A SIDEWAYS GLANCE : SOME BIG SHOES TO FILL.

Fifteen-year-old Allen Joseph can walk with the giants of the NBA.

Joseph, a 6-foot-8, 15-year-old junior at Notre Dame High School in Brampton, Ontario, was having a hard time finding sneakers to fit his size-22 feet. His coach, Dario Pretto, said he couldn't find sneakers in Canada bigger than size 18 and needed replacements for a worn-out pair by Feb. 3, when the school's season resumes.

Now, Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal is offering to send Joseph sneakers, and he already got a pair from Reebok International Ltd., which has the 7-foot-1 center as an endorser. ``They found one pair somewhere,'' said Pretto.

This isn't the first time that Reebok and O'Neal helped teen-agers with similarly sized feet. Josh Halexa, 15, of Tacoma, Wash., received a pair of size-23 shoes last fall after a fruitless search of shoe stores, and 7-foot sophomore Joshua Moore of St. Anthony High School in Jersey City got a size-23 pair from O'Neal after calling Reebok for help.

Dressed for success

Credit the Seattle SuperSonics for coming up with the best twist on the retro-uniform craze.

The Sonics' marketing staff scoured Seattle's thrift stores for authentic 1970s apparel, and the coaching staff wore the groovy threads Wednesday night as the Sonics defeated the Toronto Raptors.

Coach George Karl wore two-inch platform shoes, a powder blue leisure suit and open-necked shirt worn with the butterfly collar out over the suit's oversized lapels.

Assistant coach Dwane Casey wore a checkered suit, assistant Terry Stotts wore his shirt open to display his chest hair and assistant Bob Weiss sported a patent-leather-brown leisure suit and flowered shirt.

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Photo: No Caption (One Tennis Shoe)