His first blocked shot didn't come until the game was 43 minutes old, but Shaquille O'Neal's effortless swat of an Orlando Magic shot late Wednesday night was still symbolic.

Again, it painfully reminded the Magic that while O'Neal might be gone, he can never be fully forgotten. And the massive 7-foot-1, 315-pound center showed once again that he will never pass up the opportunity to slap his former team back into its place.

O'Neal had an utterly dominant 30 points and 14 rebounds and his Los Angeles Lakers turned a close game into a stunning rout in the fourth quarter, defeating a deflated Magic team 111-93 before a TD Waterhouse Centre sellout crowd.

"We just waited until the end of the third (quarter), beginning of the fourth until we picked up our defense a little bit," said O'Neal, who made 13 of 19 shots. "In the first half they shot the lights out, but we knew we had a chance. We just started pounding it inside and Kobe (Bryant) lit it up. I hit a couple (post-up shots) and Kobe hit a couple and we really spread the wealth."

When his Magic's collapse was complete Wednesday night, it was hard to tell what was more upsetting to Orlando head coach Doc Rivers. First, there was the fact that Orlando wilted down the stretch and showed little fight when the Lakers made their decisive run. Rivers was also perturbed that veteran center Horace Grant missed the game with an intestinal virus, leaving the Magic with only 6-foot-8 Don Reid and 6-foot-10 Andrew DeClercq to battle O'Neal.

"Yeah, I'm disappointed (with Grant)," Rivers said. "He was sick and I'll never question that. But show up and at least give it a go. He's sick and there's nothing you can do about sick. But we could have used him."

Los Angeles (31-12) outscored Orlando (23-23) 36-16 in the fourth quarter to wipe out a two-point deficit. Pat Garrity (six 3-pointers) and Tracy McGrady each had 22 points for the Magic. Orlando shot just 40.5 percent from the floor and made just 11 of their 31 3-point tries.

"It's just heartbreaking to have the World Champions in here and lead them the whole game and not be able to finish," McGrady said. "We hung our heads when they took the lead. That's very disappointing and we've got to learn from that. We've got to stay in there and fight when a team makes a run back at us."

Bryant had 23 points, 12 coming in the decisive fourth quarter. He made just 9 of 23 shots, but did have eight rebounds and four assists.

O'Neal was booed during the pregame introductions and there was a smattering of mocking cheers each time he missed a shot, but the scene clearly has lost its luster now. O'Neal, who has averaged 31.5 points and 15 rebounds against the Magic, has won four of his five games back in Orlando. Overall, he's 9-1 in the 10 games he's played against the Magic. He admitted he was dismayed by the news that owner Rich DeVos was putting the Magic up for sale.

"Orlando is a great place to play and the fans have always been behind their team," O'Neal said. "It's always been a very loud place to play. I would hate to see them go. Hopefully it will work out in everybody's favor."

Without veteran center Patrick Ewing and Grant, had little chance of even slowing down O'Neal. DeClercq played O'Neal most of the third quarter, trying without much success to shove the 315-pounder off the low block. O'Neal, who threw a wild punch at Chicago's Brad Miller after a hard foul earlier this month, took particular exception to one hard foul by DeClercq. His thunderous dunk attempt ricocheted back up to the scoreboard and he muttered words in DeClercq's direction as he walked to the free throw line.

Orlando led by as many as nine early in the third period and again by seven late when McGrady dunked on Rick Fox and then buried a deep jumper over an outstretched O'Neal. As he walked to the huddle for a timeout, McGrady screamed to no one in particular, "My house, my house!"

But Orlando settled for far too many jump shots and allowed the Lakers to creep back into the game. Los Angeles was within two points by the end of the third period, and Bryant's jumper early in the final quarter gave the Lakers their first lead since 7-6.

Los Angeles' championship cool was clearly evident in the fourth quarter as the turned a deficit into a laugher. They scored the first 12 points of the fourth period and strung together a 17-2 run as the Magic fizzled. Orlando missed eight consecutive shots to start the period and 11 of its first 12.

Feeding off the emotion of the sellout crowd and the nationally televised audience, Orlando jumped to a stunning 22-11 start Wednesday. But the Lakers slowly chipped away at the lead by using O'Neal's brute strength, drawing within 51-47 at the break.

O'Neal's power was simply too much for Reid and DeClercq, and he was allowed to repeatedly back them down deep into the paint. O'Neal made eight of his first 11 shots -- most of them from point-blank range -- and had 19 first-half points.

But O'Neal's somewhat suspect supporting cast weren't nearly as effective. Bryant missed six of his nine shots early on and O'Neal's supporting cast shot just 10 of 30 in the first half.

Orlando shot the ball particularly well in the first half, hitting seven 3-pointers. Garrity made the Lakers pay time and again for sagging to shut off McGrady's drives, hitting four 3-pointers and scoring 14 first-half points.

One of the most eventful sequences of the first half came late in the second quarter. Bryant tipped away a Magic pass and coasted in for what seemed to be an easy dunk. But Bryant's double-pump dunk hit off the back iron, much to the delight of the hostile crowd. Magic point guard Darrell Armstrong scooped up the loose ball and fed it to Garrity, who sank a deep 3-pointer.