Shaq, Barkley Sent to Their Corners

There will be no immediate rematch.

As expected, Laker center Shaquille O’Neal and Houston Rocket forward Charles Barkley were hit with fines and one-game suspensions by the NBA--which means both will sit out tonight’s Laker-Rocket contest at Staples Center--a day after their brief but dramatic rumble Wednesday night at Houston.

O’Neal was fined $10,000 for starting the fight by throwing the first punch, a left that glanced off Barkley’s neck; Barkley was fined $5,000 for retaliating by throwing O’Neal to the floor and punching him several times, league spokesman Chris Brienza said.

Wednesday’s ejection was O’Neal’s second in a week, and adding in the suspension, the Laker centerpiece will have either been thrown out or kept out of three of the team’s first seven games.

Before the suspension was announced, O’Neal--who argued that Barkley initiated the incident by firing the basketball off O’Neal’s head--said he expected to be suspended.

He also talked with Coach Phil Jackson, who stressed that the Lakers need O’Neal to keep his head and stay in games, no matter if he feels he is being baited or challenged.

“He had a defense for it,” Jackson said Thursday. “He felt like his manhood was impinged, besmirched, something like that.

“So we had to have a little talk about, you know, what really are the important things about the game, and that is to be the leader, the captain and the responsible person for his team.

“I think Shaq has the point and got the idea of what we’re expecting of him.”

With Kobe Bryant still sidelined, the Lakers finished Wednesday’s game with only Glen Rice as a recognized scorer and will have to use John Salley, A.C. Green and Travis Knight in a game-long rotation tonight against Hakeem Olajuwon and Kelvin Cato.

“We talked about it briefly in the locker room,” Bryant said. “Especially right now, we need him out there on that basketball court. I think he knows that.”

O’Neal was also suspended for the second game of the 1997-98 season after slapping Utah Jazz center Greg Ostertag.

Jackson said O’Neal probably has been affected by the circumstances of the last week, beginning with the hard fouls in Portland that angered O’Neal and led to his ejection, and continuing through back-to-back games with Dallas in which Maverick Coach Don Nelson intentionally fouled O’Neal to put him on the free-throw line.

“I think the games against Dallas, with the intentional fouling, that’s embarrassing and kind of put him down a little bit as a free-throw shooter,” Jackson said. “I think that got his attention.”

Said Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak: “I think there’s been an effort the last couple games to take advantage of the fact that he’s not making his free throws. And the only way to take advantage of it is to foul.

“I could see how that could be frustrating and get your boiling point lower than normal.

“But you have to get to the point where you can control your emotions and somehow get your point across and stay in the game at the same time. There are ways to do that. . . . And he knows that.”

Bryant suggested there was a simpler rationale behind O’Neal’s action: “I just think Shaq wanted to punch him in the mouth.”

Jackson said he wasn’t overly concerned that teams now will go out of their way to try to lure O’Neal into retaliating and risking ejection on a nightly basis.

“I think it’s happened before,” Jackson said. “This is not the first instance this has happened. I think Charles has a little special feeling for Shaq, and Shaq for Charles. That might have carried some weight to it.”

Before the suspensions were announced, Jackson even got in a mini-zinger of his own when he was asked if Barkley deserved a suspension for tonight’s game.

“Maybe it’d be better if they have Charles in the lineup,” Jackson said of the 0-5 Rockets.

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