Shaq Set to Attend Wake Today

MINNEAPOLIS —  Shaquille O’Neal was the sober one in the pregame huddle, the one who did all of the talking, and then he tapped all of their heads, asked them to get after it.

O’Neal flew on a friend’s jet from Los Angeles on Saturday night, was in by 11:30 p.m. and was up in time to attend a 10:30 a.m. meeting at the team hotel. He scored 32 points in 44 minutes against the Minnesota Timberwolves, helped win a first-round playoff game, and today is expected to fly to Lake City, S.C.

Barely 48 hours after the birth of his son, Shaqir Rashaun, O’Neal apparently will attend the wake, and perhaps the funeral, of his grandfather, Sirlester O’Neal. Team officials said O’Neal would leave this morning for South Carolina and return in time for Tuesday’s shoot-around, scheduled for noon. Game 2 is at 8:30 p.m. CDT.

O’Neal said his travel plans were not set. The funeral, he said, is Tuesday. The wake is tonight. There was some question whether O’Neal could attend both and return in time to play.

“I really haven’t thought about it yet,” he said. “When I get to the room and sit down, then I’ll think about what I have to do. Phil [Jackson] has been gracious enough to tell me, ‘Do whatever.’ But I’ll do what’s right.

“It’s been a real tough weekend for me. But when I arrived last night, the guys told me they were going to win for me, in case I had to fly out.”

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Brian Shaw took off his warmup jacket with less than three minutes left, garbage time going on 10 minutes, and O’Neal shook his head. He wasn’t coming out, and that left Shaw nowhere to play.

Shaw laughed and sat down.

“Next time,” he told O’Neal, “tell me before I get my shirt off.”

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Four minutes into the game, Joe Smith and Mark Madsen became entangled under the Laker basket. Smith threw Madsen to the floor and was called for a flagrant foul, Madsen made both free throws, Kobe Bryant scored on the possession and the Laker lead was 14-6.

Smith had an edgy game. He also fouled Bryant near the face later.

“I felt like it was excessive, but not personal,” Madsen said of the flagrant foul.

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The Laker individual playoff record for points in a half is 33, set by Elgin Baylor at Boston on April 14, 1962. The NBA playoff record is held by Michael Jordan, who scored 35 against Portland on June 3, 1992. Bryant scored 28 in the first half.