By Brian Mahoney
Associated PressPHOENIX ó Shaq danced and Kobe dazzled.
And just like the good ol’ days, they won again.
Bryant led all scorers with 27 points, O’Neal partied his way back onto the All-Star stage with 17 in just 11 minutes and the Western Conference beat the East 146-119 Sunday night.
“It felt like old times,” O’Neal said. “I miss those times. He was really looking for me, especially when we went to a pick-and-roll and they had Rashard Lewis on me.”
Back on the same team for the first time in nearly five years, the three-time champions shared the game MVP award. They helped the West get going after an awful start, then teamed up for a few buckets that helped blow it open in the third quarter.
“I tell you what, those two guys together, that’s a deadly combination as we all saw tonight and we have all seen in the past,” East coach Mike Brown said. “They are where they are right now, but if they were to stay together, no telling how many more rings they would have had on their fingers and toes.”
And they did it in the ways that made them so different ó Bryant with his cold-as-ice stare and focus, O’Neal as the oversized clown who made fans and foes alike laugh.
O’Neal is now complimentary of Bryant, calling him the best player in the NBA. Bryant still seems uncomfortable talking about his relationship with O’Neal ó if there is much of one.
“We are not going to go back to the room and watch ‘Steel Magnolias’ or something like that, you know what I’m saying, crying, all that stuff,” Bryant said. “We had a good time. That’s all.”
It was their first time on the floor as teammates since the 2004 NBA finals. O’Neal was traded to Miami, breaking apart a duo well known for its frequent feuding.
“I think it is a great life lesson for people,” West coach Phil Jackson said. “This is something that the people work together, people find a way to get through situations, find harmony in their life, find cohabitation.”