Best Things Not Free to Shaq

He tossed up low liners and knuckleballs, shot too long, too short and extremely wide left.

At times Tuesday at Reunion Arena, probably acting for everybody else in attendance, Shaquille O’Neal glared at Dallas Coach Don Nelson for concocting this unsettling situation, which only vaguely resembled a basketball game.

Foul. Miss-miss.

Foul. Miss-miss.

Somewhere in between the wayward waltzing, behind efficient performances from Rick Fox (18 points) and Glen Rice (21 points), the Lakers shot 62.4% from the floor and overwhelmed the Mavericks, 123-101, for the second time in three days, raising their record to 4-1.

O’Neal made only one of his 10 first-half free throw attempts, and finished three for 14 on Tuesday after making 10 of 23 in Sunday’s victory over Dallas.

“I’m the nastiest big man in the league,” said O’Neal, who scored 27 points, had 10 rebounds and three blocked shots, but whose free-throw percentage dipped to 35.4%. “I am struggling from the line, but I found a way to come in and get my team a win.

“I’m going to start hitting. I’m going to start getting [upset] and I’ll just do it.”

The Lakers had six players score in double figures, and five players had five or more rebounds, leading to their 53-35 rebound advantage.

And, in a dominant second half, which Coach Phil Jackson called a “break-out half,” the Lakers ran off 69 points and made 28 of their 43 field-goal attempts.

But, exactly as Nelson diagramed it, O’Neal’s woeful free-throw shooting and Dallas’ intentional fouling kept the Mavericks in it, at least for a while.

O’Neal, defended by former Laker Sean Rooks, Shawn Bradley, Dirk Nowitzki and even 6-foot-2 Erick Strickland at times in Nelson’s schemes, made 12 of 16 shots from the floor and acknowledged he should be scoring much, much more.

On Saturday, O’Neal was ejected in a big game at Portland when he retaliated for what he believed were the Trail Blazers’ intentional and overly rough fouls whenever he touched the ball.

Both on Sunday and Tuesday, Nelson didn’t even try to mask it--occasionally, he screamed at his players to grab O’Neal as soon as the Lakers inbounded the ball, both at the end of the second and third quarters.

“No matter what B.S. defense he throws, I’m still getting 30 on all of his centers, all of the time, no matter what they do,” O’Neal said of Nelson. “I guess I’m just going to have to start averaging 47 now. I just have to step up.

“For me, I always hit them in practice. The frustrating thing for me, they just don’t fall in games. I’m going to get real [upset], [but] I won’t ever quit, I won’t ever get frustrated.

“I’m just going to elevate that part of my game. . . . Throughout my career, I’ve been known for hitting one [out of two]. And right now, I’m not hitting any at all. . . .

“Right now, I’m real upset, especially with my play. Because I know I’m better than this.”

Jackson, who previously has been very open about O’Neal’s free-throw failures, opted to stay silent on the subject after Tuesday’s game.

“I don’t know if I’ll comment on that publicly,” Jackson said. “Because I know it’s very disarming for him and also very distressing in some sense.

“It was a very frustrating first half, what, one for 10? I know that’s embarrassing for him, so I’d just as soon not comment on it.”

The rest of the Laker players just shook their heads at Nelson’s tactics, and said that they know O’Neal will be making his share of them when they need him to.

It was the Lakers’ 18th consecutive victory over Dallas; but when they have to watch Nelson’s gimmicks and O’Neal march to the free-throw line again and again, it’s not exactly a victory with tremendous aesthetic value.

“All that fouling Shaq and putting him at the foul line--that ain’t basketball,” guard Ron Harper said. “I mean, if it’s late in the game, yeah.

“But doing it before halftime and third quarter, c’mon, man, that ain’t basketball. That’s ugly basketball. . . .

“Until he starts to hit half of his foul shots, they’re going to keep trying to do this, keep fouling him. So I feel for him.”