O’Neal Lets His Play Speak for Itself

Before the Lakers went 53 minutes to beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, Coach Phil Jackson said he did not believe his center, Shaquille O’Neal, was angry anymore.

“Not the same,” Jackson said. “I think he’s relieved.”

It does wonders for his game, and O’Neal and Kobe Bryant perhaps had never played together better than they did Monday night.

O’Neal has scored 30 points or more in each of his last four games, including 31 against the Grizzlies. He has 56 rebounds in that span.

And while Jackson said O’Neal was angry with himself for missing each of four free throws in the final minute of regulation, Bryant offered that O’Neal was OK. O’Neal did make two free throws with 40 seconds to play in overtime, and made the winning shot.

“I think he feels pretty good about himself right now,” Bryant said. “He’s fine. He’s just not talking to you all.”

O’Neal is ignoring the media.

Midway through the second quarter, Bryant led a fast break, O’Neal in tow. Bryant bounced a pass off the backboard. O’Neal grabbed the ball, gathered himself, and rolled it in.

The two slapped hands and laughed at the play. Everyone laughed, it seemed, except Jackson.

“I wasn’t ready for it,” O’Neal told Bryant.

“I think I caught him off guard,” Bryant said. “I don’t think he was ready for that pass. He’s always been talking trash, man, like, ‘Throw it off the glass, throw it off the glass.’ All right. I’ll do it off the glass.”

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Bryant’s triple-double was the first by a Laker since April 5, 1996, when Vlade Divac had 10 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists in a 104-94 victory over the Grizzlies at the Forum.

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Isaiah Rider gradually is finding his way in the offense, Monday scoring 16 points in 19 minutes. He did not play the final six minutes of regulation or in overtime, however.

“He had a wonderful offensive game,” Jackson said, “but other things didn’t go that well. He had some offensive fouls and defensively they went at him.”

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Jackson is getting more creative in his rotations, searching for the combinations that bring defense and fresher legs to the league’s best offense.

Rider is getting more playing time and Horace Grant is getting less. Brian Shaw didn’t play Saturday at Utah, but played 28 minutes Monday. Mark Madsen has played early minutes. Greg Foster played some power forward minutes against the Grizzlies.

Jackson said it didn’t bother him that he must experiment nearly halfway through the season.

“I don’t consider it [too late] at all,” he said.