Shaq Expected Back Sunday

Coach Phil Jackson said he expected Shaquille O’Neal, who has a sprained right wrist, to play Sunday, when the Lakers’ four-game road trip concludes in Miami.

O’Neal missed his second consecutive game Friday night, when the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics 99-81, at the FleetCenter.

An hour before game time, O’Neal sat on a table in the Lakers’ tiny locker room, two sets of electrical wires running from a stimulation device to his wrist.

He declined to talk about his new injury then, but after the game, after gruffly attempting to shoo away reporters, O’Neal said, “If Phil says Sunday, then I’ll be back Sunday.”

Earlier in the day, in a conversation with Kobe Bryant, O’Neal apparently expressed optimism about his wrist and right big toe.

“He told me he’s going to be ready,” Bryant said. “I think there’s pain there. But, when we need a big basket, or we need a big sequence of plays, he’s going to be there. I’m not concerned.”

Jackson almost never misses a practice, and Friday he tersely offered no explanation for his absence from Thursday’s. “It’s all right,” he said. “I felt OK.”

Several players said they were unsure of the reason, but that he joked about it during a team meeting Friday morning. One said he believed Jackson experienced swelling in a foot or ankle, but that was not confirmed. Jackson has had previous back, hip and knee problems.

Kurt Rambis, who needed stitches to repair a laceration on his lower leg on Wednesday, returned to the bench Friday.

That, along with Jackson’s mystery ailment and Tex Winter’s occasional health issues, prompted General Manager Mitch Kupchak to joke that O’Neal was the least of his worries. “I’m more concerned about our coaching staff making it to the playoffs,” he said.

Kupchak and Jerry West are at the Portsmouth Invitational tournament. The Lakers have a first-round pick in the NBA draft.