Shaq, Karl Exchange Some Early Barbs

Coach George Karl didn’t waste any time lobbying the referees. Less than 24 hours after the Seattle SuperSonics finished their first-round series with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Karl tried to set the tone for the Western Conference semifinal with the Lakers by talking about what the officials allow Shaquille O’Neal to do.

“Shaq has this hop and step, and it is never called a step,” Karl said. “And there are high elbows. Remember the high elbow that Karl Malone threw at David Robinson? Well, Shaq throws about 20 of those a game.”

After O’Neal had a chance to prove Karl’s theory, the Seattle coach said:

“I love the player, but man he takes some hits. We’ve got four, five guys in the locker room that got hit by elbows and I don’t remember him getting a [foul] called for it.”

When asked about Karl’s comments, O’Neal said: “He’s been crying for seven years. He looks like a woman coach sometimes. I guess he’s just trying to get into certain people’s head, but it won’t work with me.

“He’s like a woman who coaches. He cries all the time, but he can’t get in my head. He’s a crybaby.”

O’Neal said if Karl had a problem with what he said, he could come speak to him personally.

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Jerome Kersey, who spent last season in a Laker uniform, was asked how it felt to be playing against his former teammates.

“I always seem to be playing against a team I played with in the playoffs,” he said.

Last year the Lakers faced the Portland Trail Blazers, Kersey’s team for the first 11 years of his career, in the first round.

This meeting didn’t provide quite the same feelings of nostalgia.

“I wouldn’t say [I was] close-close” with the players on the Lakers, Kersey said. “Being there for a year, it’s kind of hard to form any real bonds. Plus, I’m older, off the court, I didn’t do much hanging.”

So who did he hang with?

“Shaq’s bodyguard [Jerome Crawford], more than anything. We’re the same age.”

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SuperSonic play-by-play announcer Kevin Calabro walked into Karl’s office before the game.

“How are you?” Karl asked.

“I’m doing great,” Calabro said.

“That makes one of us,” the beleaguered coach said.