Scorching Heat Shows How It’s Done

Thirty-two. It’s the new, not-so-Magic number for the Lakers.

It’s on the jersey of their former center, the one who plays for the Miami Heat.

And it’s on both sides of the dash on the Laker line in the standings.

As in 32-32.

At this point when the Lakers play the Miami Heat it’s not about the soap opera involving Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. It’s about the reality of two franchises linked by their landscape-changing trade last summer, which now are headed in opposite directions.

There was less buildup and less drama to this meeting than the mega-matchup when O’Neal and the Heat came to Staples Center to face Bryant and the Lakers for the first time on Christmas Day. O’Neal didn’t even bother to do his “gorilla walk” after his assortment of dunks in the Heat’s 102-89 victory Thursday.

“There’s a time to do that, and there’s a time not to do that,” O’Neal said. “Today was a little bit more serious game.”

O’Neal later said, “This is just another game to me. I would put this in my top 2,000 games. It’s not a game I lost sleep over, It’s not a game I got extra hyped for. It’s just a good team against a so-so team.”

Ouch. It was a subtle shot, piercing only because it’s so true.

The Lakers are .500. Average. So-so. You are what your record says you are. And at 32-32 they have twice as many losses as the Heat (51-16).

The Lakers will have to play uncharacteristically well just to get into the playoffs. Magic Johnson, the Laker legend whose No. 32 jersey hangs in Staples Center and who is a minority owner in the team, said again on TNT that it would be “impossible” for them to make the playoffs unless they have a 10- or 15-game winning streak in them.

Meanwhile, the Heat could lose every remaining game and still qualify for the postseason. But if they keep winning at this clip they’ll have homecourt advantage in the Eastern Conference playoffs -- and maybe even for the NBA Finals.

In the Heat locker room all the talk keeps turning toward the good things in store for this group. That’s what happens when a team makes the right personnel moves, has good chemistry and plays intelligent basketball.

“I think it’s the right organization for it,” said Dwyane Wade, who led all scorers with 27 points. “We came in and everybody knew their roles. They picked the right people to come and play around Shaq, and they did a great job of it.”

Udonis Haslem rebounds, Christian Laettner and Michael Doleac spell O’Neal, and Damon Jones and Eddie Jones make open three-point shots when the defenses collapse on O’Neal.

Compare that to the Lakers. They brought in Odom as the centerpiece of the O’Neal trade, without realizing that his game doesn’t mesh well with Bryant’s. Chucky Atkins comes and goes, and the Lakers routinely get outplayed at the center position.

They didn’t replace O’Neal -- because you can’t. Which is why they shouldn’t have traded him. Jerry Buss has said he was afraid of losing O’Neal for nothing.

The Lakers’ poker-playing owner should have called O’Neal’s bluff, daring him to leave as a free agent (at the end of 2005-06 or by opting out after this season) when he knew the salary cap rules would not allow another team to offer him anywhere near as much as the Lakers could. And if he did leave, the Lakers would get something: a big load off their salary cap. And if Bryant didn’t want to play with him, dare him to leave for the Clippers -- and take a $30-million salary cut in the process.

As far apart as these two teams are in the NBA standings, they do make for good entertainment when they get on the court.

Besides Kobe vs. Shaq there was Bryant vs. Wade, a growing threat to Bryant’s reign as the league’s best guard. That mini-rivalry cranked up in the first quarter, when Wade blocked a Bryant layup after Bryant was fouled, and the two talked smack as Bryant walked to the free-throw line.

In addition to that you had Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant playing their first game in Miami since the Heat traded them for O’Neal last summer.

The Lakers were competitive until the middle of the fourth quarter. Then the difference between their two styles kicked in. While the Lakers missed jump shots, the Heat got layups, dunks and free throws. They just play a better brand of basketball, going inside-out.

“The one word that stands out that’s making this team good is ‘unselfish’ ” said Steve Smith, the veteran shooting guard the Heat reacquired this season. “I think not only unselfish with passing the ball, but defensively, people are helping. Nobody’s grabbing a stat sheet after the game. Nobody even looks at the stat sheet.”

He noted that O’Neal, who had another night of 25 and 12, “hasn’t even turned it on yet.”

It’ll take the equivalent of Bryant’s best June performances to get his squad into the playoffs. Laker Coach Frank Hamblen said, “He knows he has to have a big night against good teams for us to be successful.”

Bryant averages the second-most minutes in the league, and it appears to be wearing on him. He has shot three for 28 in the second halves of the last three games. The right ankle sprain that caused him to sit out 14 games has been aggravated, and he can be seen flexing the leg and doing extra exercises at halftime to keep it loose.

O’Neal is always loose, clowning before and after games.

“The main thing he’s happy with is the way we’re all together,” Wade said. “ We’re not going to let anything break us apart, whether we go on a losing streak or nothing. We know we’re good enough to beat everybody.”

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/Adande.