O’Neal Makes Vow After Loss

If his outing with the guys the night before his wedding didn’t go quite as planned, Shaquille O’Neal went ahead anyway with plans to wed Shaunie Nelson at a secret place and time Thursday.

Most of his teammates were planning to attend. Guests were told only hours before the ceremony where to go. As Mark Madsen put it Thursday morning, “We know, but it’s only for us.”

Not that this was a perfectly fortuitous moment in O’Neal’s professional career. The ceremony, later revealed to be held at the Beverly Hills Hotel, was a day after the Lakers’ 105-99 Christmas loss to the Sacramento Kings.

The Lakers gathered briefly Thursday morning and watched a tape of the game. Most left before reporters got there, O’Neal among them.

“Shaq took the loss yesterday as a loss,” said Madsen. “He’s a guy who bounces back from things. He’s our leader and he’s someone who’s going to find a way to turn this thing around.

“And at the same time, today is a new day and he’s looking forward to his wedding with Shaunie and he’s excited about it.... “

Coach Phil Jackson says the Laker defense is being hurt by bad Laker offense: turnovers that lead to fastbreaks, fast shots that lead to long rebounds and more fastbreaks.

“I was on Kobe [Bryant] a little bit today,” Jackson said. “He was stripped going through the lane two or three times, never made an attempt to get back on defense.... You just can’t argue with the officials at that point.”

The Kings swarmed O’Neal with two and often three players. Jackson said that’s what you get in rivalries, where the teams know each other thoroughly.

“I mean, Shaquille ... can come out and get 35 in the game against Denver Saturday night, and everybody thinks that’s the end of the game.

“But with [Vlade] Divac hanging on him and with [Chris] Webber, it’s an entirely different thing from other teams we’re going to face in this league.

“I mean, this is a team that’s played us, what, 30 times in the last three years? [Actually 28.] We understand the personnel.”