O’Neal Expected to Return After Calling Ankle 80%

Laker center Shaquille O’Neal, after a week of rest for his sore left ankle, returned to practice at close to full speed Thursday, and said he wouldn’t be missing any more action.

“Gary [Vitti, the team trainer] really did a good job of bringing it back,” O’Neal said after sitting out two games. “My legs feel pretty good. I think I’m good to go from here on out.”

O’Neal estimated that his ankle is about 80% of normal--”good enough to play,” he said--and that his right hamstring feels better than that.

“First game, I felt they didn’t play that hard,” O’Neal said of his teammates’ play without him. “The second game, they played hard and they won. It was something they had to get used to.

“But I’m back now.”

O’Neal and Coach Phil Jackson said O’Neal’s biggest obstacle tonight against Sacramento will be his conditioning. O’Neal said, however, there’s little likelihood he’ll come back rusty.

“No, I’m all chrome pipes--no rust,” O’Neal said. “I’m not going to go half speed. I’m going to try to continue what I’ve been doing.

“We’ll just have to sharpen some things up and we want to try to win our four remaining games.”

Said Jackson: “He’ll be ready.”

After practice, the Lakers--this time including Jackson--went through about 30 minutes of yoga stretching, and O’Neal said he figures that will help him in the long run.

“We’ve been doing yoga now, so I’ll be straight,” O’Neal said. “I’m kind of tight--not used to stretching. But our yoga instructor is nice looking, so I’m very enthusiastic about it.”

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Jackson, who gave his players Tuesday and Wednesday off, said he does not plan to sit his key players in the last four games of the regular season, and that it probably wouldn’t help, anyway.

He said, “The experience I’ve had is, one, it doesn’t pay, because the league fines you--they don’t allow you to do that,--and, two, you end up costing yourself some of the chemistry or some of the timing and intrigue that a team has; they have to keep going.

“So I’ve learned to just keep pushing them along.”

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Ron Harper, suffering from a stomach virus, was sent home from practice, and his status for tonight is not certain.

Derek Fisher, who has bone spurs in his right ankle, underwent an MRI. Results were not yet known.

TONIGHT vs. Sacramento Kings

Fox Sports Net, TNT, 7:30

* Site--Staples Center.

* Radio--KLAC (570).

* Records--Lakers 65-13, Kings 44-34.

* Record vs. Kings--2-1.

* Update--These teams could meet again in eight days, in what could be a frantic first-round matchup. Only Portland has given the Lakers as much trouble as the Kings, who beat the Lakers once and forced dramatic fourth-quarter comebacks in the two other games.

* Tickets--Sold out.