LOS ANGELES — The points kept coming, faster and more furious as the Los Angeles Lakers looked again and again for their big man.

A monster dunk here, a short bank shot there, and even 13 foul shots, a seldom-reached total for Shaquille O'Neal.

In a coming-of-age game for one of the league's superstars, O'Neal finished with a career-high 61 points and 23 rebounds on his 28th birthday last month, leading the Lakers to another victory.

Yes, it was against the lowly Los Angeles Clippers. But so what? Nobody has been able to stop Shaq's attack this season.

Opponents will try again during the playoffs, starting Sunday with the Sacramento Kings.

But if the regular season is any indication, the Lakers might as well already get sized up for rings for their first championship in 12 years.

"We've won the regular-season title, that's what you work for when you open the season," first-year Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "And then you put it behind you and you go into a playoff situation where there's a whole different level of intensity. You bring it up another notch."

The Lakers have failed in the postseason in recent years. They lost twice to Utah and once to San Antonio, earning a reputation as underachievers.

"We've always been the team to beat," said O'Neal, in his fourth year with Los Angeles. "We just have to do what we've been doing, and get sharp on certain things. We'll be all right."

The hiring of Jackson and his staff undoubtedly had a lot to do with the Lakers' 67 regular-season wins, second-best in franchise history and better than any of the Magic Johnson-led Showtime teams of the 1980s.

There are other factors, like the improved health and play of O'Neal, the maturation and development of Kobe Bryant and the addition of veteran role players Ron Harper, A.C. Green and Brian Shaw.

O'Neal and Bryant have at times been as dominant as Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen when Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls to six championships during the '90s. In addition, the Lakers' defense has been stifling when necessary, and the supporting cast has done its job.

That said, there's nothing to celebrate yet. The Lakers will be the first to admit it.

"Potential doesn't mean anything," said Harper, who joined the Lakers this season after winning three rings in Chicago. "This team had it for the last four or five years, right? We have to go show folks. We have something to prove."

Lakers owner Jerry Buss finally loosened the purse strings to hire Jackson last summer at a cost of $30 million over five years.

Previous Lakers coaches weren't paid anywhere near that kind of money, but Buss changed direction after watching the turbulence under Del Harris, the coach for a little over four seasons, and Kurt Rambis, interim coach after Harris was fired last season.

"When Phil came in with six world championship rings, he immediately commanded the respect of our team," said 72-year-old assistant Bill Bertka, the lone holdover from the previous regimes. "He has their total attention."

That wasn't always the case under Harris or Rambis, who had on-court differences with players for the world to see.

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An example of how Jackson has earned respect is the way he's dealt with Bryant.

On occasion, Jackson has gotten in the 21-year-old all-star's face during timeouts because he's been out of control on the court. But that type of play has diminished considerably this season as Bryant developed into one of the NBA's top players at both ends of the court.

"He's here to teach, I'm here to learn," Bryant said after one outburst.

More recently, Bryant said, "He just taught me the game of basketball."

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