O’Neal Says Season Can Only Get Better

Shaquille O’Neal is halfway through a season spent playing through a bum left ankle and Achilles’ tendon and now suffering from a very sore right foot, and also spent defending his play and its relationship to Kobe Bryant’s.

He said Wednesday there is time to heal and then make something of it all.

O’Neal, who sat out all three games of the trip, will be examined today in Los Angeles by foot specialist Phil Kwong. O’Neal was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, but the Lakers fear there could be more wrong. He will undergo further tests today, including an MRI exam and CT scan.

He hopes the results will tell him when he will be able to return to the court, if he will be physically capable of playing in the NBA All-Star game, and how much strength he will have for the push into the playoffs.

“It can’t get any worse, mentally,” O’Neal said. “And, physically, it can only get better.

“But I will never, ever complain. I have a great life.”

Recently, it has been a life without basketball. He hasn’t practiced and spends the games in the locker room, not on the bench.

“I can’t let people see Superman like this,” he said, a broad grin forming. “It’s an ego thing.”

Still, the pain and the months spent limping up and down the court have taught him something about himself.

“I makes me realize I’m older,” said O’Neal, 28 for another month. “I don’t heal like I used to heal. When the medication doesn’t work, you know something is wrong with it.”

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The Lakers retained their Jan. 15 overtime victory against the Vancouver Grizzlies in a decision announced Wednesday by the NBA.

The Grizzlies protested the game because the Staples Center game clock malfunctioned in the final second of the Lakers’ 113-112 victory. They claimed the delay allowed O’Neal time for a game-winning shot.

While Commissioner David Stern granted the clock did freeze for three-tenths of a second while registering six-tenths, according to a league statement, “[It] did not prejudice the play of the game.”

Laker Coach Phil Jackson appeared relieved, admitting the Grizzlies probably had a decent case.

“It was kind of like 50-50 chance,” Jackson said. “I had no feel of justification. . . . I could see both sides of the coin.”

Grizzly President Dick Versace said the message of the denial bothered him.

“Depending on the integrity of the people running the franchise, I guess you could go to your home timer and say, ‘Hey, if you get a chance to help us, help us,’ ” Versace said. “Precedent set. Say it’s inadvertent and what are you going to do?

“Now, I want you to know I am being light-hearted here. But, in my light-heartedness, there’s a kernel of truth.”

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Horace Grant had the bursa sac on his left knee drained before Wednesday’s game against Minnesota but was unable to play.