His Foot Still Failing, Shaq Is Likely to Sit

The Lakers finished practice midafternoon Sunday, and Shaquille O’Neal had set them free by shouting, “1-2-3,” to which the rest of them responded, “Lakes,” and turned away, when Coach Phil Jackson called them back.

They ducked their heads and Jackson recited a short prayer, and so concluded a day of spiritual and muscular healing for the three-time defending NBA champions, standing at 2-5 and, for the moment, resembling it.

It is beginning to look as though the Lakers -- Jackson and O’Neal in particular -- will be surprised if O’Neal plays Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks. O’Neal didn’t say much on his way off the floor, and a hustling Kobe Bryant did the presidential thing: Asked how O’Neal looked during 45 minutes or so of an end-to-end practice, Bryant grinned, held one thumb up, and disappeared into the trainer’s room.

Though Jackson told reporters to ask him again today about O’Neal and the chance he would play Tuesday, he admitted, “Right now, I don’t think that he’s in a position where he feels comfortable enough to play.”

O’Neal had surgery Sept. 11, and while he has taken part in most recent practices -- he rested briefly a couple of times Sunday because of conditioning, Jackson said -- O’Neal does not appear to be preparing to play against the Hawks.

“I think he’s still got some questions about being over that sesamoiditis,” Jackson said of the condition beneath O’Neal’s toe, in the area where the surgeon removed bone spurs. “I think he’s dealing with what he can do and can’t do, and feeling comfortable on the floor. He’s still not, I would say, fluid in running and moving in basketball terms.”

So the news remained bleak for the Lakers. They will have to live with their three-game losing streak, and the way Friday’s game in Washington ended, at least until Tuesday.

Jackson preached to them for 15 minutes before Sunday’s practice on the subject of coping with adversity, though apparently it didn’t brighten Bryant’s day much. Rick Fox described his fellow captain as being something of a “sourpuss” through practice, and Jackson said, “He came in a dark mood. He was not a happy camper. He’ll be all right, though.”

Bryant had been very disappointed at the end of the trip, and particularly with what he viewed as Devean George’s defensive lapse against Jerry Stackhouse, whose uncontested dunk won it for the Wizards at the buzzer. Neither George, who has two sprained ankles, nor Robert Horry, who has a sore ankle and foot and might have helped George on the play, practiced much Sunday. Bryant, who also is recovering from a sprained ankle and has done a lot of the heavy lifting for the last two weeks, skipped most drills as well.

In the spirit of the day, Jackson and Fox tried to spread the responsibility for those 2.9 seconds, and then forget them.

“Everybody’s to blame,” Jackson said. “That’s what I think.”

Said Fox: “We’re a brotherhood.... We’ve all done things at crucial times we’d like to forget.”