Shaq Has Kidney, Liver Tests

Shaquille O’Neal said Sunday that his frequent consumption of anti-inflammatory medication caused him enough concern to have recent diagnostic tests on his kidneys and liver.

He provided little information, and even suggested his organs have suffered some damage, but said he was satisfied with the results.

“I’m not great,” he said, “but I’m cool.”

Despite the potential long-term complications--he’s convinced Alonzo Mourning’s kidney ailment was caused by anti-inflammatories--and his daily bouts with nausea, O’Neal has taken Indocin for most of the season.

“I tried to stay off of them, but if I don’t take them I can’t move or play,” he said. “I was taking them. When my stomach was giving me problems I had to get the test, the liver and kidney tests. They came back OK. Not great, but they came back OK.”

He scored 40 points against the Miami Heat on Sunday, mostly against Mourning, who had 15 points in 33 minutes but was overmatched physically against O’Neal.

“Obviously Zo is a different player,” O’Neal said. “I’m sure he fatigues a little bit faster because of all the medicine he’s taking. But he’s a bigger man than I am. He has a lot of courage. I think about if I had something like that, I don’t know what I would do. That he’s still playing and still trying to win a championship shows that he’s a guy with a big heart. I commend him for that.”

Paul Sunderland called 56 consecutive games--the last Sunday--while Chick Hearn recovered from heart and hip-replacement surgeries. Hearn is expected to broadcast Tuesday’s game against the Utah Jazz at Staples Center. Sunderland will return to his regular gigs, on the Laker pregame show for Fox Sports Net and broadcasting playoff games for NBC.

“To be perfectly honest, I’m thinking the same way I have before every game,” Sunderland said Sunday before the Lakers played the Miami Heat. “I’ve so looked forward to every game and so enjoyed every quarter of every game, the last thing in the world I’d feel right now is melancholy. Because I get to do the game.

“The experience ... has been tremendous. How could it not be?”

While Sunderland has become an easy choice to become the permanent man when Hearn retires, he said he hasn’t considered what those 56 games have done for his career. “That’s something I haven’t really thought about,” he said, “though this has certainly given me an incredibly visible showcase.”