LAKERS NOTEBOOK: SHAQ: NO MORE WHINING.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

As he braced himself for another long night of 6-foot guards yanking at his shorts and 7-foot giants scratching his forearms rather than guarding him straight up, Shaquille O'Neal took a moment to reflect on this decidedly un-macho brand of defense.

Whatever the Dallas Mavericks threw at him on Wednesday, O'Neal said he'll take pride in the more manly way he's won his two NBA championships.

``I was just thinking about this the other day. The championships we've won, and the championships that all the other guys have won, have been blood-sweat-and-tears championships,'' he said. ``If I'm competing against somebody, I want to beat you. I want to go out and beat you.

``I want to make you tired; I want to make you quit. I don't want to cry, I don't want to complain, I don't want to say things in the paper so the referees read it. I just want to beat you,'' O'Neal continued. ``I've always felt comfortable with myself as a player. I know that guys who whine and cry and complain just to win games, I know they can't go home and sleep and really call themselves a true athlete.''

O'Neal apparently has grown weary of opponents picking apart his game and complaining about everything from his free-throw form to his physical play in the paint.

``If I've got to whine and cry to get calls and win games, then I don't want to play no more,'' O'Neal said. ``Then I will quit. I will get on TV, call a two-second press conference and say, `I quit. Can't do it anymore,' if I've got to whine and cry to win.''

--Just say no: Not that this needed any clarification, but Jackson confirmed Wednesday that he's not really a Mark Cuban kind of guy.

``I wouldn't work for somebody like Cuban,'' he said of the Mavericks owner. ``The owner's important to me as a coach. I think you've got to have a complete kind of hands-off approach with owners. That's the thing that I think is really important, that you (as a coach) don't feel like people are either too close to the team or looking down your back.''