It’s Something They Can Stomach

The Lakers played without Shaquille O’Neal for the 54th time in two-plus seasons Thursday, so they are not without experience adjusting to the void.

“We really aren’t scared or worried,” point guard Derek Fisher said before the game. “We’ll be OK. However long he’s out, we’ll figure out a way.”

O’Neal’s stomach specialist, Alex McKechnie, was scheduled to fly down from Vancouver on Friday to examine O’Neal.

The Lakers are 33-21 with O’Neal out of the lineup, a 61.1% winning mark. With him in the lineup, they are 87-28, a 75.6% victory rate.

“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us, not our enemies, not our fans,” Coach Del Harris said.

O’Neal suffered this latest injury in the second quarter of the Lakers’ victory over Denver on Wednesday, and convinced trainer Gary Vitti and Harris that he should keep playing, though they urged him to sit it out.

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Executive Vice President Jerry West said that, despite repeated reports from Charlotte that a Glen Rice-to-the-Lakers scenario is being discussed, and the will-he-or-won’t-he Dennis Rodman situation, nothing is in the immediate works.

And West said he is concerned his players are hearing too many trade rumors and paying too much attention to them.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” West said when asked if the Rice deal was alive after Rice’s agent, David Falk, was quoted in Charlotte saying the Lakers would be the most likely trade partners for the Hornets.

Rice, whose value to the Lakers could be declining with Kobe Bryant flourishing as a small forward, recently underwent elbow surgery and is on the injured list.