struggled against such opponents.

It’s still early, and it’s still the regular season, but this is the second time O’Neal really has made his presence felt — and not just those toys he gave out as Shaq-A-Claus.

The first time was in a 102-93 victory at Orlando on Nov. 11, when he played Dwight Howard even and led the Cavs to a big road victory.

Just like Friday.

“Shaq is a big, physical presence,” coach Mike Brown said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do anything dirty, but if he’s going to use a foul, you’re going to feel him. Even if he’s not going to foul, even if you run into him, you’re going to feel him. We’ve experienced that before. That’s definitely a positive in terms of trying to help us become a more physical defensive team.

“We had a great team and great players last year. But when you talk about Bynum and Gasol, and then coming off the bench with Odom, that’s a big team. If you can, you’d like to be able to be just as big, if not bigger.”

That’s part of the reason the Cavs got Shaq, Brown said.

“We felt that we needed to add some size and that’s what we did,” he said. “Tonight it worked. Another night it may not work. I don’t know.

“But we do feel good about the size we’ve added.”