O’Neal Tries to Elevate Game

Shaquille O’Neal refused to discuss the condition of his ravaged big toe Saturday night -- “You guys don’t care, so why you asking?” -- he said, playfully hurt, but as some wonder if the Lakers left their four-peat on a surgeon’s table at UCLA Medical Center, O’Neal is grinding, and perhaps changing, and probably gaining on it.

He spends most nights at or below the rim. And while he’s stronger than ever through his chest and shoulders, O’Neal, at 31 next month, still isn’t what he once was, though he occasionally claims small victories in quickness and elevation and points and rebounds.

In his first 32 games back he averaged 26.6 points and 10.8 rebounds, not far from his career averages of 27.6 and 12.3, and a sore knee has complicated his recovery from Sept. 11 toe surgery.

Laker Coach Phil Jackson said he does see improvement, albeit gradual, and often at the end of a couple of days off.

It appears that O’Neal has had to work harder for the points and rebounds that came easier for him in past seasons, when his legs were sound and his weight was closer to 300 pounds.

“He doesn’t complain about it,” Jackson said. “We’re trying to limit his activity a lot in practice, not do too much, where it’s a constant aggravation. The mechanics in that toe itself will lend itself to probably being a problem for life.”

O’Neal seems resigned to it to the long-term issues, though the Lakers share grand short-term hopes for O’Neal, even as he toils for the success that once came easier.

“It looks like that at times,” Rick Fox said. “But I still have a belief that something happens to him, emotionally, the closer it gets to the playoffs. I don’t know what it is. Maybe he gets more sleep. Maybe he puts down the badge, stops fighting crime. At times, it has looked very difficult for him to do the things he’s doing in the paint.”

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Utah center Greg Ostertag has been vocal about referees he believes favor the superstars (read: Shaq) over the foot soldiers (read: Ostertag). In fact, when the Jazz was last at Staples Center, on Dec. 8, Ostertag was ejected for making that point.

“I don’t know what game he’s watching,” O’Neal said. “Greg Ostertag gets more calls than me.”

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Robert Horry, spent by 32 minutes Friday night played through a sore lower back, did not start against the Jazz. Samaki Walker, who started the previous 11 games, did.... The last time the Lakers scored as many as 124 points, as they did Friday in Sacramento, was Jan. 29, 2002, in a 127-93 win in Atlanta.... The breaks keep coming: Indiana Coach Isiah Thomas, suspended for two games, will sit out Tuesday’s game against the Lakers. Ron Artest, suspended for four, also will miss the game.