Lakers - Kings 108-105

O' Neal (Lakers) pulls down a rebound against Divac (Kings)

Los Angeles, USA, May 6 (agencies) - Shaquille O'Neal, Lakers, finished with 44 points, 21 rebounds and seven blocked shots as Los Angeles beat Sacramento 108-105 (28-30, 25-24, 31-24, 24-27) in Western Conference semifinal openers Sunday.

Kobe Bryant added 29 points for Los Angeles, meaning the rest of the Lakers combined to score only 35.

"They're going to change the rules next season, but I guess they changed them for this series. I have a lot of respect for Shaq, he's a great player, but they weren't calling three seconds or swinging the elbows. Give me a break.'' - Kings' center Vlade Divac said after the match.

"The guy (O'Neal) is unbelievable. He's big, he's strong, he's quick. He's learned how to use his skills as well as his bulk and height. When he's coming into you, you have to give ground. You have to find a way to counteract it. I thought Vlade (Divac) and Scot (Pollard) tried, but he's a handful", Sacramento's coach Adelman said.

O'Neal had only one block of the final period, but it was a big one; he swatted away Jason Williams' driving layup with about 17 seconds remaining and the Lakers leading 104-101.

"I thought I had a shot, he just made a good play," Williams said.

"Jason's a sneaky-type player," O'Neal said. "I wasn't going to jump because I thought he was going to pass off. I just waited until the last second before I blocked it."

"We played good defensively on everybody but Shaq,'' Divac said. "We should try to do something different on him, but everything else should be the same."

Webber led Sacramento with a career playoff-high 34 points and eight rebounds. Predrag - Peja Stojakovic added 20 points, including a layup at the final buzzer; Williams scored 14 but committed six of the Kings' 16 turnovers, and Pollard had 14 rebounds in 21 minutes.

While acknowledging O'Neal's dominance, Lakers coach Phil Jackson pointed to Fox's defensive effort on Stojakovic as a key factor.

Stojakovic made only 6-of-18 shots, with many of the attempts under heavy pressure.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series will be played Tuesday night at Staples Center before the series moves to Sacramento for the third and fourth games.