O'NEAL REACTS WITH A CENTRAL EFFORT.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

MINNEAPOLIS - There was so much going on. A painful death and beautiful birth only 24 hours apart. The legends of his sport looking down. A new playoff season to begin.

Shaquille O'Neal is the Lakers' centerpiece in more ways than the obvious. He sets their rhythm, establishes their tone, in the playoffs more than ever.

When his eyes become finely focused, his fire burning just below the surface, determination pouring from him, teammates swell with confidence.

But who really knew how O'Neal would respond Sunday to his emotional week? The playoffs were beginning, a hungry Minnesota Timberwolves team was at home, O'Neal's head was ... where?

``Shaq never says a lot,'' guard Derek Fisher said. ``We know that when he steps up and says give him the ball, which he did today, that means a lot.

``We know emotionally it was going to be tough for him, but we also knew that he was going to be extremely focused.''

O'Neal admitted he had not thought of basketball since learning his grandfather died Friday. Then Saturday, his wife gave birth to a son.

Yet when Game 1 against the Timberwolves arrived Sunday, he seemed in tune with his surroundings, with his immediate demands. He started somewhat slowly, deferring to his hot-shooting teammates, but in the end his numbers were all there.

His numbers normally are. It's how he goes about them, the energy he extends, the focus of the other team he demands, that is essential to the Lakers.

O'Neal said he never doubted he would respond.

``Of course not,'' he said. ``I knew I had to come out here and do my job, and help my teammates win.''

Which is just what he did. The normal playoff intensity was strangely lacking at the Target Center, which fell a couple of thousand short of selling out.

The Lakers started well, with Rick Fox and Fisher lighting it up from 3-point range. Kobe Bryant went into one of his special zones, and the Lakers led by as many as 20 in the second quarter.

Minnesota staged one rally that brought them within four, but O'Neal rose to the challenge, the Lakers continued to play efficient, business-like basketball, and soon they were coasting to a 117-98 victory and had taken the home-court advantage away in one deft move.

O'Neal finished with 32 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, hitting 10 of 13 free throws. Basketball called, and maybe for a moment, that made everything simpler.

``In this world we live in, when a man passes away, another man is born the next day 10 times greater,'' O'Neal said. ``My grandfather died one day, and the next day my wife delivered my third son. A real tough weekend for me.

``But when I arrived (Saturday) night, the guys told me they were going to win for me. We just wanted to come, play well and get this first game. And that's what they did.''

Watching the playoff opener were retired centers Bill Russell, Bill Walton, Moses Malone and Bob Lanier, part of an NBA legends group that will tour during the playoffs. After hitting the Lakers' first shot of the fourth quarter, he turned and pointed to the group.

``Some of the true big men to play the game,'' he said. ``I just wanted to let them know the last true big man was represented. It was an honor to have them there in the building.''

His grandfather, Sirlester O'Neal, died of natural causes at age 69. He had picked cotton in Georgia before moving to New Jersey at age 14.

``He was the type that when I made it big, he didn't want much,'' O'Neal said. ``All he asked for was a Cadillac.

``So I bought him a Cadillac, and he'd just go around the block with his friends. He used to sit and drink beer. He always wore those Al Capone, gangsta straw hats.

``He was a great man, a quiet man, a very proud man.''

O'Neal said he was able to come back and focus on his professional task because his wife and mother had granted him permission to turn his emotional switch.

``After I had my child, my wife told me to just go out there and play,'' he said. ``I talked to my mother this morning, and (she) just told me to relax and everything would be all right.''

It is not over, of course. He will return to South Carolina today to be with family, to be at the wake. He will fly back to Minneapolis before Tuesday's Game 2.

And the Lakers will again look to see how he responds, to find their center.

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Shaquille O'Neal, who said ``the guys told me they were going to win for me,'' had 32 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks Sunday.

Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press