Without Shaq, Other Lakers Feel the Pain

They wouldn’t ever admit to looking past Shaquille O’Neal, to another way to play, to any other game.

They wouldn’t ever admit to taking the NBA’s most valuable player for granted and, maybe, they never did. Maybe, at times, it only looked like it.

But now that they’ve been ordinary for a few games, another average team with one spectacular player on the wing and a roster of role players, another NBA franchise hoping to catch a break on the road, O’Neal has never looked larger.

On the eve of the medical examination of O’Neal’s right foot with results that could set the course for their season, the Lakers lost for the fifth time in 10 games. The Minnesota Timberwolves, another Shaq-less team in David Stern’s coterie, defeated the Lakers, 96-83, Wednesday night at Target Center.

The Timberwolves attacked the middle of the Laker defense, where O’Neal otherwise would have been standing, and won their eighth consecutive game, a franchise record. Laker power forward Horace Grant also sat out because of a swollen left knee.

The Lakers countered with a sore and tired-looking Kobe Bryant, who was six for 17 from the floor, scored 24 points and took nine rebounds.

They fell behind by as many as 18 points, and did not come closer than eight in the second half. Bryant, pained by a tender right shoulder, left the arena with an electric stimulus apparatus in his right hand and wires running up the sleeve of his jacket.

“I don’t think I have much to say, man,” Bryant said. “We stunk it up.”

He did say that the soreness was neither worse nor better and that he expected to play Friday against the Charlotte Hornets.

On the three-game trip, all without O’Neal, the Lakers lost two games. In five games without O’Neal this season, the Lakers have lost three--just in case anybody forgot.

“I’ve always known that,” said forward Robert Horry, the first option against Kevin Garnett, who scored 21 points. “When he’s not in there, it’s hard for the rest of us to maintain. We’re used to having him in there.

“It’s an enormous hole. You lose 12 rebounds, 30 points, it’s a big deal. Not to mention his presence, when guys want to come in and just drive the lane like they do. Our intimidating factor isn’t there.”

And no one is guessing how long he won’t be. He is day to day, and still limps on a right foot that remains very sore on the bottom, suggesting plantar fasciitis. He cannot rise up on his toes. He cannot move without pain.

As a result, the Lakers scored in the 80s twice in the last three games. They needed 47 points from Bryant against Cleveland on Tuesday to score 102.

“Teams have a lot more confidence on their offensive end, because they know we don’t have that big presence in there, blocking shots and taking up space and doing all the things that he does,” Laker guard Brian Shaw said. “And you take away the most dominant player in the game on the offensive end as well, so it’s no secret to me.”

And yet, through the blur of a perfectly miserable half-season of basketball, there was a sense that O’Neal wasn’t properly respected in the offense. Certainly O’Neal felt forgotten, in part because his game and Bryant’s have not yet meshed as it appeared they did last season.

“It shouldn’t ever come down to that,” Shaw said. “It can. It shouldn’t. We should all know. We play with him. I play with him. With what we accomplished last year, as a unit, why not try doing the same thing the exact same way? The stuff worked.”

O’Neal considered the impact of his absence.

“I think this will be good for the guys,” O’Neal said with a smile. “They should know how to play without me. Once they mastered the art of playing without me, when I come back we’ll be better for it.”

Translated, this might hurt.

The only benefit for the Lakers could be the long look they have gotten at Mark Madsen, the rookie from Stanford who took 27 rebounds in 81 minutes on the trip. He didn’t score in New York or Cleveland, but scored 15 points Wednesday night.

“We need to get our guys healthy,” Madsen said. “We need Horace and Shaq back. We need to get Kobe’s shoulder healthy.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Time-Saving Technology

The NBA, and some collegiate conferences such as the Pacific 10, are using a sensing device attached to the referee’s whistle to stop the clock automatically. This avoids the time lag that occurs when a sideline timekeeper listens for the whistle and then shuts off the clock.

* Who uses: NBA, Pac 10, Big 12, Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences

* Manufacturer: Precision Time of North Carolina

* Advantage: More precise than old manual time-keeping system.

* Disadvantage: Does not completely remove the human element. In the last minute of college games and the last two minutes of NBA games, either the officials or a sideline clock operator (used primarily as a backup system) must still stop the clock after a made basket. Because no whistle is involved, sensors do not come into play.

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Referee blows whistle.

Microphone-like sensor next to whistle picks up the frequency of whistle.

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Wire connects sensor to a beeper-like transmitter attached to referee’s belt, and sends infor-mation that whistle has been blown.

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Wireless transmitter then sends information from belt pack to console at scorer’s table that stops time and 24-second clocks automatically. Referee restarts clock by flipping a switch on belt pack.

Sources: NBA, Pac-10 Conference, Precision Time

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COVERAGE

SUPERMAN

IS VULNERABLE

O’Neal sits out again and says things can only get better. He will see a foot specialist in L.A. today. D4

ALSO

SAN ANTONIO 92

CLIPPERS 70

L.A. lost its ninth in a row, but they scored three more points than they had two nights before. D5