O'Neal's Huge Body Of Work

For Wizards, Heat Center Will Be a Big Challenge

The glow had barely worn off the Wizards' Game 6 victory over Chicago on Friday night when point guard Gilbert Arenas was smacked across the face with the most sobering of questions:

"So, how do you stop Shaq?"

"You don't stop Shaq," Arenas said with a chuckle. "No one stops Shaq. No one has ever stopped Shaq. The only person who can stop Shaq is Shaq. Injuries and fouls. That's it."

Arenas might be going through his first playoff experience, but the 23-year-old appears to be well-versed in postseason wisdom that has gone something like this for the past decade: "It's Shaquille O'Neal's world and everyone else is just living in it."

Now 33 years old and with his third team, O'Neal is trying to lead the Miami Heat to its first NBA title, just as he led the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals for the first time in 1995 and returned the Los Angeles Lakers to championship glory by leading them to three straight titles from 2000 to 2002. In 11 previous playoff appearances, O'Neal's teams have failed to get out of the second round only three times, won three titles and advanced to five NBA Finals series.

That is the legacy that awaits the Wizards as they prepare to take on O'Neal and the Heat today in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Miami. Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan understands that pulling off an upset of Miami begins and ends with finding a way to defend O'Neal, who has been slowed by injuries to both thighs but nonetheless led the Heat to a four-game sweep of the New Jersey Nets in the first round.

"I thought you were going to ask me about Tim Duncan, let's go all the way, you know?" Jordan joked when approached by a group of reporters yesterday following a brief workout at MCI Center. "No. We have him and the rest of the Miami Heat, and it's not just Shaq. That is a very formidable team."

Looking at Miami's four-game demolition of Jason Kidd and the Nets, Jordan and the Wizards can find either reason for optimism or reason for dread. On the bright side, O'Neal clearly wasn't the dominating force he was in recent playoff drives with the Lakers. Despite shedding 30 pounds from last season's playing weight of 360, the thigh injuries limited O'Neal's explosiveness. O'Neal averaged 18.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, which was significantly down from his career playoff averages of 27.2 points and 12.2 rebounds per game.

O'Neal didn't score during the first half of Miami's Game 4 victory at New Jersey last Sunday, and New Jersey Coach Lawrence Frank mostly used one-on-one defense against O'Neal throughout the series. In the past, failing to double-team O'Neal was a sure invitation to a monster loss, but the Nets were done in by Dwyane Wade and role players such as Damon and Eddie Jones as much as they were affected by O'Neal.

Then again, O'Neal has had a full week to recover from his injuries, and if he was looking for added motivation heading into this series, he received it when word leaked that Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash likely will be named the NBA's most valuable player. Never mind that by being traded from Los Angeles to Miami, O'Neal single-handedly reversed the fortunes of both franchises or that O'Neal has helped elevate Wade into the superstardom enjoyed by previous sidekicks Penny Hardaway and Kobe Bryant. It appears that O'Neal will have to settle for one MVP award for his career, the one he earned following the 2000 season.

In the past, such as when Sacramento's Vlade Divac flopped and whined for calls while defending O'Neal or when it was implied that Philadelphia's Dikembe Mutombo stood a good chance of defending him during the 2001 NBA Finals, O'Neal took such slights personally and channeled it into his performance.

"He didn't win MVP?" a stunned Arenas asked yesterday. "Uh-oh."