Injured Shaq Says He Might Sit Out

Shaquille O’Neal has a sprained left ankle and a sore Achilles’ tendon, also on the left side, injuries he said could keep him out of tonight’s game against Denver. He did not practice Friday afternoon.

“I can’t run, I can’t cut, I can’t walk,” O’Neal said.

In fact, O’Neal walked from a practice gym at Pepsi Center to a waiting bus without a limp.

He said he suffered the injury in the first quarter Thursday night, when, “somebody fell on my leg.” He played 49 minutes in the Lakers’ overtime win in Sacramento and had 33 points and 16 rebounds.

By Friday morning, however, the ankle had swelled. He watched practice from a courtside chair, a small bag of ice wrapped around the ankle.

Coach Phil Jackson called the injury “a little bit of a twist,” and predicted O’Neal would play. O’Neal, who ranks first in the league in field-goal percentage (58.9), second in rebounds (13.2) and third in scoring (28.2) and blocks (3.1), is also recovering from two sore thumbs.

In his last two games, O’Neal has made 32 of 43 shots.

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Nick Van Exel, former Laker and reputed practice dummy in those days for Kobe Bryant, said he would like to set the record straight.

Bryant, he said, did not “kill” him in practice. Well, he said, maybe sometimes, but not as often as Bryant remembered.

After Bryant scored 31 points against Van Exel’s Nuggets on Tuesday, he said, “I used to kill Nick when he was here and I’m going to continue to kill him even now that he’s in Denver.”

He didn’t really smile, either. Van Exel did the next morning, though, when he saw the quote.

“I laughed, because I know it’s not true,” he said. “I used to kill his [butt] too. Me and Kobe, though, we never really stuck one another much. It was mainly him and Eddie [Jones] going at each other.”

If Bryant remembers it different, that’s all right, Van Exel said.

“That’s just Kobe,” he said. “That’s the type of person he is. He thinks he’s the greatest one-on-one basketball player ever. Too bad he has four other guys he has to play with. But, I guess Kobe’s attitude is, he feels he’s better than anybody who he steps on a basketball court with. That’s a good attitude. He has a lot of confidence in his game.”

Though they spent much of Tuesday night’s game in each other’s ears, Van Exel said they remain on decent terms, if not exactly friends. And, if Van Exel needed yet another reason to succeed against his former teammates, Bryant gave it to him.

“We’ll see [tonight],” Van Exel said. “We’ll see.”

Bryant could see more of Tariq Abdul-Wahad than Van Exel.

According to Denver Coach Dan Issel’s statistics, Bryant made one of nine shots Tuesday against Abdul-Wahad, and 11 of 14 against whomever else Issel threw out there, including Van Exel.

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Bryant has scored at least 31 points in four consecutive games, averaging more than 26 shots a game. The Lakers have won all but one of those games.

Apparently miffed that his shot selection continues to be questioned, Bryant refused to speak to reporters after Friday’s practice.

It is Jackson, however, who talks most about it.

“It’s just choices,” Jackson said. “It’s a matter of constantly making choices of what’s a good opportunity for him and what’s a good opportunity for his teammates. He can have both. He can have his cake and eat it too in that world.

“For us, if we had a little better defensive speed, I’d probably bench him. But I need his defense out there for a lot of the game. He’s a good all-around player for us. It’s important to have him on the court.”

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Nugget center Raef LaFrentz, who bruised his left hand Tuesday in Los Angeles and did not play in Denver’s victory over Chicago on Thursday, expects to play tonight.

“It’s still swollen and sore,” Issel said. “But he’s shooting pretty well.”

TONIGHT

vs. Denver

6, Channel 9

* Site--Pepsi Center

* Radio--KLAC (570)

* Records--Lakers 6-3, Nuggets 4-5.

* Record vs. Nuggets--1-0.

* Update--The Lakers beat the Nuggets, 119-103, Tuesday at Staples Center. O’Neal scored 34 points and Bryant had 31. Van Exel ranks fifth in the league in assists, averaging 8.3.