Shaq, Lakers Get Chance to Hit Jazz Where It Hurts

Peter McNeely and Chuck Wepner apparently were unavailable, so Utah Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan was forced to turn to Greg Foster when he decided to look for an improvement over Greg Ostertag at center.

Which proved that Ostertag hitting the floor Oct. 31 at the Forum was not to be confused with hitting bottom. Shaquille O’Neal dropped him with a smack, the Laker center later insisting it was nowhere close to his best shot, and then Sloan dropped Ostertag from the starting lineup three games ago. Along the way, even the home fans questioned whether he should have shown something besides restraint and come back at O’Neal.

Is tonight too late? Utah fans, at least, get the chance to fight back as the Lakers go for a franchise-record 9-0 start amid the Christians-vs.-lions atmosphere of the frenzied 19,911 in the Delta Center, several of thousand of whom will be armed with plastic clappers for noisemakers, courtesy of the Jazz’s flagship radio station. “Shaq Slappers,” they call them.

“I’ll probably get booed,” O’Neal said.

Yeah, probably.

“Same reception I always get,” he said. “I’ll get booed. Think I care? I don’t care.”

Not everyone in Salt Lake City does either--the BYU-Utah football game Saturday has been getting more attention on the talk-show circuit than the rematch, which is understandable in some ways. It’s Ostertag they’re being expected to defend, after all, something that does not come easy. And it was just a minor skirmish that happens several times each season around the league, unusual only because of the backdrop, a shootaround before a game in which O’Neal would not even play.

Besides, they don’t need an excuse to hate the Lakers.

“I’m looking forward to going in there,” Coach Del Harris said. “When we take the floor for warmups, every Utah fan will be in his seat. There will be no late arrivals. Every fan will be in his seat and the place will be rocking.”

Monday at about 1 p.m., after the Lakers finished practice at the Forum, Harris looked at his watch.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if people were lining up right now to get in,” he said.

The game marks the Lakers’ return to the city where they began the off-season, late on that May 12 night after the overtime loss in Game 5 of the second-round series sent them home and the Jazz to the Western Conference finals.

So to have a chance to set a record, to become the fastest-starting team in a franchise that has known so much success through the years, and to be in position to do it at the Delta Center?

Talk about looking for a small measure of revenge.

“That would be one of the places,” Harris said. “I guess I could say the same thing if we were going to Seattle or Chicago or Houston. If, in fact, we did get a record, we’re going to have to earn it. That’s the way it should be.”

Two of their eight wins have come without O’Neal, who sat out one because of the strained abdominal muscle that still lingers and the other because of the one-game suspension (and $10,000 fine) for the hit he blamed on testosterone. Since then, despite doctor-ordered time restrictions that kept him around 30 minutes the first two times back, he has averaged 25.5 points, 12 rebounds and 2.83 blocks and shot 57.7%.

Ostertag, in his defense, has not been a total disaster. Just mostly a disaster.

Going one of 11 from the field on opening night was not the bad start it appeared to be after all. It was setting a tone. With the Jazz needing some offensive production to compensate for the absence of John Stockton, Ostertag is shooting 28.8%, and Utah is down all the way to an uncharacteristic 43%.

On the other hand, he has been blocking shots and rebounding at a decent rate, while other Jazz players have struggled almost as mightily on offense. Bryon Russell is down to 34.5% shooting and has lost his job as the starting small forward to Adam Keefe. Shandon Anderson, who appeared during exhibition play to be poised for a nice second season, is at 40.3%. The starting guards, Jeff Hornacek and Stockton stand-in Howard Eisley, are shooting 44% and 43.9%, respectively.

TONIGHT’S GAME

LAKERS (8-0) at UTAH (5-4)

Time: 6 p.m.

TV: Channel 9

Radio: KLAC 570