A DISAPPOINTMENT OF TITANIC PROPORTIONS.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, a recent addition to Shaquille O'Neal's inner circle, was nowhere to be found at the Delta Center on Saturday during the Lakers' Western Conference final opener against Utah.

It's probably just as well; after watching O'Neal do a pretty fair portrayal of an iceberg, DiCaprio might have been tempted to jump ship.

The Lakers center couldn't hit the side of the Wasatch mountains in the first quarter and his struggles had a snowball effect on the rest of his teammates. They're all going to have to dig themselves out of a 1-0 hole in the best-of-seven series after being buried by the Jazz 112-77 before 19,111 gleeful spectators.

The 35-point margin of defeat was the worst in the Lakers' playoff history. As for O'Neal's 19-point, eight-rebound, seven-turnover performance, Lakers fans better hope that's as bad as it gets.

O'Neal professed not to be worried, pointing out that the Lakers dropped their first game in their semifinal series against Seattle before reeling off four straight victories.

The difference is in the details.

In the first game in Seattle, the Lakers took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter. On Saturday, they were behind from the start and it got exponentially worse, from 0-2 to 11-22 to 21-42 to 30-60 as the Jazz kept doubling the fans' pleasure.

There were no Good Samaritans in the crowd calling for an end to the slaughter, only rows upon rows of kids and adults wearing purple foam mailboxes on their heads in honor of Jazz superstar Karl Malone and holding up signs such as the one that read, ``We'll huff and puff and blow your Shaq down.''

Stepping ably into the roles of the three little pigs were forward Greg Foster and guards John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek as the Jazz employed a scheme to slow O'Neal that was brilliant in its simplicity.

Utah came out with single coverage on O'Neal, who couldn't have been more shocked if the Jazz players had taken the floor wearing kilts. Instead of driving hard to the hoop, O'Neal held onto the ball, reacting when he should have been romping.

When he finally did put the ball on the floor, the Utah guards were on him like sweat, taking as their cue the shoulder dip that telegraphed O'Neal's intentions.

``As soon as Shaq got the ball and tried to make his move they were there,'' said Nick Van Exel, who wasn't much of a help to his teammate, missing eight of nine shots, including all five 3-pointers he tried.

O'Neal tried to make things happen in a hurry, with disastrous results. Before the first quarter was two minutes old, O'Neal had missed two shots from inside the paint and had been stripped of the ball down low by Stockton. His teammates continued to feed him the ball, figuring that if he could find his rhythm they'd all get in sync.

He was their metronome, all right, only the tempo was all wrong. By the end of the quarter, O'Neal had two turnovers, one offensive rebound and zero points on four shots and the Lakers were trailing by 11, having mustered only four baskets on 19 percent shooting from the field.

Once they missed, the Lakers usually were backpedaling in a hurry; Utah outrebounded the Lakers under their basket, 19-9 in the first half. Indeed, it wasn't until the third quarter that O'Neal got his first put-back basket off his own miss.

``It was just one of those days where I couldn't hit a shot,'' said O'Neal with a shrug.

O'Neal could take solace in the fact he was getting good position in the paint all afternoon. That's half the battle right there. But to win the war, it takes powers of concentration that O'Neal seemed unable to summon on a day when Foster was in his face at every turn and Stockton was circling him like a pickpocket.

A clue that the Jazz had drawn O'Neal out of his game came in the fourth quarter when he started venting at referee Hugh Evans, as though the officiating crew was somehow responsible for the Lakers' shooting woes.

O'Neal declined to repeat what he said to Evans, insinuating that most of it would have been unprintable anyway. But it was clear from his postgame comments that he took umbrage at all the Jazz' clutching and grabbing. For a second, he sounded like Mario Lemieux.

``That's OK,'' O'Neal said. ``We see how they're going to let us play. I've got to start protecting myself. (The Jazz) are going to have to watch out next game for some noses and stuff. They better watch their faces.''

Lakers forward Robert Horry, he of the cooler head, suggested the Lakers try to show the Jazz a different look before starting in on the Utah players' faces.

``Shaq missed a lot of those shots because he had some people hanging on his arms,'' Horry said. ``We've got to put them in some pick-and-roll situations so you won't see so much clawing and grabbing.''

The loss didn't make the Lakers mad because on Monday they can get even.

``We'll be fine,'' O'Neal said. ``We're not worried.''

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Photo

PHOTO Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal tries to get off a shot against Utah forward Greg Ostertag in the fourth quarter.

Jack Smith/Associated Press