What You See Is What You Get

After Shaquille O’Neal stood up for Kobe Bryant on Sunday afternoon, he took the moment to supplement his season-long “write what you see” refrain.

“I haven’t been going through anything with Kobe,” he said. “You guys have been wanting me and Kobe to go through something. I’m the team captain. This team has to play a certain way. And, when it’s not playing that way I’m going to have to say something. I don’t have any personal agenda. I don’t have anything against anybody. If I did, I would have settled it a long time ago. But, you guys don’t have no writing talents or no media talents, so you’re looking for something to start up. Do your job. Report what you see. Don’t make [stuff] up.”

Portland center Arvydas Sabonis smacked a driving Bryant across the face in the third quarter, drawing a flagrant foul and the ire of Bryant and O’Neal.

As it turned out, it wasn’t the most abuse Sabonis would take. Earlier, O’Neal knocked into Sabonis and sent him sprawling. As he went, Sabonis slammed into Rasheed Wallace, chipping one of Wallace’s teeth.

Wallace was so angry during a later timeout that he threw a towel into Sabonis’ face, drawing no discernible reaction from Sabonis.

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Hoping to prepare the ice for the NHL playoff game between the Kings and Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night, Staples Center officials lowered the temperature during the third quarter from a comfortable 68 degrees to a brisk-feeling 64.

There were other considerations, not so controllable.

“We’re hoping for a quick game,” admitted Lee Zeidman, Staples Center vice president/operations.

The six-hour difference between the start of the Laker game and the start of the King game made for the shortest turn-around test for Zeidman’s crew.

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Laker Coach Phil Jackson said he is “very optimistic” Ron Harper would return for the first round of the playoffs. Harper is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery.