updated 9:23 p.m. ET Jan. 29, 2004

LOS ANGELES - Shaquille O’Neal is back, and Rick Fox, too. The star-studded Los Angeles Lakers are two steps closer to being whole.

O’Neal and Fox returned from injuries, and Gary Payton had 24 points against his former team as the Lakers used a strong finish to beat the Seattle SuperSonics 96-82 Wednesday night.

With Kobe Bryant having returned a game earlier, the only missing Lakers standout is Karl Malone, who will probably be sidelined until sometime in March because of an injured right knee.

So things are looking up for the Lakers, who won their second straight after going 5-10 following Malone’s injury.

“It always seems like we catch this team when they’re on their momentum high,” Seattle’s Antonio Daniels said. “They get Shaq back, they get Kobe back, they get Rick Fox back. But that’s the way it goes.”

The Lakers won despite Ray Allen’s third career triple-double and first this season. Allen had 22 points and season-high totals of 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

“We didn’t win. It would have been great to celebrate if we had won the game,” Allen said. “It’s like a ship passing in the night. You just see it and it goes.”

O’Neal missed 12 games because of a strained right calf, and Fox was playing for the first time since tearing a tendon in his left foot nine months ago.

O’Neal had seven points and five rebounds in 18 minutes and Fox scored two points in eight minutes.

O’Neal didn’t speak with reporters in the locker room, although while signing autographs as he left Staples Center, he did say: “I’m cool. It’s a little sore, but I’m cool.”

O’Neal played nearly nine minutes at the start and a little over nine to begin the third quarter.

“That was just the right amount of time,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said, adding he expected O’Neal to play more Friday night against Minnesota.

O’Neal had been sidelined since Jan. 2, when he was injured in the second quarter of a 111-109 loss at Seattle. The Lakers were 5-7 in his absence.

Fox received a standing ovation upon entering at the start of the second quarter.

“I got a little anxious there a couple times, but from the standpoint of running up and down the court and changing ends of the floor, playing defense, boxing out, all of those things felt good,” he said.

Bryant, who missed six games because of a sprained right shoulder before leading the Lakers to a 93-86 victory in Utah on Saturday night, added 14 points.

“I just try not to think about my shoulder,” he said. “It goes dead through certain parts of the game, but I just try to shake it off. It was good enough to play.”

The Lakers won by outscoring the Sonics 25-12 in the final period. Reserves accounted for all but six of their team’s fourth-quarter points and 36 overall.

“Our first unit didn’t look as smooth as our second unit,” Jackson said. “We were very fortunate to get that kind of help, that play off the bench.”

Rashard Lewis scored 22 points and Flip Murray added 13 for Seattle. Murray’s jumper early in the fourth quarter gave the Sonics a 72-71 lead, but the Lakers scored the next 12 points — all by reserves — to take command.

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