By Michael A. Lutz
The Associated Press

HOUSTON - Shaquille O'Neal is satisfied that his self-proclaimed title is still intact. O'Neal scored 39 points and took over the game in the closing minutes with three straight baskets as the Los Angeles Lakers overcame the emotionally charged Houston Rockets 96-93 Wednesday night.

O'Neal outplayed Houston's Yao Ming in their second meeting, then denied it was a statement game.

"I don't have to make statements," O'Neal said. "Everybody knows the type of player I am. I've been doing this for 10 years and just because he had one good game against me doesn't mean he had the MDE (most dominant ever) title.

"I took that title from Hakeem when he left Houston a couple of years ago."

Despite the Yao-Shaq matchup, the pre-game talk was about Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who told the team earlier in the day he would take an indefinite leave of absence to fight bladder cancer.

"I think we did a good job defensively, we just did not do the job down the stretch," Rockets acting coach Larry Smith said. "We're still learning. I lot happened this week. I'm not making excuses but this was a very trying day for us."

Houston led 89-86 with 2:37 to play before a basket by Robert Horry set the Lakers' winning rally in motion.

O'Neal followed with a 7-foot hook, a turnaround jumper, both over Kelvin Cato, and then went right at Yao and dunked on his third try for a 94-91 lead with 19 seconds remaining.

"He (O'Neal) gets pumped up on matchups like this," Kobe Bryant said. "He looks forward to silencing those people. It took him a minute to figure him out, but once he figured him out, he'll dominate him like he does everyone else."

Bryant scored 31 points for the Lakers with a team-high nine rebounds.

James Posey and Steve Francis each scored 19 points for Houston and Cuttino Mobley and Maurice Taylor scored 15 apiece.

The biggest lead of the game was Houston's early 20-10 edge. Then it got tight and stayed that way. There were 15 lead changes and 11 ties. O'Neal made the difference.

"He (O'Neal) was motivated, no doubt about it," Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said. "He really didn't want to come out of the game in the first half and in the second half I let him play more."

The Lakers took a 41-38 lead into the third quarter and had to fight to keep it. Los Angeles was leading 47-46 when Yao hit his chin on Rick Fox's head and fell to the floor. He had to leave the court briefly.

The Rockets edged ahead 55-52 in Yao's absence, but a basket by Derek Fisher and three free throws by Bryant gave the lead back to Los Angeles. The Lakers held a 66-64 advantage going into the final period.

The first meeting between Yao and O'Neal was a big media event, complete with Chinese protests over remarks O'Neal made concerning Yao. O'Neal had 31 points and 13 rebounds to Yao's 10 points and 10 rebounds, but the Rockets won the Jan. 17 meeting 108-104 in overtime.

Tomjanovich was diagnosed with the disease last week and missed the team's five-game road trip. He was expected to return for Wednesday night's game but said he thought his illness would be a distraction to the team.

Houston dazzled the Lakers by hitting four of their first six 3-point attempts, but Fox led a 12-2 run with a pair of 3-point baskets and the Lakers closed within 24-22 at the end of the first quarter.