Roads Not Well-Traveled

He was not so much welcomed back as serenaded.

It was constant, but never more than in the minutes just before tipoff Sunday afternoon, when a bit of “I’m a Loser” by the Beatles blasted over the loud speaker. Then it was switched to part of Carly Simon’s “You’re so Vain,” and to a piece of Steve Miller and “Take the Money and Run” and then to The Eurythmics’ “Would I Lie to You?”

Everyone here felt he had.

This must be what they mean by facing the music.

Shaquille O’Neal, a former hero appearing tight at times and out of rhythm at others, failed to so much as match his season averages while finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the Lakers’ 96-94 loss in Orlando Arena. And so the locals left happy.

Not just that. Nick Anderson made the winning shot, a 25-footer with 7.1 seconds to play that turned a one-point deficit into a two-point lead that held up when Eddie Jones’ response from behind the arc was short at the buzzer.

Nick Anderson, the player O’Neal was, shall we say, not especially fond of when this was home, before the Lakers signed him away; before O’Neal flicked Orlando aside as being “a dried-up little pond,” among other things, even though he remained a part-time resident.

“Let him make his little comments about whatever he wants to,” Anderson said. “As a team, this is a good victory. I’m more happy for the fans than anything. They’ve been waiting for this day to come.”

Waiting for about 19 months in all, since the slow-footed approach by Magic ownership during negotiations convinced O’Neal to leave for Los Angeles in the summer of 1996. It was a divorce of the only major sports team in town and “the guy who brought life into basketball in a football state,” in the words of Laker Coach Del Harris. O’Neal didn’t show up to get trashed 11 months ago, resting an ailing knee while watching nearby on television when he could have sat on the bench.

So when The Day arrived, at last, it arrived in a serious way. The Magic supplied some of the sounds, the fans the rest, booing loudly, if briefly, when O’Neal was introduced before the game and then every time he touched the ball.

And there were the signs:

BENEDICT O’NEAL

Or:

SHAQ

We’re the two

that saw your

movies!!!

“For us,” Danny Schayes said of his Magic teammates, only four of whom remain from the O’Neal era, “it wasn’t as big a deal. We just knew it was a big deal to everyone else.”

But while this may have been Central Florida’s long-awaited chance to vent, it was also a light afternoon romp, just some tunes and some signs and some haranguing.

In other words, the security that had been deployed from other stations around Orlando Arena to closer to the visitor’s bench, and the Lakers’ full-time security man, Jerome Crawford, were used only to serve as a wall to keep some of the noise out of the huddle during timeouts.

The only possible harm inflicted to O’Neal or anyone nearby was a headache.

“Am I going to go home and drink a whole bottle of Pine Sol?” O’Neal said. “No. We’ve just got to move on. They did what they were supposed to do, win a home game.

“Every arena I go to, I get booed.”

Yeah, someone pointed out, but this was the arena where you used to get cheered.

“Used to,” he responded. “Used to. I used to drive a Porsche, but I don’t anymore. I’ve moved on.”

To a new set of wheels. To a new set of tunes.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

On the Slide

LAKERS AT ALL-STAR BREAK:

Record: 34-11

Points per game: 106.9

Points allowed: 99.2

FG%: .481

LAKERS SINCE THE BREAK:

Record: 2-5

Points per game: 104.9

Points allowed: 102.4

FG%: .458

Laker Report

Shaquille O’Neal seems a bit tense in his first game appearance with the Lakers....Team awaits word on status of point guard Nick Van Exel, who will have tests done today on his right knee.