VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE

It was the kind of moment that called for a nickname. When a man who shoots 53% from the foul line goes a perfect nine for nine in the conference finals, on the road, against a team that decided to exploit the rules to park him at the foul line, he’s earned the right to poke a little fun, especially at himself.

You see, back East we don’t really get the full entertainment value of Shaq. When he gets off his best lines, it’s late, like 2 a.m. our time. But now, we’ve got Shaq 24 hours a day. These are his playoffs now. OK, so it’s good theater to watch the Knicks and Pacers play. But the Knicks don’t have a guy with real superstar wattage. And the star of the Pacers is the coach. Otherwise, who is he up against, Rik Smits? Shaq is worth following around with a pen and notebook, if for no other reason than he gives good nickname.

A couple of weeks ago, he named himself “The Big Aristotle” and quoted the great philosopher. Before that, he was “The Big Continuous” which was a reference to the line of great Laker centers that runs from Wilt to Kareem to him. After swatting the Knicks away one night, he settled on “The Big IPO” because his stock was way, way up. After a particularly juicy guard-like dribble-drive he was “The Big Luggage, ‘cause I got handles.” My favorite came after he stole the ball down in Orlando, and went in for the dunk that sent the game into overtime and allowed the Lakers to win. He immediately dubbed himself, “The Big Felon.”

But Sunday’s performance was bigger than any of that stuff. As Doug Collins so astutely pointed out on NBC, Shaquille O’Neal is a man of immense pride. He makes fun of himself all the time, but he doesn’t want the world to be able to make fun of his one deficiency on a basketball court: his lousy free throw shooting.

He hit all three he took in the first half, then six straight in about 90 seconds late in the fourth quarter when a desperate Mike Dunleavy ordered his Trail Blazers to foul Shaq even when he didn’t have the ball, hoping his errant offerings would allow Portland to climb back in the game.

Hard as he tried to appear serious, a smile broke over his lovable round mug after each make. “Was it that obvious?” he asked. Sitting in front of three reporters he knows well, Shaq wanted to try out a new nickname. “How about The Big Maravich?” he asked. Great foul shooter, went to Louisiana State, as did Shaq. “The Big Maravich” it was.