Shaq’s Away, Rest Will Play

If Dallas owner Mark Cuban is right about the Lakers--remember, they’re a heartbeat away from being the Vancouver Grizzlies--they get a closer look tonight, when, without Shaquille O’Neal, they play host to . . . the Grizzlies.

Off acquiring his Louisiana State diploma, O’Neal isn’t expected to rejoin the Lakers until Sunday in Toronto.

His absence could have come at a better time. But, when O’Neal went to Phil Jackson this summer for permission to graduate with his--well, someone else’s--class, Jackson did not hesitate to grant it. He said he has no regrets now that the Lakers have lost four of five games and stumbled to fourth place in the Pacific Division.

“I think we’re well equipped as far as what we have to do,” Jackson said. “The biggest key for us is defending. You know, what is it like for us not to have that reliance of the big guy back there plugging the lane.”

O’Neal left on his chartered jet Thursday morning, leaving the Lakers alone with their strategy of how to go on without him. In his four-plus seasons with the Lakers, they are 38-25 when he does not play, one of the losses on Nov. 18, when his ankle was sore and the Denver Nuggets came back from a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit.

“We just have to come out and play better,” said Kobe Bryant, the league’s scoring leader.

The mood at the Laker practice headquarters in El Segundo was surprisingly light Thursday afternoon, considering the sudden missteps in the defense of their NBA championship.

As television cameras gathered in the gym toward the end of practice, Ron Harper offered a reward to anyone who could produce tape of Horace Grant actually making a shot during an official NBA basketball game.

Grant, who stood beside Harper and laughed at the wry abuse, missed all four of his field-goal attempts Wednesday in Portland and is six for his last 28.

He is among the handful of Lakers familiar with the business of title defenses. At times, the Lakers have appeared to be learning to win all over again, almost as if last season never happened. If the situation is not that drastic, they are at least learning to play defense again.

“We don’t understand that every time we go out, on the road especially, we’re that team’s game of the season,” Grant said. “We haven’t reached that intensity level to go out into another team’s arena and reach that level. I don’t understand why.”

They should understand it: They’ve been talking about it since September. The Lakers have not worked hard enough or played smart enough on defense, however, and frequently have found themselves in shootouts.

While that feels OK offensively--they are the NBA’s most prolific offensive team--they also have become one of the league’s worst defensive teams, this despite having two of its better defenders in O’Neal and Bryant.

“The magnetism of having Shaq in the middle and the authority in which he demands the basketball is really the premise around which this team is built,” Jackson said. “That’s our strength.

“Hopefully, we won’t be standing around wondering where Shaq is, when actually he’s not here. As a consequence, I think we can make the adjustments. We played a rather good game without him in Denver, except we didn’t play the last five minutes.”

*

In their last five games, four of them defeats, the Lakers gave up 104.2 points per game as opponents shot 46.8% from the field. At the time the Lakers played them, the combined record of their past five opponents was 47-54. . . . Devean George, who had a sore throat, did not practice Thursday.

TONIGHT

vs. Vancouver, 7:30, Fox Sports Net

* Site--Staples Center.

* Radio--KLAC (570).

* Records--Lakers 15-9, Grizzlies 7-15.

* Record vs. Grizzlies--1-0.

* Update--The Grizzlies have lost four in a row, six of seven, and are 3-14 since a 4-1 start. Shareef Abdur-Rahim is averaging 20.2 points and 10.0 rebounds. Stromile Swift, the rookie from LSU who was the second pick in the draft, is averaging 11.5 minutes and 4.3 points. . . . The Lakers are 19-1 against Vancouver.

* Tickets--(800) 462-2849.