Shaq's Dunk Delivers Lakers From Misery

LOS ANGELES - The playoffs arrived, and the Los Angeles Lakers hardly looked like championship material. But Shaquille O'Neal was in the right place to bail them out — barely in time. O'Neal's only basket of the second half, a dunk off an airball by Kobe Bryant with 17.4 seconds remaining, provided the winning points in the Lakers' 72-71 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.

playoff  n.(双方得分相等时的)最后决赛

dunk  v.泡, 浸;【体】高高跳起把篮球塞入篮中, 扣篮

bail out  v.舀出, 跳伞；跳起

the Los Angeles Lakers  洛杉矶湖人队

the Houston Rockets  休斯敦火箭队