Shaq and Kobe Huddle Up

Late in Friday night’s victory at Charlotte, Kobe Bryant heard a noise.

“Psst.”

He looked over his left shoulder.

“Psst.”

His right.

It was a grinning Shaquille O’Neal, nodding his head down court, the basketball cocked above his head. The play had ended with O’Neal being fouled, and with O’Neal waiting for Bryant to run a post pattern to the other basket.

Bryant smiled and walked to O’Neal. They touched hands and chuckled together, pleased in the victory assured about 30 seconds earlier, amused by O’Neal’s playful intentions.

“He wanted me to go long,” Bryant said. “We have this thing in practice we do, after a drill, we start running football patterns. Brian Shaw tries to intercept the ball. We have a good time doing that, and he wanted me to go long. I said, ‘Dang, Shaq, you didn’t throw the pump fake. You need to throw the pump fake.’ Then I can spin out and go. We had a nice little laugh about that.”

O’Neal and Bryant, famously divided, appear to have found a balance in the first three games of this trip, O’Neal’s first playing time since sitting six games because of a strained arch.

Against New Jersey, Philadelphia and Charlotte on the trip, O’Neal has averaged 20.3 field-goal attempts, 33 points, 12.3 rebounds and four blocks. He also has made more than half (25 of 47, 53.2%) of his free throws.

Bryant has averaged 27 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists, including Friday’s triple-double, the second of his career and his second in 14 games. He also averaged 18.3 shots per game, but only 15 in the past two.

He conceded recently that he must become more trusting of his teammates and their games. As a result, Bryant has appeared less inclined to force shots over double-teams, in part because O’Neal is back in the middle.

“The nice thing about the NBA, about sports in general, is you’re constantly faced with a challenge,” Bryant said. “Always. You might have a little doubt there. That’s the point in time where, as a team, you have to push through the obstacle, then you move on to the next thing.”

*

Speaking for the “merry minimums”--Dallas owner Mark Cuban’s term for any Laker not named Kobe or Shaq--Rick Fox would like to thank Bryant and O’Neal for including them in the process recently. He was serious.

“Please print how much we appreciate it,” Fox said as he pounded through an hour on an exercise machine Saturday. “We appreciate the fact that [Bryant] has that faith in us. It really means a lot to guys who have been in this league, doesn’t matter how long, we look to him as somebody who does things we can’t do and we need him to do. Same thing with Shaq. When they have the same faith in us they have in each other, I mean, we recognize we’re not Shaquille O’Neals and Kobe Bryants, but we hunger to make their jobs as easy as they make ours.”

*

Dallas Coach Don Nelson returns to the bench Tuesday night against the Lakers for the first time since prostate cancer surgery. O’Neal, who called Nelson “a clown” after a Dec. 22 game in which the Mavericks’ Hack-a-Shaq sent him to the line 20 times, said he was happy for the coach.

“I care about Don Nelson,” O’Neal said. “I’m glad he had a speedy recovery. His tactics are his tactics. I’m just going to be a big man and play through them. They didn’t work last time so hopefully they won’t work this time.

“I’m glad he’s out of the hospital. I’m glad he’s here and with us today. I love you, Don Nelson.”

Cuban, suspended for running onto the court last week, will not be at the game.

*

Derek Fisher, about three weeks away from full recovery of the stress fracture in his right foot, joined the team Saturday. . . . Coach Phil Jackson said Ron Harper probably would not play today against Indiana. He would not commit to J.R. Rider in the starting lineup, but admitted, “I haven’t got a whole lot of options there.”

TODAY

at Indiana, 2:30 PST, Channel 4

* Site--Conseco Fieldhouse.

* Radio--KLAC (570).

* Records--Lakers 33-17, Pacers 22-28.

* Record vs. Pacers--1-0.

* Update--Without Rik Smits and Mark Jackson, the Pacers are a terrible offensive team. Of those left behind, Jalen Rose has been inconsistent, Reggie Miller has slowed and Austin Croshere averages 9.5 points. As a result, Indiana scores barely 90 points a game. The Pacers ended a three-game losing streak with an 82-73 victory over Detroit on Thursday, despite scoring 36 second-half points.