NBA NOTEBOOK

All-Star selections used to come so easily to Shaquille O’Neal that he wasn’t even sure what the process was for picking reserves.

The head coaches in each conference vote for them, and O’Neal wants the ones in the Western Conference to consider him.

“Hopefully I get voted in, but I’m not going to do any campaigns,” O’Neal said. “I’m not going to put on a cowboy hat and I’m not going to do none of that.”

The Phoenix center’s play on the court might be good enough.

Feeling healthy again, O’Neal is enjoying one of his best stretches in years.

He scored 21 points Wednesday in New York for his ninth 20-point outing in the last 15 games, after he reached 20 only eight times all last season. He was averaging 21.9 points in his last 14 games.

“As long as I have the same opportunities that I’ve been having, I’ll be fine. I can’t be a dominant big man taking three to four shots a game,” O’Neal said. “I told them I wanted to be involved. I told them I wanted to be active. They’ve been coming to me and I’ve been producing like I’ve been producing my whole career.”

Perhaps not confident with his conditioning, O’Neal revealed that he told former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni not to go to him as much last season after Miami traded the center to Phoenix, and just let him try to fit in.

Now O’Neal is back to wanting to stand out.

“I think if you watch him play, physically he’s as good as I’ve seen him the last five or six years,” D’Antoni said. “You go to where you have success and I think they’re doing a good job of getting him the ball, and I don’t think Shaq’s ever had a problem scoring wherever he is if he plays well.”

O’Neal was selected to 14 straight All-Star games, tying Jerry West and Karl Malone for the most ever, before he wasn’t chosen during his injury-plagued 2007-08 season. His strong play over the last month gives him a chance to be back on his home floor for the Feb. 15 game.

“If I get voted in, thank you,” he said. “If not, I understand.”

Big draw

The chance to watch LeBron James face off against Kobe Bryant drew a big television audience during Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday.

The game was watched by more than 3.6 million viewers, the most on TNT since the Lakers opened the 2003-04 season against Dallas.

Bryant had 20 points, six rebounds and 12 assists, and James had 23 points and nine rebounds.

The Lakers beat the Cavaliers, 105-88, at home.

Road trip

Friday’s game against Phoenix marked Charlotte’s league-high 26th home game, setting up a brutal closing stretch of 24 of 39 on the road, including two West Coast trips and 10 sets of back-to-back games.

But that kind of travel is nothing to Bobcats Coach Larry Brown -- when he compares it to his days as a player in the ABA.

Brown recently told a story of how his Oakland Oaks moved to Washington for the 1969-70 season.

“They kept our schedule -- the West Coast schedule,” Brown said.

“So we played a Saturday home game in Washington and flew across the country and played a Sunday afternoon game in Los Angeles about four times.

“Now that was when you really lied to your legs.”

Brown said they also played a handful of “home” games in San Jose during that season.

“So instead of playing Saturday and Sunday in Oakland and San Jose, we were playing Saturday in Washington and Sunday in San Jose,” Brown said. “It was amazing.”

Teams sometimes played four games in four nights in that fledgling league.

Players had to fly commercial, carry their own bags and even wash their own jerseys.

“And some guys didn’t do a very good job,” Brown recalled. “I remember guys would shower with their uniforms on and scrub them down.

Brown said one of the worst culprits was teammate and future NBA coach Doug Moe.

“Doug had a red, white and blue uniform,” Brown said, “that turned one color.”