The Lakers Are Cut No Shaq, 110-97 : Pro basketball: After “bad” game Monday, the Magic’s rookie center gets 31 points, 14 rebounds in NBA Forum debut.

Unhappy over an 18-point performance Monday against Sacramento that many an NBA rookie would brag about, Orlando Magic rookie Shaquille O’Neal arrived for his NBA debut at the Forum Tuesday night with a mission.

“(Monday) night I had a bad game,” he said, “and I said to myself, ‘You don’t need two bad games in a row, because people will start saying the wall is coming.”

O’Neal kept that wall of physical and mental fatigue far away, getting 19 points during the first half and finishing with 31 points and 14 rebounds as the Magic overwhelmed the Lakers, 110-97, before 17,505.

Nick Anderson added 23 points and Scott Skiles 20 for the Magic (20-19). The Lakers’ starters combined for only 35 points; Anthony Peeler finished with a team-high 24 after keeping the Lakers in the game early.

“Shaquille O’Neal and their squad were way too much for us tonight,” Laker Coach Randy Pfund said after his team’s fourth loss in its last five home games. “For a young team, they played with a lot of confidence, even early in the game, when we were with them. None of our big guys did a good job on him. We don’t seem to be able to stand any kind of prosperity. Every time we play a good game, we come back with something less than a great effort.”

The Magic made an effort to change its game plan from its first meeting with the Lakers, getting the ball to O’Neal down low repeatedly and successfully. He made 13 of 17 shots.

“Tonight I caught it six times,” O’Neal said of lob passes from his teammates. “Most games, it’s only once or twice. Tonight, I was open.”

And the Lakers were dismayed after their first-ever loss to the Magic at the Forum.

“It’s very frustrating because we know what we need to do,” Peeler said. “We’re just not clicking. There’s always one person or two doing something right instead of the whole team. We’ve got to jell as a team and play together.”

In the teams’ first encounter, a 96-93 Laker victory Dec. 30 at Orlando, O’Neal had 23 points and 23 rebounds, tying Phoenix’s Charles Barkley for the most rebounds by a Laker opponent this season. “And I thought we did a good job on him. I thought we held him down,” Pfund said with a rueful laugh.

“It confirmed what I thought, that the guy is a super talent. There haven’t been many rookies in my eight years who have had that kind of presence, aside from his raw talent. The scary thing is there are some parts of his game that are going to get better. He already has a great attitude, that presence on the floor, the whole package.

“Hopefully, for a while yet we can still keep him under some type of control, because he’s going to be unstoppable in some respects.”

O’Neal and his young, aggressive teammates were nearly unstoppable Tuesday. Orlando made 23 of 46 shots during the first half to take a 61-50 lead, and only Peeler--who made all seven of his first-half shots--spared the Lakers total embarrassment.

Pfund’s strategy for O’Neal was to “try some different things, different coverages, make him feel he’s got to do it all and at some point back off,” but O’Neal thwarted every plan.

Orlando’s lead reached 23 twice as the Lakers shot 29.4% (five for 17) in during the third quarter. Not until A.C. Green made two free throws with 1:20 remaining in the quarter did the Lakers have a second player join Peeler in double figures in scoring.

Laker Notes

Vlade Divac is scheduled to undergo tests today on his left hand, which he believes he injured during the fourth quarter Tuesday. Trainer Gary Vitti’s preliminary report was a sprained wrist, and Divac said the wrist was more sore than painful. . . . Divac said playing a reserve role is “OK for now because the most important thing for me is for the team to win. Everything else, is not important for me. I was happy about the last game, because I played almost as many minutes (26) as when I started. I wish I could continue to play 25 minutes or more. “ Divac has come off the bench in seven consecutive games, getting 120 minutes, 38 rebounds and 61 points. “He seems to have played very inspired basketball coming off the bench,” Randy Pfund said. “He seems like he’s anxious to get into the game.”

Byron Scott, restored to the starting lineup after flu kept him out of Sunday’s game in Boston, had eight points.