Shaq’s Return Goes Over Big

For the Lakers, it was good enough to have him back.

Shaquille O’Neal’s dominance will have to wait. Their end-to-end game will have to wait. Their four-peat, on the shoulders of O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in particular, is a work, they hope, in progress.

For now, they were only too satisfied with a grinding 86-73 victory over the outmanned Chicago Bulls on Friday night at Staples Center, where O’Neal returned from toe surgery to play 21 minutes and score 17 points.

They had arrived in last place in the Pacific Division, having lost three in a row and seven of eight, and the victory, narrower than it looked, was enough.

“He has a ways to go,” Coach Phil Jackson said of O’Neal. “But, obviously, we got what we wanted out of him tonight, which was some points, some minutes and a win.”

It was Bryant who carried the game offensively, starting slowly and scoring 16 points in the third quarter, 21 overall. He also had 10 rebounds and seven assists. Derek Fisher scored 16 points.

O’Neal’s signature play came in the fourth quarter, with the Bulls barely at arm’s length. From 23 feet away, Rick Fox lobbed a pass a foot over the rim that O’Neal palmed and slammed through the basket. The backboard shook, the building rocked, and O’Neal dashed joyously up the court, back, and feeling it.

“Shaq likes the show game,” Jackson said. “He likes to style. It brings joy to this game for us.”

He left with a little more than three minutes remaining, to the “Superman” theme and another standing ovation.

“It felt pretty good, kind of rusty,” O’Neal said. “I think we all have to get used to playing with each other again. I’m happy for the win, but it’s not a win we should be proud of. We should beat this team by 25.”

O’Neal said his surgically repaired toe felt fine, and he would assess it today.

“I’m here now, so I’m going to keep playing,” he said. “They’ll bring me along slowly, and in no time I’ll be back in 100% game shape and be ready to do what I always do.

“I’m playing with 10 toes again, so I’m trying to get used to being out there. It was fun.”

The last time he walked off the basketball floor, on June 12 in New Jersey, O’Neal carried a most-valuable-player trophy and a child or two.

It had been more than five months since, time he spent chilling in Orlando, browsing for a surgeon, skewering the Sacramento Kings and, finally, rehabilitating the big toe that started all of this.

The Laker marketers played it like a movie premiere, with red carpets and posters and Shaq in a short video based on the original “Rocky.” It was fun and the people laughed at O’Neal’s over-the-top personality.

But what they wanted was the real Shaq, and three minutes into the game, a good portion of the crowd chanted “We want Shaq! We want Shaq!” and Jackson grinned and the players on the bench laughed.

A couple of minutes later, O’Neal leaned over Tracy Murray and asked assistant coach Kurt Rambis to ask Jackson if he was going to play sometime soon. Jackson put his hands out -- “Be patient” -- and 12 games and 6 minutes and 47 seconds (and nine losses) into the season, O’Neal slid off his warmup jacket and took the floor.

The standing ovation began in the first row and spread to the purple heavens. O’Neal licked his hands and rubbed them together, settled in next to Tyson Chandler, and within seconds Bull Coach Bill Cartwright thought better of the matchup.

He was not perfect, but he was undeniably O’Neal. He made a point-blank jump hook for his first points and scored on his first dunk halfway through the second quarter, when he made all four of his shots from the field. Excited, he set his face the way he does and jerked down the floor on straightened legs, his fists balled.

In the second quarter, O’Neal was called for two goaltending violations, the first on a short flip by Chandler, the second on another short shot by Eddy Curry.

O’Neal was a bit slow to the ball on occasion, and a bit slow off his feet. He often has said he plays himself into basketball shape, so all of the treadmill miles got him this far, but games will push him the rest of the way.

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Shaq Facts

Comparing the Lakers with Shaquille O’Neal--who scored 17 points with seven rebounds-- in and out of the lineup Friday:

*--* IN OUT 21 MINUTES PLAYED 27 40 LAKER POINTS 46 30 BULL POINTS 43 21 LAKER REBOUNDS 32 16 BULL REBOUNDS 27 17-38 .447 LAKER FG PCT 17-44 .386 14 LAKER PTS. IN PAINT 10 4 LAKER BLOCKS 5 14 LAKER ASSISTS 10

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Pacific Division

The Lakers’ stay at the bottom of the Pacific lasted one night:

*--* W L GB Sacramento 10 4 - Seattle 8 4 1 Phoenix 5 5 3 Portland 6 6 3 Lakers 4 9 5 1/2 Clippers 4 9 5 1/2 Golden St 4 10 6

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