O’Neal, Bryant Enjoy 1-2 Punch

You want signs?

On the court, Kobe Bryant is looking to get the ball to Shaquille O’Neal, O’Neal is looking for Bryant and the two are playing with a chemistry they’ve never before approached.

Off the court, Bryant was a surprise attendee at O’Neal’s 28th birthday party March 6 (the night O’Neal scored 61 points against the Clippers), and O’Neal beamed this week when he told reporters his new--and first--nickname for himself and Bryant:

“Me and Kobe are ‘the Combo,’ ” O’Neal said, setting up in a fighter’s stance before firing punches in the air, “because we can get you one-two! this way, or one-two! this way.”

After a calm period to begin the season--unofficially started when O’Neal attended Bryant’s 21st birthday party in August--and then a brief flare-up during the Lakers’ 3-6 skid in late-January through Feb. 1, what’s happening between O’Neal and Bryant is the largest measure of the team’s ability to move past internal turmoil.

“Well, it’s grown,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said of the relationship between the two superstars. “And there’s a lot of things that are happening between the two of them that are happening well.

“That’s a consensus between them [about] teamwork . . .

“They’ve got a ways to go yet, to learn how to really play together to the best of their ability.”

Jackson and assistant Tex Winter have been urging Bryant to shoot his jumper earlier in the game and more often throughout, instead of driving into the lane, to create a tricky inside-outside combination with O’Neal and Bryant.

And, once his mid-range game is established, when Bryant has gone into the lane and drawn multiple defenders, he says he always knows where O’Neal is going to be and that O’Neal will catch his often no-look passes.

In Sunday’s thrilling victory over the Sacramento Kings, the two combined to score 25 of the team’s last 26 points in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve played with one another for a long time, you know what I mean?” Bryant said. “We talk about it a lot, like when I penetrate, where he’s going to slide. I know where he is. I throw it anywhere, he’s going to catch it.

“He knows exactly where I’m going to put it . . .

“On the court, we’ve just gotten better, playing with one another. Off the court? Same.”

TONIGHT

at Washington, 4 PST

Channel 9 (delayed, 6)

* Site--MCI Center.

* Radio--KLAC (570).

* Records--Lakers 53-11, Wizards 20-45.

* Record vs. Wizards--1-0.

* Update--Jackson said he probably won’t see new Wizard executive Michael Jordan at the game, but said he planned to call him and talk about a few things. Washington has lost three games in a row, but before that had won three of four, with guards Rod Strickland and Mitch Richmond leading the way.