O’Neal Might Rest After Today

Back in the town where the coach hacks and the owner goads the commissioner, fetches milkshakes and referees Globetrotter games, where Shaquille O’Neal is as loathed as he is feared, the Lakers arrived to find something to play for.

It is not always so clear to the Lakers, who find themselves amused by most NBA teams, curious of a handful, and wary of only a few, a blind spot that has generated some humiliating moments. The Dallas Mavericks, at 33-13, straddle the last two groups, despite the Lakers’ dominance in the series.

They’ll play today on national television, somewhere between the breakdown of Tom Brady’s ankle MRI and the interview with Kurt Warner’s former supermarket manager.

After a brief practice Saturday afternoon at the new American Airlines Center, two things became noteworthy: The Lakers are considering holding O’Neal out of Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Bulls and O’Neal, ever the tweaker of authority, touted Maverick owner Mark Cuban as the next commissioner of the NBA.

The club continued to mull methods that would keep O’Neal off his arthritic big toe, one of them being to take the better part of nine days off--from today’s game to the Feb. 12 game against the Washington Wizards. Laker Coach Phil Jackson said that O’Neal could play a few minutes in next Sunday’s All-Star Game without undermining that plan.

“Phil still hasn’t told me that, so I couldn’t comment on that,” O’Neal said. “I’m just taking orders. I’ll just have to see. If I can’t go, I won’t go.”

O’Neal in street clothes would kill any intrigue in a Laker-Bull rematch, the first time the teams will have played each other since O’Neal took a shot at Brad Miller and paid three games and more than $700,000 for it.

“Recent history of what?” O’Neal said slyly. “I don’t have any history with the Bulls. What are you talking about, the thing that went on? That’s nothing. No, I have nothing to prove against bums and has-beens.”

Presumably, Miller would be the bum and Charles Oakley would be the has-been, though O’Neal would not confirm that.

O’Neal has said he would pay any fine that came with a decision to rest his toe. That said, Jackson is pleased to have had O’Neal make it this far. Today’s game will be O’Neal’s eighth in a row since the suspension, the last few--all on the road--fairly concentrated.

“This is a high frequency of games and I would expect him to be more symptomatic than he’s been, really,” Jackson said. “I know he’s not moving, not as active as I’d like him to be, but he hasn’t complained.”

The Mavericks and their fans aren’t likely to feel sorry for O’Neal. The Lakers have won 10 of the last 11 games in the series, and the last 22 in Los Angeles. The odd relationship between O’Neal and Cuban has enlivened the series. O’Neal likes Cuban’s irreverence and intelligence, and Cuban appreciates O’Neal’s irreverence and game.

So, who else should be commissioner?

“He understands,” O’Neal said. “He’s not analog. He’s digital.”

Cuban declined the nomination.

“Shaq is a genius,” Cuban said. “I wouldn’t want the job, but I think if he doesn’t get a job with the FBI, he might be the best commissioner. The Big Commissioner. I would love it. Instead of fining someone, he would just kick your [rear] and make you shut up.”

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Orlando Coach Doc Rivers was angry that the Lakers chided Horace Grant for missing Wednesday’s game because of what the club called an intestinal virus.

“They embarrassed him,” Rivers said, “and I didn’t like that.”

The words “Where’s Horace?” were written on a board in the Laker locker room, along with “Shaq-arrhea,” intended as a humorous reference to Grant’s ailment.

Grant, who would have guarded O’Neal, also missed Friday’s game in Detroit.

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TODAY

at Dallas, 11:30 a.m. PST

Channel 4

Site--American Airlines Center.

Radio--KLAC (570).

Records--Lakers 32-12, Mavericks 33-13.

Record vs. Mavericks--1-0.

Update--The Lakers expect more defensive gadgetry from Coach Don Nelson, so bent on beating the Lakers that he practiced Friday and Saturday. ... Dirk Nowitzki fronted O’Neal during much of the Lakers’ 98-94 victory in Los Angeles on Dec. 5, and O’Neal made 18 of 23 shots and scored 46 points. O’Neal also missed 12 of 22 free throws, making the score close and causing O’Neal to remark, “I should have had 60.” ... The Mavericks have won eight of nine.

Tim Brown