The Bricks Just Keep on Coming

Shaquille O’Neal has missed -- hide your eyes, Ed Palubinskas -- 37 of his last 52 free-throw attempts, and Saturday night attempted to right his marksmanship by shooting from about a foot behind the line.

He was about a foot long on those tries, and at this rate, by Friday he’ll be hoisting them from the three-point arc. On the bright side, it would be easier to get back on defense.

Palubinskas is the quirky Aussie who smoothed out O’Neal’s stroke three years ago. O’Neal cut him loose, however, and pretty much has been on his own since, to varying degrees of success. After making a career-best 62.2% last season, his 49% this season was near a career low.

Asked Sunday if he’d thought about giving Palubinskas a call, O’Neal shook his head and said, sort of playfully, “I don’t need him, just like I don’t need you guys and your dumb questions.”

Laker Coach Phil Jackson has learned to live with O’Neal’s one great flaw, if somewhat uneasily. The one sure way to tick off O’Neal is to raise the subject of his free throws, so the Lakers avert their eyes and hope the shots fall, one way or another.

“We know the game could be a lot easier with Shaq making foul shots, that’s for sure,” Jackson said. “But I’ve always felt the more you focus on it, the more it becomes an issue, the more difficult it is for him. So I try to let him sort that out. He’s been able to find his way through those things in the course of the years. We’ve taken a loss here and there, perhaps, because of it, but overall we’ve won games in which he’s been able to find his way through it.”

No one seemed to know why O’Neal went to the 16-foot free throw, though a lot of his recent misses have hit off the back of the rim. The adjustment, Jackson said, was entirely O’Neal’s.

“Um, I’m going to say that it had to be his,” Jackson said. “Shaq isn’t very movable on advice.... He’s the one who gives himself advice. So we’ll leave it to him.”

That’s the way he’d like it.

“I’m probably concentrating too hard to shut you guys up,” O’Neal said. “I know I can do it. So I’ll just continue to shoot ‘em. They look good, have arc, but they’re hitting the same spot. So I’ll just continue to work at ‘em.”

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If Karl Malone plays next season, he said again Sunday, it will be for the Lakers. So, if he does not retire and if Gary Payton is true to his word, the two will be in Los Angeles together next season.

The rest -- Kobe Bryant, Jackson, Derek Fisher, et al -- will have to be sorted out, and nothing is more crucial to the organization than retaining Bryant, which seems less likely by the day. But the potential for mass exodus seems to be thinning.

Malone said Sunday he was touched by Payton’s promise this week to stick with him. Both can opt out of their contracts this summer.

“It’s kind of flattering as a player,” Malone said “I don’t want him to gauge his decision on what I do, because each person has to do what they have to do for themselves. [But] it’s a great honor, a great gesture on his part.”