On the Court With... Shaquille O'Neal by Matt Christopher Page B

lineup—and things started looking brighter. He and teammate Kobe Bryant lit up the
     scoreboard, usually making combined totals of more than 35 points a game, and sometimes as many as 70 or 80! They dominated
     on rebounds as well and through their strong play led the Lakers to a final season record of 50 wins and 32 losses—not quite
     as solid as their previous season record of 58 and 24, but good enough to earn them a spot in the playoffs.
    They met the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the Western Conference. Six games later they had advanced to the
     next round, against the top-ranked San Antonio Spurs. O'Neal, Bryant, coach Jackson, and all the Lakers hoped to defeat the
     Spurs and continue on the road to their fourth championship.
    But it was not to be. The Spurs were simply too good. It took six games, but in the end, the Spurs put the Lakers to bed,
     winning four games to LA's two. Two rounds later, San Antonio won the championship.
    Despite having missed several games that season, Shaq posted year-end stats equal to or better than the previous year. Still,
     he was disappointed that his efforts hadn't been enough to push the Lakers to their fourth title. Perhaps the following season
     would find them at the top again.
    When that season began, however, all was not well in LA. Late in the off-season and into the early weeks of the regular season,
     rumors abounded of trouble between the Lakers' two star players. Bryant and O'Neal had had a friendly rivalry for a few years,
     but now, it seemed, things had turned ugly.
    Over and over, through the media and sometimes face-to-face, the two exchanged harsh words and criticisms. Kobe claimed Shaq
     had a bad habit of showingup for pre-season practice out of shape. When Kobe extended his recovery time after knee surgery in the off-season, Shaq accused
     him of not being a team player. Kobe, he said, wasn't willing to push himself and play through the pain the way he himself
     would.
    The root of the strife seemed to be professional jealousy; each player believed that he should be recognized as the team leader
     and felt wronged when the other was given credit for the team's success. The feud threatened to ruin the team's morale and
     to break up the powerful duo who had recently led the team to three straight championships.
    By the end of October, fortunately, the two mended fences, perhaps because they realized the impact their feud was having
     on their team's performance and on their public image.
    “It happens, it's over with, we just have to move on,” O'Neal said at the time.
    But was it really over? Throughout the remainder of the season, the rumor mill pumped out stories about possible trades. First
     Kobe was expected to walk away from the Lakers. Then it was Shaq. There were even whispers that coach Jackson might leave.
    Sometimes, such talk can distract players from their chief goal, namely, winning games. Not so with Shaq.As in previous seasons, he posted superior year-end stats, despite having been sidelined for twelve games with a calf injury
     midway through the season. In one game in early December, he narrowly missed getting a triple-double, ending the night with
     15 points, 16 rebounds, and 9 blocked shots. And in late March he made 25 defensive rebounds, the highest of his career.
    The Lakers had a strong season, too. By the end of 2003, the team had 21 wins, including a ten-game winning streak, and only
     7 losses. And by the end of the regular season, those numbers were 56 wins and 26 losses, good enough for second place in
     the Western Conference.
    LA's first rivals in the conference were the seventh-ranked Houston Rockets. Houston's center was the impressive Yao Ming,
     a player many believed to be as dominant in that position as Shaq. But Shaq soon proved that he had one important advantage
     over Ming—he was much more aggressive. In one game, he blocked two of Ming's shots in the space of two minutes. In that same
     game, Shaq