EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Heading into tonight's second game of the NBA championship series, New Jersey Nets coach Byron Scott knows he has a problem, and if the axiom about recognizing a problem means you're halfway toward solving it were true, things would be fine.

But just knowing that Los Angeles center Shaquille O'Neal, who torched the Nets for 36 points and 16 rebounds in the Lakers' 99-94 Game 1 win Wednesday night, presents a dilemma hardly means a solution is imminent.

After all, everybody knows O'Neal is the NBA's most dominant force, and every opposing team has to prepare to stop him during the regular season and in the playoffs.

It just so happens that for the rest of the NBA Finals, that task belongs solely to Scott, and if he had any answers yesterday before the Nets practiced at the Lakers' training facility, he wasn't of a mind to share them.

"You think I'm going to sit here and tell you, right?" Scott said. "OK, I've got some property in the swamp I want to sell you, too."

The truth is, the Nets and Scott had better come up with something to slow O'Neal or move him out of his happy place, or they'll wish the Meadowlands area they play in was a still a swamp they could sink into.

For his part, O'Neal, the Most Valuable Player in last year's Finals, plans to be ready for whatever the Nets elect to do.

"They are probably going to squish it up," O'Neal said of the Nets. "We're used to all types of defenses. And, you know, I've been getting doubled all my life, so it will be nothing new. We just have to move the ball and take the high-percentage shots.

"To me, personally, it doesn't matter whether I get 20 [points] or whether I get 40; just focus on winning each game that we play. Double and triple and kick it out to my guys. We'll see what they're going to do and, hopefully, we can get some other guys going."

O'Neal was superb Wednesday, hitting eight straight shots in the first half as the Lakers led 29-14 after one period and later broke out to a 23-point lead. And he was equally impressive in the fourth quarter, in which he scored 14 points, including hitting eight of 16 free throws.

"We had the same problems that a lot of people have," said New Jersey center Todd MacCulloch, one of three Nets big men to guard O'Neal. "He's very aggressive and very talented. He got off to a very good start, so I don't think he has any problems with confidence. With the way he started off, it was probably a bad sign for us."

But O'Neal and his teammates hit a lull in the middle of the game, allowing the Nets to slice the Los Angeles lead to three in the closing minutes before the Lakers held them off.

The comeback -- in which the Nets outscored the Lakers over the final three periods -- served as the proverbial rose among the thorn of losing.

"In the first quarter, it seemed like we didn't do anything right, in the sense of rebound," said Nets guard Jason Kidd, who had a triple double. "We were just standing around watching. It was kind of like the Lakers were going through a dummy offensive drill where we were just standing and watching, and they were doing everything right and they were the aggressors."

"The biggest thing is we didn't quit. We got it down to three at one point. We just couldn't get over the hump. For us to dig a hole that deep and to come back and compete, you can take that as a positive and, hopefully, we won't dig ourselves a hole that deep."

The Nets have to hope they haven't handed the Lakers the wake-up call they seem to periodically need to get going.

"We're not going to let that [Nets comeback] happen again," said Lakers forward Rick Fox. "We recognize that we can play better. We will play better. The opportunity to win another championship is right in front of us, with three more wins and one game [tonight] on our home floor coming up. To play the way we played in the first quarter for 48 minutes is the goal."

If that happens, the Nets will confront their worst nightmare.

NOTES: The Lakers' Phil Jackson, who coached Michael Jordan when both were in Chicago, said he hopes Jordan will play 65 to 70 games for the Washington Wizards next year. ... Ratings for the first game of the NBA Finals dropped 15 percent from last season's opener. Wednesday night's game drew a 10.6 rating with a 20 share. Last year's game, a 107-106 overtime win by Philadelphia over Los Angeles, drew a 12.4-23. Each rating point for the broadcast networks represents 1,080,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 100.8 million TV homes.

NBA Finals

(Best of seven; *-if necessary)

All games on chs. 11, 4

L.A. Lakers vs. New Jersey

(L.A. Lakers lead series 1-0)

Game 1: L.A. Lakers 99, New Jersey 94

Today: New Jersey at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m.

Sunday: L.A. Lakers at New Jersey, 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday: L.A. Lakers at New Jersey, 9 p.m.

*June 14: L.A. Lakers at New Jersey, 9 p.m.

*June 17: New Jersey at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m.

*June 19: New Jersey at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m.