It’s as if He Was Never Gone

Two months disappeared in about the first two minutes Friday night, the Phoenix Suns’ 11-game winning streak not far behind.

Shaquille O’Neal returned as he had left, piling up 24 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and a stack of used defenders in only 24 minutes, numbers that about equaled his season averages set with the benefit of 39 minutes a game. So this must have been taking it easy on the Suns, who came into the Forum as the second-hottest team in the league and then left as the first victim of the new Lakers, 114-98, before 17,505.

O’Neal was often dominating. He showed moves and strength.

Ho hum.

“About what I expected,” Coach Del Harris said after the Lakers played without the injured Elden Campbell but moved back within half a game of idle Seattle in the Pacific Division and tied the Houston Rockets for No. 3 in the Western Conference. “It’s what he’s been doing in practice. Just killing us.”

Said Nick Van Exel, who returned with 24 points and nine assists: “We didn’t expect anything less than what he did. He came in and played a normal game except with less minutes.”

O’Neal was tired after the long layoff, but more tired of sitting. Getting back was the important thing.

“I played OK,” he said. “I missed a lot of easy shots I don’t normally miss. Hopefully, the rust is over.”

O’Neal had gone through 58 days, 28 missed games, one full practice with the Lakers, several others with Magic Johnson’s touring team, and countless examinations and tests to reach this point. And then he got hurt again.

It was nothing really, two stitches to close a cut on the right eyelid. The sight of O’Neal walking to the locker room during the second quarter was enough to draw murmurs of concern from the stands, but the knee was fine.

O’Neal says he is completely confident about the strength of the knee and that he would not tread lightly, or as lightly as possible for him. Team physician Steve Lombardo gave the same word earlier in the day by giving the final approval for the return, saving O’Neal from having to wait two more days and the doctor from having to get a decorator.

O’Neal imagined his reaction to being told he was being held out.

“I probably would have gotten fined,” he said.

Because?

“I would have tore his office up.”

Deterred from that, he went after the Suns instead. Van Exel, himself returning from three games out because of a bruised bone in his knee, got the ball to O’Neal on the first possession. An up-and-under move for a reverse layup against John Williams became his first basket back.

Then O’Neal shot the next trip down. And the next. And the next. Not that it was a problem for the Lakers--he scored on three of the first four possessions. Williams got the hook after 2:11.

Next victim: Mike Brown, the journeyman center signed April 5 after spending most of the season in Italy. The first time O’Neal got the ball, he missed a hook from the left post, but got the ball back following an offensive rebound. The Suns brought the double team this time. O’Neal, showing agility, quickly spun into the lane, free of defenders, for a dunk. The crowd roared.

Two possessions later, Van Exel came down the left side and lofted a lob, over the basket, to O’Neal on the right of the lane. He went up, controlled the pass with his right hand, and threw it down.

Four and a half minutes had passed and O’Neal already had 10 points. Williams came back in for Brown a few minutes later. Then Horacio Llames replaced Williams. Not that the Suns are known for their big men, but the Lakers had reason to be thrilled. O’Neal wasn’t merely back, he was back in a big way.

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Shaq’s Back How Shaquille O’Neal fared in his first game back compared to his previous season average. He had missed the Lakers’ last 28 games: *--*

Category Previous Friday Minutes 38.6 24 Scoring 25.8 24 FG% 563 .545 (12-22) FT% .466 .000 (0-3) Rebounds 12.8 11 Blocks 3.0 3

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