This Road Test Fueled by Shaq Diesel and Co.

By J.A. Adande

Feb. 11, 2004 12 AM PT

MIAMI — It’s still too early to know for sure whether the Grammy Awards saved the Laker season, but the Lakers just might have found themselves on this cross-country trek they began when they cleared out of Staples Center to make way for Beyonce, OutKast and Co.

Eleven days and six cities later, they have found some balance on their roster and developed some camaraderie in the locker room. They even assured themselves a winning record on this trip after beating the Miami Heat, 98-83, Tuesday night, their fourth victory in a seven-game road test that concludes tonight in Houston.

In the process, they learned Devean George isn’t lost for the season and Derek Fisher can make clutch plays at both ends of the court. Mostly, they were reminded of what has made this team function since the summer of 1996. A dominant Shaquille O’Neal is the surest path to victory.

His body hasn’t felt right since two parades ago and his mood can depend on the weather, his number of touches or his proximity to Kobe Bryant. But when O’Neal is jumping out on screens and blocking shots on defense and establishing his post position, dunking and gorilla-waling on offense and adding new words to the English language in the postgame interviews -- all of which he did Tuesday -- there’s one logical destination:

“Championship,” Horace Grant said.

Everyone noticed a change in O’Neal after he and Miami backup Malik Allen were hit with double technical fouls after jawing at each other following an O’Neal dunk with five minutes left in the third quarter. They kept talking even after they were T’d up.

Then O’Neal kept scoring. He had 14 of his game-high 25 points in his 11 minutes of playing time after the technicals.

“He just awoken a sleeping giant,” O’Neal said. “I know that’s not a word, but I’m going to say it anyway.”

Miami shouldn’t have messed with the Big Rooster.

“When Shaq wakes up, we wake up,” Gary Payton said.

And when Payton and the Lakers are clowning around, something they haven’t done in more than two months, that’s a good time too.

Payton was himself, engaging the officials after every call, talking trash to courtside fans, adding a little something for the Miami Heat Dancers after they chimed in and celebrating an O’Neal dunk by pressing imaginary buttons on O’Neal’s head.

“I was dialing him up,” Payton said. “He got programmed. I entered the code: ‘Shaq Diesel.’ ”

For a change, that wasn’t the Lakers’ only weapon. George shot with confidence, made four-three pointers on his way to 17 points and skied for 11 rebounds. Fisher scored 18 points, including three consecutive jumpers that pushed their lead from one point to seven in the fourth quarter.

This came after Luke Walton’s six fourth-quarter assists and Rick Fox’s clutch three-pointer in Orlando on Sunday. Slava Medvedenko is the only one who hasn’t shined on this trip, but he had his moments in January.

The Lakers keep saying they’ll be fine once Bryant and Karl Malone return to the lineup, but who can guarantee whether they’ll ever have the full Quad Squad together again, or that someone won’t get hurt again?

If that’s the case, at least the coaching staff can feel confident that any number of 10 players can make contributions now.

“It’s starting to look that way,” Fisher said. “It’s starting to feel this way. I think that is what this year needs to be about. So much focus was placed on our four Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers and our All-Stars and everything that they were going to do for us. It’s showing that really, in order to win and be the best team in this league, you need a team.”

For the second consecutive game, Fisher came up with a big steal, this time ripping the ball away from a driving Dwyane Wade with the Lakers leading by seven points in the last two minutes. Then Fisher passed ahead to O’Neal, who dunked and broke out his funky “Gorilla Walk.”

That signified that it was time for the Laker circus to bring out its clown act. O’Neal stole a pass, dribbled halfway down the floor, dunked and wrapped a courtside fan in a hug. Fisher stole another ball and, with his back to the basket, threw a between-the-legs pass to Payton for a layup.

The Lakers looked like the Harlem Globetrotters -- that included the inactive Bryant, who wore blue-red-and-white warmups on the bench.

Bryant’s show came before the game, when he found a fresh set of suckers to bet that he could make left-handed shots from half court. Some Heat ball boys fell for it and soon they were running “suicides” on the court and sprinting up the arena stairs as Bryant laughed and laughed.

“Competition’s great, isn’t it?” Bryant said. So when is he going to return to some real competition? In Houston, perhaps?

“Maybe,” Bryant said.

The Lakers always need Bryant’s energy when they play the second of back-to-back games, and it’s clear by the big sweat he worked up in his pregame shootouts that he’s eager to return -- even if he could only manage a few dribbles with his sliced right index finger.

Even if the Lakers make it a 5-2 record, it will be hard to look at this week as a victory lap. The Lakers barely scraped out victories against Cleveland, Orlando and Miami, who have losing records, and Toronto, a .500 team.

They got blown out by a Philadelphia 76er squad that was mired in a bad stretch that included the star player questioning his teammates’ hearts and the coach getting fired.

“It was so up and down,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “We were always pointed at Miami being the swing game, which would make or break this road trip. So we kind of got keyed and they were keyed for it. I hope we got some team chemistry back again and we got some confidence in our ability to finish games.”

And they even had some fun along the way.*

J.A. Adande can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/Adande.