Kobe Bryant, fresh off his magical finish in Portland, made one of 11 shots in the fourth quarter. Shaquille O'Neal had thundered around the court all night but had not scored a field goal in the second half.

But Bryant's airball fell to O'Neal under the rim. He powered a dunk through Yao Ming's slap with 17.4 seconds left, giving the Lakers a 72-71 victory in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series Saturday night. And the Rockets lost on an airball.

"Let's face it, we got our stop again and didn't get the rebound and compounded it by not fouling before he shot the ball," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said.

But the Rockets had 17.4 seconds to set up and play for the win, and if they didn't get just the shot they wanted, they did get a good one.

Steve Francis used a Maurice Taylor pick to break toward the lane and draw the defense before finding Jim Jackson alone in the corner. Jackson coolly launched his 3-point shot, but it caught the side of the rim and bounced away, enabling 18,997 in Staples Center to roar in celebration as the Rockets dropped an eerily familiar Game 1 five years after their previous trip to Los Angeles to begin the postseason.

"That's a play I know Steve makes all the time," Jackson said. "I was ready. I knew once he got to the hole, if he didn't have the shot, he would look for me there. When I let it go, I thought it was in. I thought it was in."