If You Ask the Kings, He’s the Big Obstacle

A better plan? The Kings don’t need a better plan, they need about 100 more pounds. What’s Shaquille O’Neal listed at, 325? The man weighs 350 if he weighs an ounce. He’s got teeth bigger than some toddlers.

Watching O’Neal in the lane is like watching a cement mixer backing into a work space. All you’re missing is the warning beep. Vlade Divac saw it coming at Staples Center on Sunday, the first second-round game of the rest of the Kings’ lives. Divac saw it coming and couldn’t do a thing.

“He’s unstoppable. He’s huge,” Divac said. “I mean, when he steps in the paint, you only hope he misses the shot.”

Right, it’s good to have a plan.

Here is the plan: Hope the Big Aristotle clanks.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Kings on Sunday (a) lost the first game of a postseason series to the Lakers because they (b) could find absolutely no answer to whatever the Shaq question actually is, after which they (c) protested a little bit about the way the NBA rules are enforced when it comes to O’Neal, whereupon it was finally concluded that (d) it isn’t going to change, never ever going to change, and Sacramento will have to come up with some other hot idea if it wants to find a way past L.A.

And there may be a way past the Lakers. Hey, there could be several ways. It’s just that none of them go through Shaqville.

For those trolling through the Random Encouragement aisle, there is the thought that after yielding O’Neal his 44 points, 21 rebounds, seven blocked shots and four assists, the Kings still were in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal down to the final seconds.

For that matter, this game scant resembled the Kings’ first-round opener a year ago, when O’Neal thrashed around for 46 points and 17 boards and elicited basically the same set of responses from the Sacramento locker room. That game was a 117-107 washout, never just inordinately close.

This one was. It wasn’t until Jason Williams drove the lane and initiated the last of O’Neal’s giant swats, in fact, that Sacramento’s 108-105 defeat by the Lakers was ensured. If that constitutes one’s notion of good news, then land ho.

But on the question of O’Neal himself, sorry, no. If it wasn’t already fully understood that whatever whistles the Shaq opponent believes he’s entitled to aren’t forthcoming, it should be now. And that makes it officially time to move on.