For Lakers, Rust May Be History

Shaquille O’Neal was the best player on the floor and Kobe Bryant had another triple-double and three other Laker players scored in double figures Sunday night and, really, it was as close as they’d come to looking like themselves again.

If it was not perfect, and it wasn’t, their game was at least familiar, when O’Neal drop-stepped and Bryant pushed to the rim and the shooters stepped into their shots. The Lakers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, 111-99, at Staples Center, where they honored Chick Hearn beforehand and then played a game he might have appreciated, after having clung to Bryant for most of the season’s first three weeks.

“It’s been a while,” Laker guard Derek Fisher said afterward. “It felt comfortable, though. It wasn’t something we’re not accustomed to.”

O’Neal, who returned Friday from off-season foot surgery, started a basketball game for the first time since Game 4 of the NBA Finals. He had 24 points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes, then said his foot felt “pretty good.” Bryant had 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists (the assists coming as the Lakers shot a season-high 50.6% from the field) for his third triple-double of the season, the sixth of his career.

Fisher scored 21 points despite two hard falls under the basket, the second causing his head and back to slam into the floor. Afterward, a bruised tailbone made every turn an adventure in discomfort, though he predicted he’d play Tuesday, when the Lakers start a three-game trip in Miami.

Milwaukee’s Ray Allen wasn’t as fortunate. He suffered a sprained right ankle and was taken from the arena on the back of a cart.

About seven minutes into the second quarter, Allen, averaging 27.5 points in his previous four games, made his first shot after seven misses and then was helped from the floor, a team official under each arm. He had pulled up near the left elbow of the key and shot over an approaching O’Neal. Allen’s right foot landed on O’Neal’s, and he fell hard to the floor, clutching his ankle.

It left the Bucks unable to stay with the suddenly bold Laker offense, which averaged 89.2 points without O’Neal, then scored 86 in his debut. In a shootout and for a change equipped to shoot back, the Lakers went over 100 points for the second time all season and for the first time in 23 days. Every Laker starter scored at least 10 points, they had a season-high 34 assists on 44 field goals, and as a result they’ve won two consecutive games for the second time.

“Things are different when I am in there,” O’Neal said. “I get doubled a lot. I kick it out to guys and guys can take their time hitting shots. We do not have many one-on-one players on this team. We are just getting back into form. It may take a week or it may take over a month, but we will be there when it is all said and done.”

O’Neal fouled out the Bucks’ backup center (Dan Gadzuric) and their starting center (Ervin Johnson) on consecutive fourth-quarter possessions. He made 10 of 18 shots and his 24 points came despite six misses in 10 attempts from the line.

“I am rusty,” he said. “I am like an average big man right now, and that is not good enough for me. But, I am good enough to give you 20-something [points] and 10 [rebounds]. But that is not acceptable for me.

“I look forward to getting better and I look forward to becoming dominant again. It may take me a week or a month, but I will be back before March.”

Emotionally drawn by a pregame ceremony that concluded with the unveiling of a jersey with Hearn’s name on it, the crowd roared when O’Neal was announced as the Lakers’ starting center. He plowed through the arms and shoulders of his teammates into the circle of starters near mid-court, then scored six points on three-of-four shooting in the first quarter, over eight minutes, and the Lakers were off.

Bryant, whose jumper has deserted him for the last week or so, filled in the gaps around O’Neal and the perimeter shooters. He had six assists and six points in the second quarter and five rebounds in the third.

And, while Phil Jackson was not enthralled by the Lakers in O’Neal’s absences, the coach had to admit that ultimately there was something familiar about it all.

“It was our comfort zone, how we play, and how we look to play with one another,” he said. “I thought that part of it was pretty obvious.”