O’Neal Says Game 2 Will Be Different

As he often does, Shaquille O’Neal spent the final minutes of Thursday’s practice with Eddie Palubinskas, his free-throw coach.

O’Neal missed 12 of 22 free throws, six in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game 1.

Even so, O’Neal was Wednesday night’s dominant player, backing easily through Dikembe Mutombo, and finishing with 17 field goals in 28 attempts. O’Neal fouled out Matt Geiger in 14 minutes, and had Mutombo on the brink of fouling out.

He will require more scoring help in Game 2, but he figured the Lakers already had seen the 76ers’ best game.

“A couple of our guys didn’t have the types of games that they would have liked to have had,” O’Neal said. “I know they’re not going to give us two games in a row like that. I look for Kobe Bryant to be a different player [tonight], look for Derek Fisher to be a different player.”

He urged his teammates to go harder at Mutombo, who blocked five shots.

“They either have to try to dunk, or they have to draw and kick,” he said. “With a guy like Dikembe, you can’t lay it up.”

The streak is over, which should be a boon to at least one area barber.

Rick Fox refused to cut his hair during a 19-game winning streak that endured more than two months and several bottles of gel.

“If I come in here bald, like Shaq, tomorrow, don’t be shocked,” he said. “I’ve done that before. It was just there. It just created its own life. The wife seems to like it, though.”

In recent weeks, Fox got creative.

“I was getting a little Gaylord Perry going though, with the goop,” he said. “I was getting it going on the ball a little bit. I should have put some more on it. Maybe Allen [Iverson] would have turned it over a little bit instead of hitting so many shots.”

The Lakers altered some of their offensive strategy, in part because the 76ers rarely double-teamed O’Neal. But, according to Robert Horry, it also kept them from freeing Bryant.

“If you noticed, every series before this series, we set some pick-and-rolls for him so he could get to the middle,” he said. “We didn’t do that that much. He was so used to getting his rhythm like that, that kind of threw him off kilter.”

Asked, then, why they wouldn’t do the same against the 76ers, Horry said, “Because we were instructed not to.”

For a game, Tyronn Lue was the Lakers’ only clue to “the Answer,” Iverson’s nickname. If that brings more playing time in the series, it might also change the course of his career.

“I just want to get the opportunity, hopefully, to sign back and be able to play again next year in the league,” said Lue, who will be a free agent after the season. “That’s my biggest focus and the thing I’m thinking about right now.”