Laker Setback Leaves O’Neal in Foul Mood

Shaquille O’Neal is hardly ever politically correct, but this time he was probably literally correct.

Too many missed free throws in the middle of the Lakers’ 112-102 loss to the Dallas Mavericks before a sellout crowd at Reunion Arena on Tuesday night.

Too much of Dallas Coach Don Nelson, who ordered three intentional fouls of O’Neal in a pivotal stretch to close the third quarter.

Too tired to care.

“I wasn’t concentrating,” said O’Neal, who led all scorers with 38 points but missed six free throws in a row during the Hack-a-Shaq situation, and 11 of 19 overall.

“It’s hard to get up for [these kinds of] . . . coaches and . . . players,” he said in an expletive-filled response. “We didn’t today. Quote me on that.”

So, several weeks after the Lakers (67-14) clinched everything there was to clinch, this loss ended the chance to tie the franchise record of 69 victories but did not do much to wound the Lakers’ confidence heading into the playoffs.

They close the regular season tonight in San Antonio, then turn around and open the first round of the Western Conference playoffs against Sacramento. Neither team is likely to play four guards at a time or foul O’Neal intentionally in the third quarter.

Dallas’ scatter-the-floor strategy, which pulled O’Neal from the basket, opened the lane for Michael Finley (25 points), Steve Nash (23 points, eight assists) and Cedric Ceballos (21 points).

And its little lineup put defensive pressure on the Lakers, who were without two of their main guards--Ron Harper (sore back, questionable for tonight’s game) and Derek Fisher (injured list).

That led to a season-high tying 24 turnovers, and many uneven moments for the Lakers.

“You don’t want to lose any ballgames,” said Kobe Bryant (16 points, 14 rebounds, five turnovers). But there’s nothing we could do about it.

“It’s not going to be destructive. It’s not going to destroy us or anything.”

Said Laker Coach Phil Jackson: “They played Nellie-ball. They isolated Shaq on the outside, left our middle unprotected because he wasn’t there and no one else covered very well.”

For all of that, Jackson pointed out that the Lakers held a 75-74 lead with 3:06 left in the third quarter.

But the Mavericks started fouling O’Neal, he started missing, and Dallas finished the period on a 7-0 run and never looked back.

“That spelled the game right there, the end of the third quarter,” Jackson said. “It was very disappointing, six free throws, didn’t score, they changed it from a close, one-point game, and [Dallas led] by five at the end of three.”

O’Neal, who had similar troubles earlier this season when Nelson employed the same strategy, came back to make seven of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Is this a potential worry for postseason play?

“It just took me a while to get to the line and when I got up there, I wasn’t concentrating,” said O’Neal, who took all but one of the Lakers’ free throws (Bryant took the other).

“I’ll hit them.”

Said Glen Rice, who had 15 points: “We realize they’re going to [foul O’Neal] at times. And we’ve got to be ready to hit the free throws. That’s just something teams are going to do to gain an advantage against us.

“We’ll be ready for it.”

After the game, Dallas’ last at home, new Maverick owner Mark Cuban grabbed a microphone and thanked the crowd for its support and congratulated each member of the team and the entire coaching staff, one by one, for finishing the year on a high note.

Since March 7, Dallas--knocked out of the playoff chase long ago--is 15-5.

“This is the way we pictured it,” Nelson said.

Jackson, who showed he wasn’t desperate for this victory by keeping Harper out and playing rookie John Celestand for the final 15:05, was even-keeled after the defeat.

“They just came out with more intensity; [the] second half, we didn’t match it,” Jackson said. “It was a really nice second half for them.

“I can’t say enough about the energy with which they played.”

Jackson said a game such as this was to be expected with the Lakers tapering off their work regimen recently to rest their legs, and said that he would be sharpening up practices before the playoffs.

In the locker room after the defeat, the Laker players mimicked Jackson’s mood, barely tossing glances at the Sacramento-Seattle game as it played on a television overhead--though a few Lakers grimaced at some typically wild King play.

Bryant was one Laker who kept an eye on the game before the team headed out to catch a plane. Was he engrossed because he wanted to avoid one of the teams?

“Just for mere entertainment purposes,” Bryant said. “That’s all. That’s being honest with you.”

He didn’t prefer one or the other?

“Whatever,” he said, chuckling.

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CLIPPERS LOSE AGAIN

The Clippers lost to Portland, 116-100, extending their losing streak to 17 games, two shy of the franchise record. But on a bright note, their season ends tonight. Page 3