Instead, the original skirmish between two of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players in the Lakers' 89-88 win on Wednesday has resulted in one-game suspensions for both players. O'Neal also was fined $10,000 and Barkley $5,000.

The teams will complete their home-and-home series on Friday night in Los Angeles.

The altercation occured with 9:03 left in the second quarter. The 6-6 Barkley grabbed a rebound under his own basket and was hit in the head by O'Neal before firing the ball at the 7-1 center's head.

O'Neal countered with an errant roundhouse left, and Barkley went low on the big man, trying to lift the 320-pounder by his legs before the rest of the players on the court jumped into the mix.

"Obviously, Charles didn't want to play and he did something unsportsmanslike and I reacted," O'Neal said after the game. "He did one of his stupid things and got ejected. I am frustrated at myself for losing my self-control.

"He will be the first one to tell you he's very lucky a couple of guys grabbed me."