Laker Feud Gets National Spotlight

The Lakers have become a national story. There is so much intrigue. There are so many questions. And television viewers will be looking for answers.

Los Angeles gets to check out the Lakers tonight when they play host to the Houston Rockets on Fox Sports Net.

On Sunday, the nation gets its first look at the Lakers since the Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O’Neal feud began making Page 1 headlines.

The Lakers play host to Pat Riley and the Miami Heat in a 2 p.m. game that is the third of an NBC tripleheader.

Will the Lakers respond to Phil Jackson’s new get-tough policy?

Will they suddenly start putting forth an effort and get back on defense?

Will Kobe continue passing the ball into Shaq?

Will those two get along, or will they end up on an episode of FX’s “Toughman” and just duke it out?

Will any other player on the Lakers beside Kobe or Shaq make any significant contributions?

NBC’s Doug Collins will work Sunday’s Laker game with Mike Breen. Collins’ regular partner, Marv Albert, is staying home in New York because of a commitment and will team with Bill Walton on the Knicks’ game against the Indiana Pacers, the first of the tripleheader that begins at 9 a.m.

Collins, reached at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., said the Lakers have certainly become a major topic of discussion around the NBA.

On the Shaq-Kobe feud, he said, “I view it a little differently. It’s not that they don’t get along. What you have is two talented, intelligent guys who want to win.

“You’ve got the most dominant player in the game in Shaq, and the best perimeter player in the game in Kobe. You have to have passion and ego to get to that kind of level.

“If you had Michael Jordan in his prime playing on the same team as Wilt Chamberlain in his prime, you might have the same thing. There are a lot of similarities.

“With Shaq and Kobe, both need to give a little. The team belongs to Jerry Buss and the city of Los Angeles, and they both have to recognize that.

“They need each other to be great. Kobe needs Shaq to dominate inside, rebound and score, and Shaq needs Kobe’s perimeter shooting late in the game.”

Collins, who coached the Chicago Bulls in Jordan’s early years and had Jackson as one of his assistants, said, “In Chicago, it was different. Michael was the No. 1 option from the first minute to the last minute of every game.

“It’s tough to go into Shaq late in the game because of his free-throw shooting.”

Of Shaq’s free-throw problems, Collins said, “He’s got to come up with something and stick with it, like you do with your golf swing. You don’t watch the Golf Channel and see something and then say, ‘I’m going to try that tomorrow.’

“Free-throw shooting is all about proper form, proper technique, repetition and confidence.”

As for the feud, Collins sees Jackson settling it.

“Phil is not one to micro-manage,” he said. “He’ll give players a little rope, but if he feels he’s being abused, then he pulls back. I’m sure this thing got bigger than he ever thought it would.

“He’s tremendous at these kinds of situations, and this will be worked out.”

SHAQ CONTINUES BOYCOTT

Give Shaq credit. He’s not playing favorites in his media boycott.

NBC’s Jim Gray was at Laker practice Thursday to interview Kobe for a piece that will be shown at halftime Saturday of a game between Sacramento and Portland, and possibly continued during halftime of the first or second game of the tripleheader Sunday.

Gray gave Shaq an opportunity to speak, but he didn’t.

Talking with NBC would have made Shaq look bad, because he canceled a scheduled in-studio appearance with Joe McDonnell and Doug Krikorian on Thursday on ESPN Radio (1110). He has promised them he would come on their show at a later date.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

What do you do if you have a new basketball league and no television contract? Go to the Internet, of course.

The Los Angeles Stars of the ABA will soon announce a plan to have their home games at the Forum Web-cast with audio on the Internet, beginning in early February.

The games will be available via https://www.aba2000.com.

Steve Chase, vice president and general manager of the Stars, said as far as he can determine this will mark the first time a professional team will have its game on the Internet with both audio and video.

“Eventually, we expect this to result in league-wide Internet broadcasting,” he said.

The Stars have also made a deal with the new KRLA (870) to carry their games, beginning Jan. 26 when they play the Tampa Bay Thunderdogs, coached by Darryl Dawkins. Geoff Witcher will be the announcer.

SHORT WAVES

ESPN announced Thursday that Tiger Woods, Marion Jones and ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Jack Nicklaus lead the list of athletes who will join host Samuel L. Jackson at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for the ninth ESPY awards show Feb. 12. ESPN also announced CBS’ Dick Enberg will be among the presenters. This year, the voting body has been expanded to include more than 100 big-name athletes, coaches and journalists, including The Times’ Bill Plaschke. . . . Also on Feb. 12, the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Assn. will hold its annual awards luncheon at Lakeside Golf Course in Toluca Lake. Among the honorees already named are Times Sports Editor Bill Dwyre, “good guy” award; Tom Lasorda, special achievement, and Buss, lifetime achievement.

CBS begins its 51st year of golf coverage with the Sony Open at Honolulu this weekend. The USA network has today’s round. . . . Pax TV and CNBC begin their first year of senior golf coverage with the MasterCard Championship at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, which starts today.

Al Epstein, the voice of Pepperdine basketball the last 15 years, will be among those inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Saturday at 7 p.m. at the West Hills Jewish Community Center.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Jan. 13-14.

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: Lakers at Utah 9 5.8 10 Pro basketball: Portland at New York 4 4.1 10 Skiing: Gateway Freestyle Challenge 4 1.8 5 College basketball: Villanova at UCLA 2 1.6 5 College basketball: Notre Dame at Kentucky 2 1.0 3 College basketball: Virginia at Duke 7 0.8 3 College basketball: Oregon at Stanford 7 0.7 2

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Cable Network Rating Share Golf: Mercedes Championships ESPN 1.9 4 College football: East-West Shrine Game ESPN 0.8 2 Horse racing: Santa Anita Live FSN2 0.8 2 College football: All-Star Gridiron Classic ESPN2 0.6 2 Golf: LPGA YourLife Vitamins Classic ESPN 0.4 1 College basketball: San Diego at Pepperdine FSN2 0.3 1 Hockey: St. Louis at Kings FSN 0.3 0 Golf: Touchstone Energy Tucson Open CNBC 0.1 0

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SUNDAY

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro football: Baltimore at Oakland 2 21.9 48 Pro football: Minnesota at New York Giants 11 18.5 42 Soccer: Guadalajara vs. Atlas 34 2.9 6 Skiing: Ford Downhill Series (tape) 4 2.1 5 Snowboarding: U.S. Grand Prix (tape) 4 1.3 3

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Cable Network Rating Share Golf: Mercedes Championships ESPN 1.9 3 Tennis: Australian Open ESPN2 0.5 1 Bowling: PBA National/Senior Doubles ESPN 0.5 1 Golf: LPGA YourLife Vitamins Classic ESPN 0.2 0 Golf: PGA Touchstone Energy Tucson Open CNBC 0.1 0 College basketball: Women, USC at UCLA FSN 0.0 0

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Note: Each rating point represents 53,542 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.