Don’t Leave O’Neal Alone

So the Sacramento Kings went from doing Harry Caray to committing it, playing Shaquille O’Neal straight up and missing a chance to catch the Lakers at a vulnerable moment, which has been very rare in the last month.

They hemorrhaged some in the post area, allowed 44 points and 21 rebounds to O’Neal, and lost the first game of the Western Conference semifinal series by three points.

Not such a big deal really, given the breadth of a best-of-seven series. What may be a big deal, however, are the changes the Kings bring tonight in Game 2, because at this rate, it would seem the series will get lopsided fast, and there will be guys all over the country regretting their most valuable player votes. Which, incidentally, O’Neal would just love.

The fact is, although many Lakers looked a bit stale on their first day back at the job in a week, O’Neal was the first to find his legs. The Lakers were beatable Sunday. Their defense, so taut against Portland, sagged against Chris Webber and gave up 105 points, which might have been disastrous for them had O’Neal not had Vlade Divac and Scot Pollard to pound.

The Laker center played with anger on his face, one reason being that Pollard had blocked one of his shots early in the second quarter. O’Neal’s mom, Lucille, was sitting not 30 feet away, and he hates when someone does that to him with family so near.

“Foul, man,” he said Monday.

Still, it was blocked.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “It was still a foul.”

Even so, he said, “When I get mad, it’s going to be all over. I was mad.”

For another, there were no double-teams.

“When a team doesn’t double me, it’s like they’re disrespecting my game,” O’Neal said.

Rather than rushing over the power forward and the off-guard and the usher and the team masseur every time the Lakers bounced the ball to O’Neal, Divac or Pollard took his punishment. And, through very pained expressions, they tried.

They should have help tonight.

“It’s funny, but at no time in our preparation did we say that we were going to play him one on one,” King Coach Rick Adelman said. “But, our people weren’t active. We were allowing him to go one on one. That’s not what you want to do, because he’s too good.”

The flaw was that Adelman appeared to ask his help defenders--guards from the top, forwards from the weak side--to come late, after O’Neal had started his moves to the rim. Too late, as it turned out.

“I would expect us to play a better game in being more aggressive and more active,” Adelman said. “Sometimes you need a game to see what happens to see what you can improve on.”

He can save the basketball geniuses for another day. The 44 points and 21 rebounds kind of stuck out.

“He’s going to score his points, but we can’t allow anything else,” Divac said. “So, we will probably start off playing him straight up again. Defensively, we do have to make some little adjustments, but it’s not all about Shaq.”

Some days it is, though, and often enough against the Kings. O’Neal averaged 29.7 points and 14 rebounds in three regular-season games against them. In the series-clinching Game 5 last season, O’Neal had 32 points and 18 rebounds. In last year’s Game 1, he had 46 and 17.

Most Lakers figured the double-teams will come harder in Game 2.

“Well, they better,” Kobe Bryant said. “They better do something. But, there are things we can do to get around that. Shaq’s been getting double-teamed all season long and we’re pretty in tune with how to play through that.

“Pick your poison. Portland double-teamed Shaq all series long and we swept them. So, you try something new and that didn’t work for them.”

If they don’t . . .

“If they don’t,” Laker forward Horace Grant said, shrugging, “Shaq’s going to score 40, 45 points.”

When the double-teams come, the Lakers intend to return to their usual game. That means more jump shots for Rick Fox, Derek Fisher and Grant, who combined for 21 shots and 21 points in Game 1. Usually that means more free throws for O’Neal, who made 10 of 19 Sunday and appears to have lost some of his late-season touch.

“They saw the Portland tapes,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “They saw Derek shoot threes. They saw guys with wide-open shots. Even though we didn’t shoot a high percentage, we got opportunities and made them count at times in the Portland series. You pick your poison. You double-team Shaq and leave three-point shooters open, or you make him make shots under duress. [Sunday] it wasn’t the first shot that beat them, it was the second that Shaq got that usually beat them.”

Jackson assumes Adelman will make an adjustment. Beyond the O’Neal issues, Peja Stojakovic went six for 18 from the floor. Jason Williams had six turnovers and only four assists. The Lakers had 19 fastbreak points, many resulting from their 12 steals.

Mostly, though, there is O’Neal in the lane, guarded by one backpedaling guy.

“We kind of let them dictate the tempo they wanted to play,” Adelman said. “They were able to get the ball in to Shaq, but it’s not just our big guys. All of our people have to be aware of what’s going on.”

The noise alone should have tipped them.

“They’re obviously a team that’s concerned with offense a lot,” Jackson said. “But when they allow our two primary scorers to get as many points as they did, I’m sure they’re going to try to limit that.”

It’s doubtful that O’Neal will find so much open space again.

“It really doesn’t matter to us,” O’Neal said. “We’re used to teams doubling and tripling me. So, if that’s what they decide to do, then other guys are going to have to step up. I’m sure they will.”

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Staff writer Lonnie White contributed to this story.

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TONIGHT

NBA PLAYOFFS--SECOND ROUND

Sacramento at Lakers

Lakers lead series, 1-0

TV--Fox Sports Net; Radio--570

INSIDE

SAN ANTONIO 100, DALLAS 86

The Spurs paid homage to the injured Derek Anderson with another emphatic victory in series. D7