Bruins, Celtics fall on West Coast

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Vincent Damphousse scored on a beautiful pass from Marco Sturm with 4:33 left as the San Jose Sharks beat Boston 3-2 on Friday night, spoiling Mike O’Connell’s debut as Bruins coach.

San Jose rallied from a two-goal deficit on the strength of Damphousse, the veteran center who was nearly traded last week. He had two goals and an assist, while Sturm had a goal and an assist.

Damphousse even won the faceoff that set up his winning goal. He went to the net as Sturm fired a perfect pass into the slot, where Damphousse easily beat former Sharks goalie Steve Shields for his 22nd goal of the season.

Incredibly, it was the Sharks’ only shot in the third period.

Glen Murray and Rob Zamuner scored early goals for the Bruins, who didn’t shed the inconsistency that led to O’Connell’s risky move earlier in the week.

O’Connell, who’s also Boston’s general manager, fired Robbie Ftorek on Wednesday and installed himself as the Bruins’ interim coach with nine games left in the regular season. He’s hoping to spark a team that got off to an outstanding start, but is 11 games under .500 since Dec. 8.

O’Connell spent four years in coaching – three as a minor-league head coach, and one as a Boston assistant – in the early 1990s, but he hadn’t been behind a bench since 1994. He paced nervously for most of the night, though he was emotionless when Damphousse scored his second goal.

Vesa Toskala made 28 saves for the Sharks, including several stops in the frantic final minute after the Bruins pulled Shields.

San Jose was surprisingly gritty in the second game of a stretch featuring three games in three nights. The Sharks’ game at Colorado was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday by snow, forcing San Jose to become the first NHL team to play three games in three nights since the Quebec Nordiques on Feb. 17-19, 1980.

San Jose hosts Anaheim on Saturday night.

Lakers 104, Celtics 96

LOS ANGELES – Shaquille O’Neal scored 48 points on 19-of-24 shooting and had 20 rebounds to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 104-96 victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday night.

The win was the Lakers’ first over the Celtics in their last four meetings.

Overpowering Boston’s Tony Battie and Mark Blount in the middle, the 7-foot-1, 340-pound O’Neal scored many of his points by taking lob passes and stuffing the ball into the basket over the virtually helpless defender.

He outweighs the 6-11 Battie by 100 pounds, and the 7-foot Blount by 90 pounds.

O’Neal also went 10-of-19 from the line.

Kobe Bryant, who scored 40 points or more in nine consecutive games earlier this season, again deferred to O’Neal, taking just 11 shots and scoring 13 points against the Celtics.

Antoine Walker led Boston with 25 points, but scored just five after halftime as the Celtics lost their third in a row. J.R. Bremer added 23 points and Paul Pierce 21.

The Lakers, who trailed by 13 just before halftime, took their first lead on Rick Fox’s 3-pointer that put them up 64-63 with 5:14 remaining in the third quarter.

They stayed in front the rest of the way, building their first double-digit lead on Devean George’s 21-footer that made it 81-71 with 10:22 left. The Celtics got no closer than five after that.

The Lakers were coming off a 107-99 defeat by the Kings at Sacramento on Thursday night.

The Celtics came in against the Lakers off losses to New Jersey and Indiana by a combined 43 points. Boston averaged just 73 points in those two defeats.

Boston was up 52-41 at halftime against the Lakers, led by Walker’s 20 points.

O’Neal had 20 points in the half for Los Angeles, but only four in the second quarter, and none of his teammates scored more than five in the half.

O’Neal had 16 first-quarter points. Bryant had five points, the only other Los Angeles player to score in the first quarter, but Walker and Bremer scored 10 apiece for Boston and the Celtics led 26-23 at the end of the quarter.

Notes: O’Neal left Sacramento with a spoiled souvenir of his 20,000th career point. Someone scribbled an insulting expletive on the ball used when he got the milestone basket. The unknown culprit got to the ball sometime after Lakers public relations director John Black had grabbed it just before halftime. O’Neal, who was booed by the Sacramento crowd at halftime when his accomplishment was announced, said he hoped no one connected with the Kings was responsible. “I hope the Maloof family (Kings’ owners Gavin and Joe Maloof) doesn’t condone this kind of action,” said O’Neal, the 28th NBA player to reach the plateau. “I will not hold the city of Sacramento responsible, but whoever did this shows no class. I know the Maloofs allow a lot of stuff. If they do condone this, I’ll be very disappointed in that organization. But this is one thing I won’t forget, and I’ll see you soon.” Black said the Lakers sent the ball back to the Kings. … Seated in the first row Friday night – chatting and smiling – were a pair of reminders of the long and storied rivalry between the two teams, former Celtics center and one-time player-coach Bill Russell and former Boston guard – and past Lakers coach – coach Bill Sharman.

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