CONTEST'S HYPE RUNS INTO THE BIG BRICK WALL.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

SACRAMENTO - When did it occur to Shaquille O'Neal that a sinfully over-hyped showdown with Kobe Bryant is precisely what he didn't want for Christmas?

Was it after O'Neal sat for an interview on the Monday-night football telecast and offered up the juicy analogy in which he's a ``brick wall'' and Bryant is a careening Corvette? Was it after Shaq went on ESPN and said with a straight face that in his L.A. days he ``never had a problem'' with Kobe, implying the resentment ran the other way around? Or was it after one of the dozens of veiled insults he dropped on his estranged teammate lately, all in the service of the NBA's and its TV network's publicity campaigns?

By the time O'Neal arrived at Arco Arena on Thursday to lead the Miami Heat to a thriller of a 109-107 victory over the Sacramento Kings, he seemed to have realized that he has nothing to gain by raising the stakes before Bryant and the Lakers get a shot at him this afternoon at Staples Center.

Thus the man who recently vowed to ``help (today's game) become the highest-rated game ever to be played on that date'' had changed his tune by late Thursday night.

``This game Saturday, believe it or not, doesn't even make my top 100 battles,'' O'Neal said.

Believe it or not.

Why might Shaq prefer to turn down the volume going into his first game against Kobe and the Lakers since the MVP of the club's last three NBA Finals was traded away in July?

Because the way things are going for O'Neal and Bryant, Shaq has nowhere to go today except down.

Shaq is on top of the world, or at least the Eastern Conference. Miami is 21-7, 10 games better than it was a year ago without Shaq. The Heat has won 10 games in a row. The win over the Kings was a big statement, the Heat rallying from 12 points down with 5:23 to play, O'Neal swatting away Mike Bibby's scoop shot at 2.9 seconds. O'Neal is playing well, and he is proudly showing off his teammate Dwyane Wade as a ``humble'' version of Bryant.

Kobe carries the weight of the world, or at least the Lakers' dim prospects. The Lakers are 14-11, six games worse than a year go with Shaq, Karl Malone, Gary Payton and Phil Jackson. In the past 10 days they lost at Staples Center to Washington and Memphis and had to claw their way past New Orleans. For Kobe it's an uncomfortable spat with Malone one week, a public apology to Shaq the next, all interpersonal friction all the time. Kobe is second in the league in scoring but such individual sparkle no longer flatters him.

If this whole NBA season is a referendum on the Lakers' breakup, the first third of the schedule has delivered a landslide.

O'Neal and the Heat are succeeding in making Bryant and the Lakers look foolish. Shaq's point is being proven, in the short term anyway. Shaq has the upper hand in this bitter rivalry, at least until it actually begins.

But what if the Lakers jump up and beat the Heat today, if Bryant outscores O'Neal, if Bryant somehow makes O'Neal look like the villain?

From Shaq's standpoint it might be a good idea to turn down the volume.

``They're trying to make it a me-against-him thing, and I've always been a team player, and I'm not going to let anything get me out of my context,'' O'Neal said in the Arco Arena visitors' locker room. ``I'm not going in with the mind-set that I have to make my stats better than his. ... I have nothing to prove.''

``They'' and a certain brick wall.

``We play hard every night,'' O'Neal said of the Heat. ``It's nothing but unselfish guys on this team. I think it was a good move for me (going to Miami), and I'm happy, and my teammates respond well to me, and I respond well to them. ... When I asked to be traded, I knew what I was doing. Mitch (Kupchak, the Lakers' general manager) was smart enough to grant me that trade.''

Shaq was asked if he'll shake Kobe's hand if it is offered before tip-off.

``I've always been a classy individual, and will remain classy,'' O'Neal said in an apparent ``yes.''

``I'm going to keep my name untainted.''

He was asked if he'll get rough if Kobe tries to drive to the basket.

``You know, I've been a classy individual for 12 years,'' O'Neal said. ``It would be very un-classy of me to try to say what I'm going to do. I'm going to just play good defense. I'm not out to hurt anybody. I'm not out to beat anybody up. I don't want any part of that. I'm going to just go play and play my game.''

O'Neal avoided reporters at the Heat's morning shoot-around Thursday. He didn't speak to reporters before the game that night. He spoke only briefly at a practice session at the Lakers' facility in El Segundo on Friday.

His post-game comments Thursday lasted less than six minutes and were all about downplaying the, uh, 101st biggest battle of his career. Hey, just another game he'll try to win for the glory of the Miami Heat. Move along, folks, nothing to look at here.

A softer tone is the smart PR move, if a grossly belated one, for the man in control going into Christmas Day.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) LAMAR ODOM

(2 -- color) BRIAN GRANT

(3 -- color) CARON BUTLER

(4 -- color) SHAQUILLE O'NEAL

Box:

THREE-FOR-ONE BY THE NUMBERS