Nick Van Exel

Shaquille O'Neal returned to the lineup with 31 points and 12 rebounds and Nick Van Exel handed out a career-high 23 assists as the Los Angeles Lakers used a game-ending 13-3 run to post their sixth straight win, 95-82 over the Vancouver Grizzlies. Eddie Jones had 21 points and Kobe Bryant added 16 for the Lakers, who have never lost to the Grizzlies in five all-time meetings. The winning streak is Los Angeles' longest of the season. "It wasn't a routine night at all for Van Exel," Lakers coach Del Harris said. "It was very unique in the sense that he didn't make any shots, he normally makes the shots. He's averaging 15 a game and about 20 over the last 18 games. I know he broke the 20-assist barrier for the first time in his career and he's very happy about that. We converted 30 points out of our last 18 fast breaks and that was really instrumental in him getting so many assists." Van Exel's 23 assists fell one shy of the team record. Magic Johnson had 24 twice, most recently against Phoenix on January 9th, 1990. The Lakers held a three-point edge with 4:01 remaining before a layup by Byron Scott and a dunk by Van Exel made it 86-79 with 2:48 to play. Anthony Peeler's three-pointer pulled Vancouver within 86-82, but O'Neal and Scott dunked and Jones converted a three-point play to give Los Angeles a 93-82 advantage with 63 seconds to go. Peeler scored 17 points and George Lynch contributed 12 and a career-high 16 rebounds for Vancouver, which suffered its fifth straight loss. The Grizzlies are a league-worst 6-27. "I was star-struck against Shaq," Vancouver rookie center Roy Rogers said. "But once I was over that I just tried to defend and keep him from making his shots. I got a few by myself but he's such a great player and he didn't give me much. I don't think anyone can stop that guy." The Lakers led 71-62 entering the fourth quarter but the Grizzlies used a 13-4 run, capped by Peeler's three-pointer, to pull into a 75-75 tie with 7:19 to play. "George and I were maybe too pumped up for this one," Peeler said. "We came out and were shooting shots that were going up but just didn't follow through. We weren't concentrating, we were over-concentrating. We weren't playing our style of ball, we were just trying to beat the Lakers and it didn't work for us." The Grizzlies had a 20-14 lead after the first quarter but Van Exel dished out 10 assists and O'Neal scored 12 points to give the Lakers a 47-40 lead at halftime. "When you shot 34 percent and 57 from the line it's hard to win the game," Grizzlies coach Brian Winters said. "Shaq is such a force both offensively and rebounding ... such a big body and strong. Big Country (Bryant Reeves) got in foul trouble and that didn't help him, having to play sporadically. But Roy came in and did a pretty good job for us. As for our shooting, I thought we had a lot of really good looks but they just didn't go." O'Neal had missed Friday's game against Sacramento with a sprained left ankle. Vancouver shot a dismal 35 percent (30-of-87) from the field but did have a 56-42 rebounding edge. The 56 rebounds is a Grizzlies' franchise record.