Feel Free to Foul, Shaq Says

Haq-A-Shaq this.

Heading into the playoffs with what he says is a message for opposing defenses, Shaquille O’Neal has made 31 of 44 free throws his last three games, going 11 of 18 against the Utah Jazz on Sunday, 12 of 14 versus the Sacramento Kings on Thursday and eight of 12 against the Clippers on Friday. That’s 70% in that stretch for the same player who walked into the Sports Arena at 48.1% overall.

“They’re probably still going to do it,” O’Neal said of teams that would rather force him to make free throws than allow an easy basket inside. “They probably think it’s luck.”

So is it?

“Nope,” he said. “It’s playoff time.”

In truth, O’Neal has had other nice stretches from the line, proclaimed it the dawn of a new day for his well-chronicled troubles, and eventually slipped back. The difference this time, he and others insist, is that his 28 games out meant more time to work on the free throws, because the knee injury forced him to stay immobile for a while.

“Concentration,” he said, adding there is no difference in the mechanics.

Said Coach Del Harris: “At this point, with him, it’s just a matter of being able to maintain the mental approach. His form has been there the last three months. The advantage of a two-month layoff was that he was able to get in so many repetitions and be able to work at it.”

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With Kobe Bryant, Travis Knight and Derek Fisher, the Lakers are the first team to reach the 50-victory plateau while playing three rookies at least 900 minutes each. Knight, in fact, already has surpassed 1,100 minutes, and Bryant fell just short. . . . Sunday’s victory over Utah was just another in what has become a long line of streaks the Lakers have broken. The Jazz had its run ended at 15, just two days after the Phoenix Suns had their 11-game streak halted at the Forum. In 1995-96, the Lakers became the first visiting team to win at Orlando Arena in 40 regular-season contests. And in 1994-95, they ended the Suns’ streak of 25 consecutive regular-season victories at America West Arena and the Hornets’ string of 13 victories at Charlotte Coliseum.