Bryant scored 37 points, albeit on 12-for-30 shooting. And his final shot - a potentially game-tying 3-pointer over Gary Payton - came up short with 4 seconds left, sealing the Miami Heat's 97-92 Christmas win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.

The duo that led the Lakers to three straight championships didn't shake hands before the game, didn't embrace when it was over - and didn't want to talk about one other afterward.

"Just another game to me," O'Neal said. "It'll come back around in about 15 more days, because we go back out there in January and it'll be the same old stuff again. ... I wish you all would stop asking me about it."

"I don't think Shaq really worries about it," said Payton, who tied a season-high with 21 points - including a 3-pointer with 1:05 left to put Miami ahead for good. "I think he wants to play well, but he doesn't really worry about it. ... It's over."

The Shaq-Kobe rivalry is still one of the NBA's most compelling story lines. It's been the marquee Christmas matchup for two consecutive years, with the Heat winning in Los Angeles 104-102 last season - an overtime game where Bryant also missed a 3-pointer at the end.

And this game lured a star-studded crowd. Donald Trump and his wife Melania sat at midcourt, a few seats away from New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino was there, along with rapper Trick Daddy - and about 20,000 other red-clad people, many wearing Santa hats, incessantly banged candy-cane-striped noisemakers.

Bryant was the first to reach the center stripe for the opening tap, staring ahead as O'Neal walked past. Neither acknowledged the other, not even sharing the quick embrace that opened last year's Christmas game.

"I wasn't even thinking about it," Bryant said. "It is what it is. I just move on. I have my team to worry about and getting my guys ready for the game. I just go out there and do what I do."

Bryant has averaged 35 points in the three Heat-Lakers games since O'Neal was traded to Miami in July 2004. O'Neal is averaging 22.3 points in those three matchups.

O'Neal was at his best at the end, getting six late points - then finding Payton for the 3-pointer putting Miami ahead to stay. O'Neal had 18 points and 17 rebounds, while Dwyane Wade added 18 points for Miami.

Bryant appeared to catch Wade with an elbow early in the third quarter, knocking the Heat's star third-year guard back a couple steps. Wade angrily drilled Bryant with an elbow of his own, drawing a flagrant foul - his fourth personal, sending him to the bench for the final 11 minutes of the period.

Throughout much of the second half, they exchanged heated words, even getting into a bit of a shoving match at the scorer's table while each was trying to use the adhesive dust-collecting pad that players use to ensure their shoes have optimum grip.

"He's extremely disrespectful. I'm just going to leave it at that," Odom said. "It's dudes like that why things happen off the court between players and their friends and things like that. ... He needs to watch how he talks to other men. There's a difference between competing and how you talk to another man."

Payton spent the 2003-04 season with the Lakers, the year they lost to Detroit in the NBA Finals - and the last year that O'Neal and Bryant were teammates. He went there because he thought O'Neal could help him win an elusive first title, and signed a one-year deal with Miami to continue that pursuit.

"It's great to win against probably the hottest team in the NBA," Wade said. "The game was very competitive and no one was going to back down from anyone."

Chauncey Billups scored 20 points and the Pistons held the Spurs to their lowest-scoring first quarter before winning their seventh straight. Detroit has won 13 of 14 games to improve to an NBA-best 22-3.

Tony Parker scored 19 points and Tim Duncan had 18 points and 11 points for San Antonio, which missed 13 of its last 14 shots in the opening period.

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