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  Friday, Feb. 25 10:30pm ET
Lakers' winning streak reaches 10
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Phil Jackson believes there's a difference between the Los Angeles Lakers team that is on a 10-game winning streak, and the one that put together a 16-game victory string earlier this season.

Shaquille O'Neal
The Lakers got another typical effort from Shaquille O'Neal: 28 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists.

"I think we're a better team now than we were a couple of months ago," the Lakers coach said after Friday night's 109-96 romp over the Boston Celtics.

While Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant carried most of the load for the Lakers during their 16-game winning streak Dec. 11-Jan. 12, this streak looks like a team achievement.

"Our execution is a little bit better than it was during the first streak," Bryant said.

O'Neal still is the main man, and he scored 28 points and had 15 rebounds against the Celtics. Bryant had 17 points, including several spectacular dunks for the Lakers, who never trailed and were in control virtually all the way.

Glen Rice started the Lakers rolling, however, by scoring 12 of his 20 points in the first quarter as Los Angeles opened a 30-17 lead. The Celtics got no closer than 10 afterward.

"I was happy with the performances by Shaquille and Glen Rice," Jackson said. "And Kobe made some spectacular plays."

O'Neal scored the majority of his points on dunks over centers Vitaly Potapenko or Tony Battie -- both some three inches shorter than the Lakers star. O'Neal was 13-of-20 from the floor.

O'Neal also had six assists as the Lakers, who made 41 baskets, totaled 35 assists. Ron Harper was high in that category with seven, and nine Lakers had two assists or more.

"That was an unusual NBA game with 35 assists on our 41 baskets," Jackson said. "We had a lot of offensive opportunities. We had kind of a layup line going out there."

The Lakers just returned from a six-game road trip, and O'Neal, who missed most of his short jumpers against the Celtics, said: "That was the ugliest 28 points I ever had. I think that jet lag caught up with me. I'm going to go home and get to bed and get back in the right time zone."

Antoine Walker led Boston with 25 points and Paul Pierce added 19.

"They were kind to us," Boston coach Rick Pitino said. "It could have been a lot worse. Certain substitution patterns helped keep it respectable.

"They showed a lot of class. They are a much better team than we are."

This is the fourth time in franchise history that the Lakers have had two double-digit winning streaks during a season. It also happened in 1987-88 (16 and 11); 1986-87 (11 and 12) and 1972-73 (13 and 11).

The Celtics, who are 6-23 on the road, narrowed the gap to 53-43 on Pierce's two free throws in the opening minute of the third quarter, but Los Angeles pulled away with a 13-4 run over the next five minutes.

The Lakers' biggest lead was 22, at 46-24 midway through the second quarter. Los Angeles led 53-41 at the half and 84-66 heading into the final period.

Game notes
Boston guard Dana Barros was placed on the injured list Friday because of back spasms, and the Celtics activated guard Doug Overton. ... The Lakers began their current winning streak a game after their worst loss of the season, a 105-81 defeat in San Antonio on Feb. 1. ... Los Angeles is 8-0 against Atlantic Division teams. ... The Celtics did not play in Los Angeles last season because of the shortened schedule. They beat the Lakers 108-102 on Dec. 28, 1997, their last trip out, when the Lakers were still at the Forum.
 


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