Shaq Still Has the Stuff Right

For the uncomfortable moments of their season, those that have passed and those that are out there somewhere, the Lakers will offer Shaquille O’Neal.

On the rim-bending alley-oop, with the Boston Celtics way ahead Friday night. On the offensive rebound and finger roll with the Lakers drawing even. Filling the lane, taking the pass from Kobe Bryant, finishing with the dunk that put the Celtics away.

The Lakers are different with him like this, most recently by 104-96 over the Celtics at Staples Center, as they played themselves away from Thursday night’s loss in Sacramento and into Sunday afternoon’s game in San Antonio.

In an understated game for Bryant, O’Neal had 48 points and 20 rebounds, the second time in a week he’d set a season high for points. He scored 42 points Monday against the Clippers. The rebounds also were a season best.

On the second of back-to-back games, O’Neal made 19 of 24 field-goal attempts. No longer floor-bound, 17 of his baskets were dunks or layups. At the end of it, former Celtic great Bill Russell, seated at the baseline near the Laker bench, stood up and held out his hand. When O’Neal took it, Russell said, “Good job.”

“My guys were looking for me and I was feeling it,” O’Neal said. “I should’ve had 60, but I missed a couple free throws.”

Well, nine. Out of 19.

“There’s only [14] games left before the playoffs, so I just want to get real, real sharp,” he said. “I’ll be there. I’ll be there.”

The past two weeks have been all the Lakers believed they would be. The heavy travel and quality of their opponents have at times deadened their legs, and so they spend the middle of many of these games playing back from huge deficits.

Sometimes they make it back -- Milwaukee, the Clippers -- and win, sometimes they make it back -- Sacramento -- and lose, and sometimes they don’t make it back at all -- Chicago, Detroit.

Coach Phil Jackson guessed that all of the deficits could be from fatigue, but he couldn’t say for sure. Against the Celtics, he went well down the bench, at one point in the first quarter running Devean George, Jannero Pargo, Brian Shaw and Mark Madsen around O’Neal, and in the second quarter playing Slava Medvedenko six minutes. Medvedenko hadn’t played six minutes in an entire game in a month.

Part of Jackson’s issue was Bryant, who committed his third foul less than two minutes into the second quarter and sat until halftime.

And, still, the Lakers were behind by 13 points in the second quarter, near the end of a half Jackson called “lethargic and thoughtless.”

That left O’Neal, ordered defended from the front by Celtic Coach Jim O’Brien, and dozens of lob passes by the Lakers. O’Neal had 11 dunks, most of them on the head of the weak-side help that arrived a step or two late.

“I always considered myself un-frontable,” he said, grinning.

By early in the third quarter, O’Neal was wearing on the Celtics’ front line. O’Brien stayed with his inclination to front O’Neal, something Dallas Coach Don Nelson tried two or three times before abandoning.

While it occasionally took the Lakers out of their offense, O’Neal’s arms never tired, the lob passes kept coming, and the Celtic big men often saved themselves by bailing out. The Celtics were outrebounded, as well, 49-31.

“Games like this are crucial as far as reestablishing where the ball’s going to go the rest of the season,” Bryant said. “Teams are going to have to know where we’ll be coming from.”

From above, apparently.

“As a team, we get extremely happy when we see an opponent front, first of all,” Rick Fox said, “and also not draft anyone who’s taller than 6-8.”

O’Neal led them back in a 34-17 third quarter, in which the Lakers made 68.4% from the floor and the Celtics were five for 18, 0 for 6 on three-pointers. Fox scored all of his 11 points in the third quarter.

In the first nine minutes of the third, O’Neal scored 11 points, the last two on an alley-oop dunk. He came out from under the basket celebrating, in what Bryant has called his “gorilla walk,” and the Lakers were ahead, 68-63, at the end of a 27-11 run.

“He had all of his explosiveness tonight,” said Bryant, who played 31 minutes and had 13 points, two more than his season low. “He played really hard the whole time he was in there, not only on offense but on defense as well. He was really encouraging.”