Every Once in a While, a Little Luck Falls

Nine for 11.

So many Lakers played so well in their 97-88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first game of the Western Conference finals that it’s difficult to single out one individual for praise.

There’s one set of numbers that jumped off the stat sheet though, demanding more attention and explanation.

The fifth and sixth columns of the box score showed Shaquille O’Neal made nine of his 11 free throws.

They were the difference between a nail-biting finish and a relaxed final minute.

They were enough to make O’Neal the leading scorer in the game.

They were the result of ... some airplane reading?

That’s O’Neal’s story. He’s prone to what he calls “Marketing, baby,” so you can’t believe everything he says. But Phil Jackson corroborated this one.

It seems someone sent Jackson a fax with suggestions on how O’Neal could improve his free-throw shooting. Jackson passed it along to O’Neal.

Of all the books Jackson has given his players before long trips, these sheets of paper were the most valuable reading material yet.

“It was one of those long flights,” O’Neal said. “You know how you’re just sitting on the flight, there’s really nothing to do? I was sitting there and I saw this article by this old guy bragging that he hit 3,000 [free throws] in a row. I said, ‘Let me see what this old man is talking about.’ ”

In essence, the man (Jackson thinks his name was Han or Hans) recommended O’Neal return to the form suggested by Eddie Palumbinskas. Palumbinskas arrived in the 2000-01 season and salvaged O’Neal’s free-throw shooting to something halfway decent -- above 50%. But this season O’Neal plummeted below the odds of a coin toss. And he made only 18 of his first 64 attempts in the playoffs. That’s 28%, folks.

But, for whatever reason, O’Neal steadfastly refused to call in Palumbinskas.

Jackson found a stealth way to get Palumbinskas’ tips back into O’Neal’s head, using different packaging. Essentially, it calls for O’Neal to overcome his physical inability to cock his wrist or fully bend his knees by swaying his body to produce arch on the shot while using his fingertips to control the ball rather than letting it sit in his palm.

“I gave him that article, let him know that I was in agreement with that,” Jackson said.

More important than the mechanics, though, was the mental approach: “It’s not to have any negative thoughts in your head when you go to the free-throw line,” Jackson said.

That was the most important part. I’ve said for a long time that O’Neal’s problems at the line aren’t from a lack of practice. I’ve seen swish free throw after free throw when he’s wearing a practice jersey at the gym. But put him in a game uniform, with 20,000 people in the stands either worrying or lusting for him to miss a free throw, and row after row of media ready to chronicle each brick and he loses his mind.

It’s all in his head. And that’s what he took from this fax.

“The article was about if you focus too much or you focus too hard, you usually fail,” O’Neal said. “So rather than worry about shooting, worrying about fingertips and all that, just focus on the routine.”

That enabled him to concentrate at the end of a day that was anything but routine.

It’s become a strange, sad pattern now. A death hits close to home for O’Neal, then he leads the Lakers to victory against the Timberwolves. Last year O’Neal’s grandfather died three days before the playoffs. Then his wife gave birth the day before the playoffs. He skipped the team flight to Minneapolis to be with his family, then regrouped to produce 32 points and 10 rebounds in the first-round opener.

Friday, a housekeeper in a Houston-area home owned by O’Neal was fatally stabbed. O’Neal’s oldest daughter and her mother live in the home. Police said Alice Williams, 37, was stabbed after she got into an argument with her son Tristan Williams. Tristan Williams, 18, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault.

Last year, O’Neal spoke eloquently about his grandfather as he sat at his locker after Game 1. The memories flowed, such as his grandfather’s Al Capone-style hats or the way he would beam as he cruised around the block in the Cadillac Shaquille bought him.

Friday night he had to be dragged into the interview room, under the condition that he would not take questions about the stabbing incident.

If Kobe Bryant gets praise for his performances after sitting in a courtroom, O’Neal deserves credit for focusing after such a disturbing story.

O’Neal versus whomever the Timberwolves threw at him was the greatest mismatch of the series. And yet, after one quarter the Minnesota centers had outscored him, 10-8. Even more stunning, Michael Olowokandi matched O’Neal point for point.

The Laker plan was to get the other players involved, let Karl Malone go at Kevin Garnett, wait to go inside to O’Neal.

“We were patient,” O’Neal said. “When it did come around I thought I was pretty smart with it.”

He did collect five assists, part of the Laker total of 29 assists in 37 baskets. O’Neal made a point of praising Bryant’s controlled game of 23 points and six assists.

“Kobe did a great job of drawing and kicking,” O’Neal said. “Guys made him look good. [Derek Fisher] hit a couple of big threes, Karl made some big shots, and I did what I usually do.”

As Tom Jones would say, it’s not unusual to see him post 27 points, 18 rebounds and four blocked shots in a playoff game.

But 82% from the line?

Save the box score. It might make for good reading on the flight home.

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.