The Ups, Downs of Shaq

Not so long ago, before he became The Big No Comment, back when his life was as complicated but perhaps not as public, Shaquille O’Neal sat for 20 minutes and tried to explain where his heart was.

Between bites of chicken at the Laker practice facility in El Segundo, O’Neal discussed his game and what the referees do to it, his too-brief time on the mountain top, and his health.

He’s having fun, he said. Really.

“I’m happy. I’m happy,” O’Neal said. “But the world has so much greed, everybody always wants more. I know to get my true respect as a Laker center, I’ve got to outdo Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]. I’ve got to outdo Wilt [Chamberlain]. I’ve got to do more than they did.

“But I’ve never cared about that. I’ve always wanted to win championships. But this world is filled with so much greed, everybody wants more. They let me celebrate two weeks. I’m down there in Orlando [where he lives in the off-season]. They let me celebrate two stinkin’ weeks. [The Magic is] going to get Grant Hill. They’re going to get Tracy McGrady. Tim Duncan. The Lakers, can they do it again? I like proving everybody wrong. I thrive on that.”

It has been a strain. O’Neal has played through a very sore left ankle and Achilles’, injuries he treats nearly every day.

“I’m hurting,” he said. “You’ll never hear me say nothing. I go out there and I do what I got to do. Don’t question my passion. I’m the type of person, if I don’t have passion, I’ll pack up and move on and do something else. When the passion was out of Orlando, I got out of there. I would do the same.”

He was asked if the game is still fun.

“The system makes it not fun,” he said. “The rules they don’t enforce.”

When it was suggested, partly in jest, that the rules were there so he wouldn’t kill anybody, O’Neal grew irritated.

“What do you mean so I won’t kill anybody?” he said. “The strength I have, the body I have, I worked on this body. It’s not my fault guys are 6-8, 6-9. Don’t protect them. That’s the thing that makes me not have fun, when they try to make it even. I’m supposed to get beat up and I’m supposed to not react and not knock people out? All that stuff? Just because I’m big and strong?”

His contract runs through the 2005-06 season. If for any reason he retired before it expired, went the question, would it be because he tired of the way the game is called? His coach, Phil Jackson, has called O’Neal the most hacked upon player in the history of the sport.

“I’ll tell you, when something’s not fun it’s time to do something else,” O’Neal said. “I’m not going to say now why I might retire. I don’t know. When the time comes I’ll tell you why I’ll decide not to play anymore. I can’t say now.”

*

Against Cleveland and Utah, Friday and Saturday, Isaiah Rider combined for 28 points and only one turnover in 38 minutes. . . Horace Grant is struggling to find his role in an offense where there are few spare shots. He has scored in double figures once in the past eight games, averaging only four points in them.

TONIGHT

vs. Vancouver, 5

Fox Sports Net

* Site--Staples Center.

* Radio--KLAC (570).

* Records--Lakers 24-12, Grizzlies 11-25.

* Record vs. Grizzlies--2-0.

* Update--The Lakers defeated Vancouver, 98-76, on Dec. 15, when Shaquille O’Neal was in Baton Rouge, La., to accept his college degree. Horace Grant was the team’s leading scorer (19) and rebounder (13) and tied Ron Harper for the lead in assists (five).

* Tickets--(800) 462-2849