Shaq’s Out; Kobe’s Way In

On an idling bus in Chicago, a decade into an NBA career mostly spent bartering physical abuse, Shaquille O’Neal turned to a friend and told him his days of taking it were over.

He was alone with Rick Fox, an hour after throwing the punch that by Monday afternoon had resulted in a three-game suspension, loss of three games’ pay and a $15,000 fine.

“That’s how it’s going to be from here on out,” O’Neal told Fox. “I’m not going for this no more.”

Stu Jackson, the NBA’s senior vice president, announced the penalties stemming from Saturday night’s brawl in Chicago, beginning with O’Neal, who also will lose $714,285.72 in salary for the punch he threw at Bull center Brad Miller.

Chicago forward Charles Oakley, who fouled O’Neal with 2:44 left in regulation, was charged with a flagrant foul and suspended for two games, one for the flagrant and the other for accumulating too many points in flagrant fouls. Oakley also was fined $10,000.

Miller, who fouled O’Neal on the same play, was suspended for a game for a flagrant foul and fined $7,500.

Fox, assessed two technical fouls and ejected after arguing with lead official Danny Crawford, was not punished further.

Jackson would not discuss his reasoning for the length of O’Neal’s suspension, which began Monday night against the Memphis Grizzlies. O’Neal also will miss games Wednesday against the Miami Heat and Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs. He can return Jan. 22 for a home game against the Denver Nuggets.

Jackson apparently believed O’Neal’s punch fell somewhere between Marcus Camby’s attack on Danny Ferry last season, which brought a five-game suspension, and Kenyon Martin’s punch of Tracy McGrady earlier this season, for which he was suspended for two games.

O’Neal’s punch--from behind--merely grazed Miller’s ear but Jackson ruled as if O’Neal had landed the blow.

O’Neal participated in the Lakers’ shoot-around Monday morning, and afterward declined to comment.

“I ain’t a punk and I ain’t a whiner,” he said. “I got nothing to say.”

Later, he emerged from the team’s locker room with a piece of tape across his mouth. “KISS ME” was written in black marker on the tape.

When he returns, it apparently will not be as the player who took hard fouls to his head and neck without complaint. Fox said O’Neal was more serious than he’d ever seen him, and that he believed O’Neal was about to change the way he reacted. “He’s never said that before,” Fox said. “I’ve seen him get upset, be in fights. But I was there at half-court when he told the ref, ‘You don’t care, I don’t care.’ He told Miller, ‘You see my lip?’ His lip was [swollen] already. He told Miller, ‘You do that again, we’re going to be fighting.’ He’s to the point where there’s been nine years of that.”

The Lakers, generally, were pleased that the suspension was not five games. The organization and O’Neal, however, will ask the league to review how its referees officiate play around O’Neal. O’Neal’s agent, Perry Rogers, and business manager, Mike Parris, have scheduled a Friday meeting with Commissioner David Stern in New York.

“My hope is, [O’Neal] felt he had to send a message,” Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “And, he did. Clearly, the NBA had spent a lot of time looking at this event, and I think it’s something that will be watched closely.”

Kupchak spoke primarily of fouls delivered without the intent of blocking a shot, and to parts of O’Neal’s body that are not holding the basketball.

“When you catch a ball and somebody goes for your head or neck, it’s tough to play the game,” Kupchak said.

In Chicago, the Bulls took their penalties with little objection and refused to back away from their aggressive approach toward O’Neal.

Miller called O’Neal’s punch “kind of a coward thing.”

“I was in a couple fights when I was young, but at least everybody knew it was coming,” Miller said. “There’s going to be repercussions if you come back at him. Plus, I don’t have a chance to do anything to this guy. I’m not going to dent him. It’s a lose-lose situation for me.”

Oakley had challenged his teammates to play O’Neal with more zeal the day before the game, and they were very aggressive during it.

“Part of the game,” Oakley said. “Walter Payton didn’t gain 16,000 yards without getting hit. In basketball, when he’s that big, he goes up and guys will foul him. He didn’t fall down.... That just goes to show you, it was a foul that he could’ve had continuation on and dunked.”

Laker Coach Phil Jackson said O’Neal’s suspension was “pretty extreme,” considering the punch had not landed. He also claimed O’Neal redirected the punch in order to miss Miller, though he seems to be alone in the opinion.

“He had a dead shot at the guy,” Jackson said. “I think he pulled the punch at the end.”

Kobe Bryant laughed.

“Nah,” he said. “I think Brad Miller got lucky.”

As did O’Neal, of course.

“That frustration wears on him,” Fox said. “Not being able to go about his business the way he normally does. It’s about being human. He’s Superman, but his discussions, outwardly, have been along the lines of, ‘How much longer do I want to do this, if this is what I’m going to have to put up with?’ He looks for the respect. He wants to be treated fairly.

“At what point is your breaking point? Obviously it was right there for him. It took a long time to get to that. I think he’s had enough of that.”

The question, then, is will O’Neal stay on that emotional edge.

“I think it’s a statement for the rest of the league,” Bryant said. “Shaq is not going to stand for getting pounded and beaten every single night.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

THE PENALTIES

SHAQUILLE O’NEAL

* O’Neal was suspended three games and fined $15,000 for throwing a punch and fighting with Chicago center Brad Miller. O’Neal will be eligible to return Jan. 22 against Denver.

*

CHARLES OAKLEY

* Bull forward Oakley was suspended for two games--one for accumulating too many flagrant foul points and the other for his flagrant foul against O’Neal. He was fined $10,000.

*

BRAD MILLER

* Miller was suspended for one game and fined $7,500 for committing the flagrant foul that led to the fight.