O’Neal Hurting, but He Won’t Quit

Amid the Lakers’ gut-check victory over the Rockets on Friday night there emerged another gut check in the making with far more ominous overtones.

Shaquille O’Neal, five games into his impressive comeback from the strained abdominal muscle that twice cost him time in the preseason and then the regular-season opener, began to feel pain again in the area. The same kind of pain as before, he said.

Whether the Lakers will consider holding him out again remains to be seen, or it may be determined this is another problem and unrelated to the pain he previously felt. O’Neal, meanwhile, said he plans to play on.

“My [abdominal muscle] was hurting today,” he said. “But I’m going to suck it up until I can’t suck it up any more.

“I’m not concerned at all.”

He began Friday’s game in Houston having averaged 28.8 points (making him the early NBA leader), 13.5 rebounds, three blocks and 34 minutes while shooting 60.3% in the first four appearances. While at times lacking a soft touch, he had also been dominating against players in better condition, flashing power moves against quality centers such as David Robinson and Patrick Ewing and agility to match.

This latest development comes just as O’Neal was on the verge of reaching 100% in his own mind, after previously feeling he lacked the necessary stamina. In fact, he regarded this back-to-back as the final step, playing 43 minutes Thursday night in the overtime victory at San Antonio and then 50 at Houston on Friday in the double-overtime win.

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Kobe Bryant, out the last three games, will give his sprained right ankle its first real test today while all but one of his teammates get the day off.

Bryant will go one-on-one against Shea Seals and drill with assistant coaches Larry Drew and Kurt Rambis. If that goes well, Bryant should return Sunday against the Vancouver Grizzlies, one week after suffering the injury late in the rout over the Golden State Warriors.

“That’s really the best test, one-on-one,” Coach Del Harris said. “You can float around in a five-on-five. But you can’t do that in a one-on-one. And those are two of the best defenders we have. If he [Bryant] can get around Shea, he can get around anyone.”

Indeed, Seals has seemingly been more impressive with each week. The play of the undrafted rookie from Tulsa in training camp convinced the Lakers to put him on the injured list because of back spasms the day before the season opened rather than put him on waivers.