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LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Shaquille O'Neal kept muscling and Reggie Miller kept missing. O'Neal manhandled his way to 43 points and 19 rebounds, powering the Los Angeles Lakers to a 104-87 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game One of the NBA Finals. O'Neal destroyed Indiana's foolish attempt at single coverage as he made 21-of-31 shots, nearly all of them from inside five feet. The 7-1, 325-pounder simply pushed Rik Smits and Sam Perkins out of the way and repeatedly rattled the rim with dunks and layups off post moves and follow shots. "I try to get to a certain position," O'Neal said. "If they take one of my positions away, I just go to a different one. I'm shooting hooks, going for the power moves. I think if those shots keep falling, we're going to be a tough team to beat." Asked how he would defend himself, O'Neal said, "I wouldn't. I would just go home. I would fake an injury or something." O'Neal made just 1-of-6 free throws, which only cost him a chance at surpassing his playoff career-high of 46 against Sacramento in the first round. He added four assists and three blocks, twice swatting away drives by a persistent Miller. "When (Shaq) does that, I just say, 'Thanks for the night off, chief,'" All-Star teammate Kobe Bryant said. While O'Neal's offense consisted of a drop in the bucket, Miller could not throw a rock into the nearby Pacific Ocean. Playing his first NBA Finals game near his hometown of Riverside, he went scoreless in the first half, missed his first eight shots and finished a horrific 1-of-16, scoring a career playoff-low seven points. "Three or four of them were wide-open looks. You really can't press on wide open looks," Miller said. "I feel bad I only got up 16 shots. If I was going to be 1-for-16, I at least should have been 1-for-25 or something like that." "There's no one giving up on him," Pacers coach Larry Bird said. "We want him to continue to shoot if he has a shot." A brief synopsis took place in the first minute of the fourth quarter. After the Pacers fought back from a 17-point deficit to 77-71, O'Neal powered home consecutive baskets and Miller answered with an airball. "I felt pretty good to get deep touches and not go up with single coverage or double coverage," O'Neal said. "I was just taking high-percentage shots." "It seemed like every time we got down four or six points, Shaq took over the game," Bird said. "He's so powerful, he went over us and put the ball in." Indiana again got within six points on a jumper by Austin Croshere, who scored 16 points off the bench. O'Neal answered with two short jumpers around a hook before Rick Fox's 3-pointer made it 94-79 with 4:39 left and had the sellout crowd of 18,997 at the Staples Center singing, "I Love LA." O'Neal was not finished, adding another layup and his fourth dunk before departing to chants of "MVP, MVP" with 2:33 remaining. The 7-4 Smits had fouled out 90 seconds earlier, sitting down with 12 meaningless points as he played somewhat timid. "He got good position down low and made us pay," Smits said. "We doubled him, we played him straight up. He was effective both ways," Bird said. "He's catching the ball in the paint with one foot in the paint. If he does that all series long, it's just a little jump-up for him to score." The Lakers became just the second team in nine tries since the advent of the current playoff format in 1984 to follow a Game Seven in the conference finals with a win in the Finals opener. Game Two is Friday at Los Angeles. "It was understandably the first game of a seven-game series between different conference champions, East and West, and obviously it took on that pallor," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who is trying to become just the second coach in NBA history to lead two teams to titles. "We will be prepared for a better game on Friday night." Quieted by O'Neal's thunder, Bryant scored 14 points and Ron Harper 12 for Los Angeles. The duo took turns chasing Miller around a maze of screens for most of the game, trying to make things difficult for the league's best long-range shooter. "I couldn't put the ball in the basket," Miller said, adding, "I tell you what, if they continue to give me those looks, they're going to be in trouble." "His shot just didn't fall," Harper admitted. Mark Jackson had 18 points and seven assists for the Pacers, who are in the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. Indiana is 11-0 in series' when it wins Game One and 0-11 when it loses the opener. There were questions about how the Pacers would match the force of O'Neal and they were not answered. Los Angeles shot 51 percent (45-of-88) and held a 48-36 advantage on the glass. The Lakers never trailed after the first two minutes, scored 64 points in the paint and had 18 second-chance points. "I don't think one guy can push him out and and try and make him go out farther," Jackson said. "We're going to have to make some adjustments." "They absolutely killed us on second shots," Croshere said. "When you give a guy that big that many shots at the basket, you're not going to win." Jalen Rose scored 12 points for the Pacers, who shot 42 percent (32-of-76). Despite the early local start, the late-arriving Lakers fans were more of a force than usual. They certainly showed up earlier than Miller, who did not score from the field until 5:42 remained in the third quarter for his only basket. "My first four baskets went in and out. Every shot but one felt good," Miller said. With O'Neal facing single coverage, he was unstoppable. He scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, muscling over Smits or turning away from him for short jumpers. Harper also had a big opening quarter with eight points while shutting out Miller. His 3-pointer gave Los Angeles a 33-16 lead in the final minute of the period and threatened to turn the game into what everyone fears the series will be -- a rout. Jackson scored the final basket of the quarter and triggered a 15-4 run that was carried by reserves Croshere and Travis Best, who scored four points each. A 3-pointer by Rose had the Pacers back within 37-31 with 7:52 left and Lakers coach Phil Jackson calling timeout. But Los Angeles' bench responded. Robert Horry had a dunk and jumper and Fox sank an 18-footer in a 16-5 burst that Derek Fisher finished with a 3-pointer, rebuilding the lead to 53-36 with 2:16 to go in the first half. Croshere's jumper and three-point play made it 55-43 at halftime. He led the Pacers with 11 points, while O'Neal powered his way to 21. With Miller slumping, Jackson looked to score in the third quarter and Indiana rallied despite Smits sitting with his fifth foul. Miller finally got involved with five free throws around his running bank shot. Jackson had a three-point play and fed a wide-open Dale Davis for a dunk before his driving layup made it 71-69 with 1:42 left in the period and the cavernous building suddenly was quiet. But the Lakers regrouped as Bryant hit a pair of jumpers around O'Neal's block of Miller's drive. "I just timed it and just came from the other side and blocked it," O'Neal said. "He was overpowering and it was really a one-man show out there," Bird said.
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