This time, O'Neal followed his father's advice.
Phil Harrison suggested his son ditch the power game, and O'Neal did, to a degree. He mixed finesse and power, producing a collage of turnarounds and jumpers and drop-steps and dunks.
Early in the third quarter, he took a power dribble across the lane, stopped and -- like a tennis player taking a backhand shot -- flicked the ball in.
"No one can really bang with Shaq," Wade said. "You have to create somebody. I mean this guy is the eighth wonder of the world."
Nets 96, Pacers 90
At Indianapolis, indiana, Richard Jefferson scored 30 points and the New Jersey Nets overcame Anthony Johnson's 40-point effort to beat the Indiana Pacers 96-90 and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Vince Carter added 24 points for the Nets, who won the best-of-seven series 4-2, while Jason Kidd had eight points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds.
Jermaine O'Neal scored 21 points for the Pacers, who played without Peja Stojakovic for the fourth time in the series because of a sore right knee. The team's second-leading scorer in the regular season, Stojakovic played in Indiana's only two wins in the series.
The third-seeded Nets will play second-seeded Miami, which eliminated Chicago in six games, in the second round.
Johnson, a former Net, hit a 3-pointer with 57 seconds left to make it 92-90, and after a miss by Carter, Indiana had a chance to tie. Johnson missed in close and O'Neal got the rebound, but Jefferson blocked his putback. Nenad Krstic made two free throws with 14 seconds left.
Suns 126, Lakers 118, OT
At Los Angeles, Boris Diaw and Shawn Marion each scored six points in overtime, Tim Thomas made two huge 3-pointers, and Phoenix forced a Game 7 with the Lakers in the first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Kobe Bryant scored all but one of the Lakers' 13 points in overtime, and finished with a career-playoff high 50.
Game 7 is Saturday night in Phoenix, where the second-seeded Suns beat the Lakers 114-97 to send the game series to Los Angeles. The home team has a 75-17 advantage in NBA playoff Game 7s.
The winner of the series will face the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round.
Steve Nash led the Suns with 32 points and 13 assists, while Leonardo Barbosa, starting for the suspended Raja Bell, scored 22 points. Thomas had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix, while Marion had 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Diaw added 19 points and seven assists.
The Lakers had won eight straight games at Staples Center including Games 3 and 4 of this series.
Thomas forced the overtime by making a 3-pointer with 6.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Bryant, the hero in Game 4, tried for another game-winner at the buzzer, but Marion got a piece of the ball and it fell short of the basket as time ran out.
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