Ailing Van Exel May Miss Game

The opportunity to practice two days in a row for the first time in nearly eight weeks provided an extended chance for the Lakers to work through the transition that has accompanied the return of Shaquille O’Neal and to heal, though how much of both won’t be known until tonight.

The Denver Nuggets, the worst team in the league, come to the Great Western Forum, on the second night of a back-to-back games, offering as big a target as the Lakers will see in a while. The Lakers might have to go without Nick Van Exel, who sat out both workouts at Southwest L.A. College to rest his sore left knee but remains questionable.

The lineup remaining fractured after the return of O’Neal is not exactly what the Lakers had in mind. If Van Exel does not play, Derek Fisher will move into the starting lineup after playing at least 15 minutes only three times in the last 12 games.

The other member of the starting backcourt, Eddie Jones, also missed both days of practice, because of a bruised left hip. But Jones is listed as probable for tonight.

Tonight vs. Denver

* 7:30

* Fox Sports West

Site--Great Western Forum.

Radio--KLAC (570), KWKW (1330).

Records--Lakers 27-9, Nuggets 2-32. Record vs. Nuggets--1-0.

Update--The Nuggets have a 17-game losing streak after falling to Orlando on Tuesday night at Denver. Now, they face a team that has beaten them the last five times by an average of 17 points. By scoring 32, 32 and 38 points, Shaquille O’Neal has become the first Laker to break the 30-point barrier in three consecutive games in a little more than nine years, since Magic Johnson from Dec. 13-16, 1988. If O’Neal does it a fourth game in a row, he will be the first Laker to do so since Johnson in December 1986.