Shaq Destroys New York

This might have been the last stand for the rest of the NBA.

The giant was wounded. The New York Knicks were the best-suited bunch to take advantage by taking him down, and their crowd frantically demanded it.

So what happened when Shaquille O’Neal came to Gotham?

“He came out,” said Laker guard Ron Harper after the Lakers’ 92-85 victory Sunday before a Madison Square Garden sellout crowd, “and destroyed them by himself.”

No nicknames necessary after this one (although O’Neal obliged with a new one--”The Big Continuation,” as in, from the legendary lineage of George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), just rewind the tape and let the rubble speak for itself.

In a precise, resounding 43-point performance, O’Neal stomped, ducked under and dribble-drove past Patrick Ewing and Kurt Thomas, made 18 of 31 shots, and left the Knicks badly in need of emergency medical attention.

So who will stop him--and the 55-12 Lakers--now?

Over a seven-game span (six in road games) since hurting his right hamstring, O’Neal has scored 40 or more four times, and averaged 41 points, while the Lakers have gone 6-1.

“Who knows how to stop a guy who’s coming across the middle, can spin back for the lob and hit his free throws as well?” said Kobe Bryant, who emerged from a tough first half to score 17 of his 24 points in the second half.

And what about O’Neal’s hamstring injury?

“Just keep him hurt,” Bryant said, grinning. “He’s playing like this?”

Said Glen Rice: “When you’ve got a guy playing like that, you’ve got to continue to keep going to him. And we’re going to go for that ride with him. . . .

“We’ve always known that when we need points, we can go down there into the big fella, and he’s been playing just unbelievable.”

O’Neal scored 24 points in the first half, and at one point, while the Knicks attacked and scrambled, scored five consecutive Laker baskets in the first quarter.

His teammates helped him on defense by cutting off most of New York’s penetration and forcing the Knicks to shoot jump shots. As a result, the Knicks made only 33 of 81 shots (40.7%).

After offering his “Big Continuation” nickname, O’Neal chose the moment to praise his teammates, and, in a departure from his usual noncommittal attitude toward the Lakers’ other superstar, went out of his way to praise Bryant, who also had nine rebounds and seven assists.

“Kobe has been playing fabulous since the All-Star break,” O’Neal said. “We’re going to be the one-two punch for a long time to come. We’re playing pretty good together.

“I’m proud of Kobe.”

With the Knicks (40-25) trying to play him as straight-up as possible with Ewing, O’Neal got the Lakers through the first half trailing only 44-43, despite the Knicks’ early rebounding dominance.

“Usually when my first couple shots go, that means I’m going to have a pretty good night,” O’Neal said. “My shots were going, they weren’t doubling me, so I was just going to what I know.”

Said Harper: “He’s making the easy shots, he’s making the hard shots, he’s making everything.”

In the third, Bryant perked up, scoring 10 points, and O’Neal kept pile-driving Ewing & Co. as the Lakers eased to a double-digit lead and then to victory.

So what explains the O’Neal explosion?

“It’s the triangle offense, man,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said sardonically. “What are you talking about?”

Is it possible to compare what O’Neal is doing now to what Michael Jordan did with the Chicago Bulls?

“No. . . . MJ was outside-inside, Shaq is inside,” said Harper, a three-year teammate of Jordan’s. “Shaq goes down there and he bangs them around. MJ, he had all kinds of moves.”

Said Jackson: “It’s a dominance. . . . it’s the amount of attention defense has to give them that makes Shaq comparable in that regard. And tonight we didn’t find the complement until the second half, and Kobe was the complement and made a difference in the game.”

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BY THE NUMBERS

SHAQUILLE O’NEAL’S SCORING AVERAGE BY MONTH:

November: 28.7

December: 26.1

January: 28.4

February: 28.1

March: 36.0

Season: 29.0