Lakers in a Perfect World

He arrived late to the season and, upon finally getting there, left early. So L.A.

Indeed, Shaquille O’Neal looked Friday night as if he belonged back in uniform, not so much a trendy showing as one that gave every indication his problems with a lingering strained abdominal muscle are a thing of the past. He fouled out at a key moment down the stretch, was limited to 27 minutes anyway on doctor’s orders, but still contributed 17 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and the offensive highlight to the 99-94 victory over the New York Knicks before 17,505 at the Forum.

“I thought he was fantastic,” Coach Del Harris said after the debut that had been delayed one game by the injury and another by suspension. “Here’s a guy who’s had about five practices with us. And he was playing against the team playing the best ball in the East and a monster defensive team, and he was still able to get some baskets.”

Seven, to be exact, in 12 tries. He made only three of nine from the foul line, but he had two late, in four attempts, that helped the Lakers improve to 3-0, with the chance to fatten up with the 0-4 Golden State Warriors coming in Sunday.

“I felt as if I didn’t play as well as I could have tonight,” O’Neal said. “But I played well enough for us to win.”

He played six minutes the first quarter, six in the second and seven in the third before being brought in with 8:33 remaining to play the rest of the way, or so the Lakers thought. But they soon found a more pressing problem than rationing time.

They went a span of 6:21--12 possessions--without a field goal to turn a 83-78 lead into a 90-88 deficit. O’Neal ended the skid by scoring inside for a tie with 3:07 remaining. They even struggled from the line, making both attempts only once in four trips to the line during that stretch.

The Lakers compensated with defense, giving up no baskets in the final 3 1/2 minutes. Robert Horry, en route to a big night for the second time in the three games with 17 points and 10 rebounds, made the biggest play when, finding himself defending Patrick Ewing in single coverage, he poked the ball away for one turnover. Another came on the next Knick possession, when Nick Van Exel intercepted Charles Oakley’s bad pass.

That enabled the Lakers to cling to a 95-92 advantage. The Knicks made it a one-point game with 27.4 seconds left when O’Neal got his sixth foul and Ewing turned that into a pair of free throws, the last of his game-high 29 points that went with the game-high 14 rebounds. But when Eddie Jones made two from the line with 19.6 showing, the Lakers had another three-point cushion, 97-94, to become the final five-point margin on Jones’ layup with 4.6 seconds left.

After Ewing, O’Neal should get a break Sunday against the Warriors’ Erick Dampier. Next comes the Texas three-step, a trip that will put him against Shawn Bradley and the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, David Robinson and the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday and Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets on Friday, a nice way to end a stretch of four games in six days.

That stretch that would be challenging enough for a player with a running start, let alone the O’Neal that returned with a time restriction.

The first movement to the first step provided an encouraging, albeit limited, offering. O’Neal, saying he’s 100% fit, started and flashed a series of offensive moves that showed good flexibility, if not yet a consistent soft touch.

His first shot was an up-and-under to slip past Ewing for a layin. O’Neal later had a spin move to get close to the hoop. Just as prominent was when he grabbed Kobe Bryant’s miss and went back up for a hard slam dunk, crunching at the midsection at impact.

The first half, after only one full practice and another of about 90 minutes of drills and three-on-three, resulted in 13 minutes, 10 points on five-of-nine shooting, three rebounds and two blocks. Ewing, meanwhile, had 12 points, nine rebounds and one block in 16 minutes, helping the Knicks to a 55-51 lead.

But none of what came before intermission had the thunderclap of what came shortly after.

Van Exel lofted a lob on the run from just over midcourt. O’Neal reached with his right arm for the pass thrown slightly behind him, controlled the ball and threw it down with one hand.

The follow-up was to thump his chest with both hands a few times, as if the moment needed additional punctuation.

“I just knew it was going out of bounds,” Van Exel said. “But he must have pumped up real quick.”

Said Harris: “That one, that was a midseason shot.”

All the more impressive because it was so early in the season. Especially for him.