Low-Key Shaq Considered Tense

The reaction to the reaction was hardly as strong.

Shaquille O’Neal heard the fans respond to his anti-Orlando comments. They shouted at him Sunday without catching any return fire.

“He looked tired,” Danny Schayes, O’Neal’s counterpart at center, said after scoring 10 of his 12 points in the second half to help the Magic beat the Lakers. “I think there’s been a lot pressure on him about this day for a long time.

“He was very quiet the whole game. I think maybe he was just trying to ignore all the outside stuff and concentrate instead on trying to focus on what was in front of him.”

O’Neal had a slow start, with five misses in the first nine shots and foul trouble that eventually limited him to 34 minutes.

“He was tense,” Laker Coach Del Harris said.

*

The Lakers hope to have some word today on the status of Nick Van Exel for the rest of the six-game trip that opened in Orlando and continues Tuesday at Milwaukee.

He returned to Los Angeles on Sunday and is scheduled for additional examinations on his troublesome right knee. Possible is arthroscopic surgery to determine the cause of the clicking in the joint. That would probably keep him out two weeks at the minimum, and longer if the procedure goes beyond diagnostic.

*

The Lakers committed only two turnovers in the fourth quarter against the Magic and 11 in the game. That’s impressive under any circumstances, but especially significant because it came with point guard Derek Fisher, who will have to carry a heavy load if Van Exel’s absence is lengthy, playing all but five seconds of the final period. . . . Thursday’s 39-point victory over Denver marked the biggest margin of victory for the Lakers in a little more than five years, since Feb. 14, 1993. It was also the most lopsided win in the 97-game series with the Nuggets. . . . As expected, the Magic, depleted at point guard by injury, signed Spud Webb to a 10-day contract Sunday. Yinka Dare was waived to create a roster spot, three days after being part of the package that came from New Jersey in exchange for Rony Seikaly.