LAKERS TURN THIS INTO SOMETHING INTERESTING.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Kobe Bryant got a hug from Shaquille O'Neal. Andrew Bynum got a forearm under the chin - and stayed upright and conscious and everything.

Suddenly, after a 100-92 Lakers victory over the Miami Heat in front of a raucous crowd at Staples Center on Monday night, this rivalry looks a little different.

An interesting tendency had developed since Kobe and Shaq began playing basketball against each every once in a while instead of with each other most of the time.

Shaq's team had been winning all the games.

Did I say interesting?

I meant monotonous.

We've all focused on the touchy-feely part of these twice-a-season meetings between the Lakers and Heat. L.A. and Miami fans actually got to their seats before game time to see if Bryant and O'Neal were going to kiss or punch it out or something in between. You wouldn't shell out that much money for a ticket and then risk missing the most important part of the show.

In a subplot, the rivalry was turning totally one-sided, Shaq's Heat having won all three showdowns heading into Monday's, a game Kobe's Lakers needed to win to keep this from becoming the slowly unfolding equivalent of a playoff-series sweep.

``That's the important part of it,'' Phil Jackson said of the winning-and-losing aspect of the evening.

O'Neal approached Bryant for a brief chat during warm-ups and they shook hands and hugged before tipoff, their warmest display of affection since parting, and the fans made approving noises.

Then, on with the ... whattayacallit ... game.

To sum up, the Lakers stood up to Shaq, and that takes some pretty big standing, in the second and last Lakers-Heat game of 2005-06 (assuming they don't go to the NBA Finals).

``It's big for us to beat a championship contender,'' Bryant said.

The moment to keep came late in the first half when Bynum, 17, took a Bryant pass and spun to the right baseline and clear around Shaq, 33, for a right-handed dunk that gave the Lakers a 54-40 lead. At the other end of the court, the 7-foot, 275-pound Bynum bumped the 7-foot-1, 325- pound Shaq as they sought position at the edge of the lane. Shaq responded with a right forearm that caught Bynum where someday he'll have whiskers.

``A whack I'll probably feel tomorrow,'' Bynum called it.

Bynum lurched backward but kept his feet. The only damage was the technical fouls given to both men. And maybe a small dent in the visitor's ego.

``This was kind of a first test to see what Andrew is made of,'' Bryant said. ''I didn't know the kid had that big a (heart).''

O'Neal, whose verbal jabs and comic silences has done more to keep alive the personal rivalry with Bryant, seems resigned to the idea that they will be forever entangled in basketball history.

Bryant probably hopes to be known for bigger things.

The last thing Kobe needs is to have the second half of his career defined by an inability to beat Shaq heads-up, to become Wilt Chamberlain to Shaq's Bill Russell, Phil Mickelson to Shaq's Tiger Woods, Alydar to Shaq's Affirmed, Adlai Stevenson to Shaq's Dwight Eisenhower, Mellencamp to Shaq's Springsteen.

But that's the way it was going since the two men who won three NBA titles together as the Lakers began meeting as opponents after O'Neal was packed off to Miami in the summer of 2004.

Christmas Day 2004, Staples Center: Heat, 104-102 in overtime. Kobe scores 42, but commits nine turnovers and misses the final shot. Shaq has 24 and 11 rebounds before fouling out. Dwyane Wade has 29 as Shaq's teammates pick him up.

St. Patrick's Day 2005, Miami: Heat, 102-89. Kobe scores 26, missing 15 of 23 shots. Shaq has 25 and 12 rebounds. Wade leads everyone with 27.

Christmas Day 2005, Miami: Heat, 97-92. Kobe has 37 but goes 0 for 8 on 3-point shots and misses a 3-pointer to tie with 2.9 seconds on the clock. Shaq has 18 and 17 rebounds. Ex-Laker Gary Payton goes off for 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting.

And, now, Martin Luther King Day 2006: Lakers, in a breakthrough. Kobe has 37. Shaq has 18. Bynum has the moment of his young life.

Now it's Shaq 3, Kobe 1, and it's a contest.

In other news, in two years of Lakers-Heat showdowns, Udonis Haslem now is 3-1 against Brian Cook. But that's a song for another day.