LAKERS NOTEBOOK: BROWN'S PREPARED.

Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer

MIAMI - Say what you will about Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. At least neither one of them ever had to take on a whole city, let alone the nation's capital.

That will be the case tonight as Kwame Brown, the former No. 1 overall pick, returns to Washington, where he was a frequent target of the MCI Center crowd during the last of his four seasons with the Wizards.

It will be Brown's first game back in Washington since he came to the Lakers in a sign-and-trade with Laron Profit in exchange for Caron Butler and Laron Profit. It also will be his first game back since he was suspended for the rest of last season's playoffs.

``They do it to everybody,'' Brown said of the expected boos. ``They did it to Larry (Hughes), I watched that game, they do it to everybody.''

Back in October, Brown told the Washington Post his side of why he left the team during the playoffs. Brown said he was furious with guard Gilbert Arenas, a Grant of Van Nuys graduate, who he believed told coach Eddie Jordan not to play him in a game. He promised to ``whup their (butts)'' in his return.

Brown lost three weeks to a hamstring injury but is averaging 5.9 points and 5.9 rebounds this season. He missed five of six shots he took Sunday against the Heat but took seven rebounds, a role Lakers coach Phil Jackson has made Brown's priority.

But Brown has faced the Wizards twice already, once in the exhibition season and earlier this month at Staples Center.

--Good deed: It might be O'Neal's city, but Bryant spent part of Saturday talking with a group of high school basketball players about NBA life at a Miami high school. He also donated shoes to everyone in attendance.

``Today, we gave these kids our best Christmas gift,'' Wesley Frater, a local coach, told the Miami Herald. ``Mr. Bryant gave two hours of himself to these kids. It's most admirable of him and we all wish him well.''

Ross Siler, [phone]

ross.siler(at)dailynews.com