Shaq’s Return Still Uncertain

It won’t be tonight.

It probably won’t be Friday.

Maybe, it won’t be Sunday, either.

Shaquille O’Neal, nine weeks removed from surgery on the big right toe that stilled a franchise, said Monday he could be as long as two weeks away from returning to the Lakers, already off to their worst start in 12 years.

After the two practice days Laker officials had hoped would convince O’Neal he was able to begin his season, O’Neal stood in a downstairs hallway at the team’s El Segundo practice facility and made two convincing points:

* The toe’s not ready.

* When it is, he’ll arrive angry.

“Once the black Patton returns, it’ll be all over,” he said.

O’Neal continues to have pain on the underside of his toe, despite new sneakers and orthotics. He is scheduled to meet today with Dr. Robert Mohr, who performed the surgery Sept. 11.

Asked if he were having problems with pain, conditioning, flexibility or mobility, he said, “A little bit of all of it.”

“I’m disappointed, but this is something I don’t want to rush,” he added. “When I get in, I want to stay in.

“Hopefully, I’ll be back in a couple weeks. When I do come back, it will be vengeance. A lot of people are taking shots. I read that. So, when I come back, I’ll be motivated to play.”

By the sound of things, O’Neal practiced better last week than he did through the Veterans Day weekend. By Monday, Coach Phil Jackson, who had expected -- or hoped for -- a sound O’Neal by tonight’s game against Atlanta, was resigned to at least a few more games without him.

“I think if push came to shove and we were in the middle of a playoff situation, then he could probably go out and play,” Jackson said while standing before a larger than usual media gathering. “But, this isn’t the time to do that, at this time of year. He could get hurt. He could not be able to respond the right way on the floor. And I don’t think he could play longer than three minutes in any one stretch at this point.”

The Lakers have practices scheduled for Thursday and Friday, but Jackson noted, “I’m not optimistic.”

If O’Neal is back in two weeks, he’ll have missed 14 games. It appears he will sit out Sunday’s game against the Houston Rockets, delaying his first look at Yao Ming.

“Who?” O’Neal asked, deadpan.

*

For the first time in three years, Derek Fisher did not start a season wondering about his foot, about what kind of pain the next cut would bring, about whether the repair of it would hold up through one more quarter, or one more game, or forever.

So, Fisher gets it.

“There’s some fear,” he said. “It’s never completely gone. That’s part of the fear. You may not experience pain anymore, but it takes a while before you’re connected to yourself again, and you may never be 100% yourself. He may not admit it, but he’s a little afraid to go back out there and let it go.”

*

Kobe Bryant (calf, ankle), Robert Horry (hand, foot, heel) and Devean George (ankles) practiced to varying degrees. Horry ran sprints at the end of practice while holding an ice bag to his right -- shooting -- hand. Already sore, the hand was smacked again in practice, and his right pinkie swelled again.

*

After playing in the shadows of superstar teammates and personalities for three years, George apparently is finding the glare of a huge contract and a starting job, even a temporary one, harsh.

Unhappy either with the portrayal of his role in Friday’s last-second loss to the Washington Wizards or how his explanation was conveyed to Bryant in the aftermath of it, George said Monday afternoon he would no longer speak to the media.

* TONIGHT

vs. Atlanta

7:30, Fox Sports Net

Site -- Staples Center

Radio -- KLAC (570), KWKW (1330)

Records -- Lakers 2-5, Hawks 3-4.

Record vs. Hawks -- (2001-02) 1-1.

Update -- After a 3-1 start, the Hawks have lost three consecutive games, all on a West Coast trip through Phoenix, Utah and Sacramento. Glenn Robinson, acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks for Toni Kukoc, Leon Smith and a draft pick, has flattened out some after starting his Hawk career with three 30-plus-point games.