O’Neal Not Only a Laker Titan, He’s Also a Stoic

He has been pushed, shoved, jabbed, kicked, slashed, hacked, cracked and whacked. Shaquille O’Neal has suffered all sorts of physical indignities.

But have you noticed how Shaq never loses it? Shaq doesn’t lose his cool, his temper. He doesn’t pout or shout.

When he is fouled four or five times per Laker possession and nothing is called, Shaq just keeps moving on. When Shaq was called for foul No. 6 Wednesday night with 2 minutes 33 seconds left in overtime--on a play where Pete Newell, coaching guru to big men everywhere, swore there was no foul no matter what angle you looked at--he shrugged and walked off the court.

How grown up is that?

How many Laker fans were swearing at their TV sets? How many threw a peanut at that set or leaped up in anger, knocking that sandwich off their lap? You think Shaq didn’t want to do that? You think Shaq didn’t want to kick over a table of water cups or say something loud and nasty to an official? You think Shaq wasn’t boiling, roiling furious over having to watch the last 2 minutes 33 seconds?

But Shaq just winked at Kobe Bryant, told his teammates they’d be fine without him and sat down and cheered.

How grown up is that?

You know how, when you were a youngster, if your parents acted scared in front of you, that made you scared, too? That’s Shaq now, the maturely sweet, quaintly fun-loving but totally responsible grown-up. He showed no fear and so the Lakers weren’t afraid.

“Kobe was hitting shots. Kobe was rebounding. Kobe was the hero of the game,” Shaq said afterward. “I’m just glad I’m part of this legendary one-two punch.”

How grown up is that?

Kobe might have been the hero, but it is Shaq without whom the Lakers cannot live.

The Shaq we saw Wednesday night played the game with the same joy as Magic, with the same intensity as Michael. Shaq let Kobe be the hero, but Kobe couldn’t have been the hero if Shaq hadn’t taken his stoic beating inside, hadn’t controlled portions of the game with his rebounding, hadn’t had the nerve and poise, the confidence, the proper defensive technique to guard 5-foot-11 speedster Travis Best on the last shot in regulation.

Did you notice? Shaq stood, stared and Best was mesmerized into a fear of driving past Shaq and into trying to shoot over Shaq.

Just a stare.

In fact, never in this playoff series has Shaq radically changed the look on his face.

Make three or four free throws in a row? Not a tinge of a smile. Miss four or five free throws in a row while the crowd laughs and hoots and stomps its feet? Not a bit of a frown or grimace.

When some Pacers and their coach, Larry Bird, couch their whining as serious concern about this great game if the refs continue to allow Shaq to stand in the lane four, five, six seconds, the refs come out and immediately call Shaq for a three-second violation. How does Shaq react? He runs to the other end of the court and just plays some more.

Newell, who has been dissecting this championship playoff series for the Times, has marveled over what a beating Shaq has been taking. In Game 2, when Shaq was called for a flagrant foul when he had only tried to stop a shot, when he only went for the ball and made some contact--nothing mean or intentional looking--Shaq didn’t say a word. Newell did.

“That was terrible,” Newell said after the game.

Shaq’s coach, Phil Jackson, made sure a protest was lodged. Not Shaq. Not a peep from him.

What you notice so much from Shaq now is joy. He is an exuberant kid on the court. He is trim and toned and seems to be feeling just great. Did you notice once how he spun, changed directions, fielded an Indiana turnover as smoothly as Derek Jeter would a baseball, then reversed direction and started the play going the other way. No 7-foot-1, 315-pound man should be able to do that. Shaq did it and loved doing it.

Used to be, even last year, that Shaq played every game as if he were doing an unpleasant homework assignment.

What makes a man change?

It helps that Shaq has a coach he respects, a gentle man who takes care of Shaq by both supporting him and nudging him. Jackson made sure Shaq got in shape by playing him 48 minutes a game early in the season. Jackson also made sure to get on him early in the season over fits of anger or moments of lost poise.

Shaq’s dad, the retired army sergeant, Phil Harrison, has instructed his son to lighten up, loosen up and most important, grow up.

But maybe Shaq has finally found himself in a time and place where everything is good. He is comfortable with Kobe. He admires Jackson. He uses Southern California for everything good it offers--its appreciation of stardom, its acceptance of bigger-than-life personalities, its sun and its fun.

Southern California is proud of itself, comfortable with itself. So is Shaq.

It has become easy being Shaq. It wasn’t that way in Orlando, Fla. or in Baton Rouge at Louisiana State, where Shaq went to college. So if all those little people want to pound on Shaq in a basketball game, Shaq can’t be bothered. In the game, Shaq has found fun; in his life, peace.

And maybe, as early as tonight, he may find an NBA title, which he can celebrate with both joy and dignity.

How grown up would that be?

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Diane Pucin can be reached at her e-mail address: diane.pucin@latimes.com.