Dynamic Duo Set to Get It All Together

On Saturday morning, Kobe Bryant having driven up from Newport Beach, Shaquille O’Neal down from Beverly Hills, the two found themselves in the little gym together, shooting jumpers, Bryant testing his shoulder, O’Neal his range.

They’ve been on the same piece of floor countless times now, seven years, a long time in a basketball career, three championship springs extending it further. Lately, their relationship has grown strong, Bryant showing a playful side, O’Neal an understanding one, so much so that they often sit beside each other on the bench, and laugh, or console.

So it’s early on the day before Game 4, with not much left to do but keep showing up, keep playing this thing out, the Minnesota Timberwolves ahead, two games to one, and the Lakers reaching back for something dynamic, something from their past. It was then when Bryant turned to O’Neal and said out loud, if it is to be, if they are to come back and win this series and go on to win their fourth title, it must come from the two of them.

Bryant later sat on a set of aluminum bleachers and recounted the conversation.

“He and I got together and talked about ... how challenging these playoffs are going to be,� he said, “and what we have to do to win this series and lead this team. This is it.�

They’ve been through all of this before, of course. Just last year, they fought back the Sacramento Kings after trailing, two games to one, and they lost an early home game to the San Antonio Spurs in the series before that.

The difference is, these Lakers have been pushed around by these Timberwolves for most of the three games, and a big reason is O’Neal, who has had his usual numbers -- 29 points, 13.7 rebounds -- but not always his usual presence.

“When he’s playing forceful basketball, aggressive basketball, he sheds bodies like a bear sheds dogs coming out of the woods,� Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “It’s amazing to watch players fly off him. Last couple games, it’s not been like that.

“That is such a force, such a dramatic force for a basketball team to have that. Some of it, they’ve beat him to the punch. They’ve gotten a body to him before he’s gotten a body to them.�

In 10 days, O’Neal had his grandfather die, had a son born and on Friday night learned from watching television that his college coach, Dale Brown, had suffered a stroke. O’Neal and Brown are quite close, so much that it is not unusual to see Brown at one Laker road game or another, most recently April 4 in Memphis.

He spoke to Brown’s daughter, who, according to O’Neal, said her father had, “a little, minor stroke. Everything’s going to be fine after a little rest and relaxation.�

O’Neal appeared relieved by that, said “I’m all right� when asked about a week and a half he never could have seen coming, and “It’s all about us� on the topics of today’s game and this series. He wants the basketball, and he wants it near the basket, and he wants his teammates to make the shots that will allow him to play without three or four Timberwolves dangling from his elbows. That’s fine by everyone, it seems. But him first.

“I don’t think he’s been as physical as he normally is,� Jackson said. “I just think you need to play with a sense of poise and firmness that goes along with it, and all those things will fit together. But you have to be aggressive, and we’ve been a little bit passive.�

O’Neal has made half of his 62 field-goal attempts in the series, and in Game 3 made half of his 16 free-throw attempts. When offered the opinion that something seemed missing from his game, he nodded somberly.

“They’ve been a little more aggressive,� he said. “They’ve had more will, more fight than we’ve had. We just have to pick it up. It’s all about us, what we do.

“It’s always on me, but I’ve got to get it to do what I do. I can’t be running up and down for four or five minutes without touching it to do what I do. If I get it, I’ll do what I do.�

It was what Bryant said they spoke about, about how O’Neal would fend off the droves of Timberwolves and retake their postseason, grinding through one triple-team after another.

“He’s been seeing that pretty much his whole career,� Bryant said. “So it’s important to try to get him on the move.

“I’d like to see him move a little more, get some easy baskets that way.�

Other teams in other series have pushed the same defenses, have sagged and rotated and clutched at O’Neal, Bryant said. “But we found our way around it.�