(by Mike Bresnahan, http://tinyurl.com/4tzc2)

  The Corvette survived the brick wall, a nice and tidy Laker memory for
another day, but the Lakers couldn't survive the most hyped regular-season game
of this season, if not all others, providing a more lasting snapshot of the
first meeting between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.

  With a phalanx of TV cameras and reporters on hand to document all that would
happen, including the slightest sign of love or hate between the former-
teammates-turned-rivals, Bryant scored a season-high 42 points and enticed
O'Neal into fouling out, but the Miami Heat won in overtime, 104-102, in front
of 18,997 Saturday at Staples Center.

  In the end, Bryant missed his last five shots, including the potential game-
winner, a three-point attempt over Dwyane Wade at the buzzer in overtime. The
shot hit the left side of the rim and bounced away, the Heat won its team
record-tying 11th consecutive game, and O'Neal's old team fell to 14-12, en-
trenched in a win-lose-win-lose path that might or might not end with a playoff
appearance.

  "I didn't get the balance that I would have liked on the shot, and as a con-
sequence, the shot went left," Bryant said.

  O'Neal, standing in front of the Miami bench as the play unfolded in front of
him, showed no emotion after the miss. He clapped four times and walked onto
the court. The only Laker he talked to was forward Lamar Odom. Bryant went
directly to the Laker locker room.

  "I knew that it wasn't going to go in," O'Neal said. "It's called 'Shaq
O'Neal fate.'"

  Hours before, as cameras clicked and fans stood for the best view possible,
there wasn't as much of a pregame handshake as a half-hug. Bryant appeared to
want to say a word or two, while O'Neal favored quick physical contact, wrapp-
ing half an arm around Bryant's back, nothing more.

  "Being married, I don't want interplay or foreplay with another guy," O'Neal
said later, smiling.

  The Lakers set a team record by attempting 36 three-pointers. They made 14.

  Bryant had nine turnovers, one more than the Heat had as a team, and made 12
of 30 shots. O'Neal had 24 points on 11-for-19 shooting and had 11 rebounds
before fouling out with 2:15 left in the fourth quarter.

  Bryant, whether Corvette or Lamborghini or Hummer, went at the self-
proclaimed brick wall five different times, with mostly successful endings for
Bryant.

  The initial advantage went to O'Neal, who blocked Bryant's shot off a drive
20 seconds into the game. Bryant fared better on his next effort, making a
seven-footer over O'Neal off a drive 22 seconds later.

  "I backed the Hummer out of the garage and went straight to the bucket,"
Bryant said.

  They didn't come into contact again until the first minute of the second
quarter. Bryant found a path to the basket, and O'Neal, realizing who it was,
closed in from the other side and briefly staggered Bryant with a stiff, but
fair, foul.

  O'Neal walked away and winked. Bryant made both free throws.

  They had meaningful meetings two more times, both in the final minutes of the
fourth quarter. Bryant got the ball in the key and beat O'Neal with a crossover
, drawing a fifth foul from O'Neal with 4:04 left in the quarter. Bryant then
ended O'Neal's afternoon by driving to the basket and drawing O'Neal's sixth
foul. Bryant made both free throws to give the Lakers a 93-91 lead.

  "I felt that I had let my team down," O'Neal said. "All day, I was saying to
myself, no layups and no dunks. I kind of forgot I had five [fouls] at that
point.

  No layups and dunks for everybody?

  "Basically everybody, but especially, you know, him," O'Neal said.

  Wade, who had 29 points, had two chances in the last minute to break a 94-94
tie, but he missed an 18-footer with 23 seconds left, and, after Christian
Laettner kept the possession alive by tapping the rebound back out top, Wade
missed a 20-footer at the buzzer.

  Wade and Eddie Jones each had four points in overtime, and Laettner had two.
Odom scored all eight Laker points.

  O'Neal mused afterward that he knew he would get help from his teammates —
"I play with a lot of unselfish guys," he said — on a day when he was shadowed
from the time he set foot on the Staples Center loading dock.

  "The arena that I built," O'Neal said twice to a horde of TV cameras as he
walked through the corridors under the arena.

  After the game, O'Neal said he missed a lot about his former city, reeling
off a list of people and places, among them L.A. police officers and the
Beverly Center. He also noted what he didn't miss — traffic and "two or three
people."

  Which two or three people?

  "I don't know," he said. "Their names have been erased out of my memory bank.
"

  Bryant, who walked into the arena amid much less fanfare — only one camera
tracked him from car to locker room — had played down the game all week long,
but his post-practice remarks Friday belied his apparent nonchalance.

  "I thought his closing comments in practice were great," Laker Coach Rudy
Tomjanovich said. "He talked about keeping our poise, doing our jobs, not
making this bigger than it was. It was fantastic. I don't think I needed to add
anything to that."

  Afterward, Bryant said he'd seen and heard enough of the Shaq-Kobe hype.

  "Hopefully this is all behind us now," he said. "I think everybody's kind of
got the first game out of their system, and now we can just move on and talk
about basketball."