O'NEAL FEELING RIGHT AT HOME NATIVE OF NEWARK READIES TO PLAY IN FRONT OF FAMILY.Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Mom was sitting courtside court·side n. The area immediately bordering the official court of play, as in tennis or basketball. , not 22 feet away, as Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). inflicted the pain, the embarrassment, the total wreckage that only he can inflict. Occasionally, after slamming a ball through the strings and toward Todd MacCulloch's head, after sending Aaron Williams This article is about the American basketball player. For the American cartoonist, see Aaron Williams (comics creator). For the boxer see, see Aaron Williams (boxer). tumbling to the hardwood, after walking back to the bench, he would look over, catch a glance. Lucille Harrison would smile as only a proud mother could, and the NBA's most devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. force - a man New Jersey Nets coach Byron Scott Byron Scott may refer to:
``I'm pretty sure she enjoyed watching her baby out there on the floor,'' said Lakers teammate Samaki Walker Samaki Ijuma Walker (born February 25 1976 in Columbus, Ohio) is an American professional basketball player currently signed with the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA. [1] , who quickly corrected his reference - ``what she called her baby.'' ``I'm pretty sure,'' Walker said, ``the rest of the guys wouldn't say that.'' Lucille's baby, all 7 feet and 355 pounds or so of him, is having a monstrous Finals and it's only getting better. His Lakers lead the series two games to none and now O'Neal is home, where the support group will grow exponentially. Tonight, the series shifts to Continental Airlines Arena, a short drive from O'Neal's native Newark. His mother's side of the family resides here. So do the the relatives of O'Neal's stepfather, Philip Harrison. The Shaq Paq will be large, indeed. O'Neal said he expects 80 to 85 members of his extended family to attend Game 3 tonight and Game 4 on Wednesday. (The way he's playing, Friday's scheduled Game 5 would appear unnecessary.) Through two games, O'Neal is averaging 38 points, 14 rebounds, 4 1/2 assists and 2 1/2 blocks. He's averaging five points more than he did in the 2001 Finals. He came within two assists of a triple-double in Game 2. His career Finals average is up to 34.2, second only to Rick Barry All this at the tail end of O'Neal's most injury-filled season. At the end of a postseason in which he was struggling to average 26 points through the first three rounds. And it's a safe bet that he isn't through. The Nets have shown no ability to contain O'Neal or even make him work for his points. They are reticent to double-team aggressively and Lakers coach Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana) is the current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, an American professional basketball team. has tossed in a few wrinkles to keep any potential double-teams at bay. Desperate to make this a series, the Nets could change up their game plan. ``When he plays at that level,'' Rick Fox said, ``it forces teams to adjust.'' The way O'Neal is rolling, it might not matter. ``I think he may feel better than he's felt in these first two games,'' Brian Shaw Brian K. Shaw (born March 22, 1966 in Oakland, California) is a former professional basketball player. The 6' 6" Shaw could play both guard spots, but was used primarily at point guard over the course of his 14 seasons in the league. said. ``He's going to be playing in front of family, in his hometown, on the biggest stage, the biggest platform there is in our sport. ... So I expect even bigger things.'' O'Neal has spoken warmly about his roots here and about the hours he spends at the Newark home of his great-grandmother, Cillar O'Neal. ``That's life, just sitting there, looking at old books and just having a good time,'' O'Neal said during a trip here in February of last year. ``I even took a nap over there. I felt like I was getting babysitted, like when I was little.'' Last June, Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant (born July 23 1978) is an American All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. got to win a championship in his hometown of Philadelphia. O'Neal said he looked forward to making it two for two. But like Bryant, he downplayed the homecoming story. ``I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to do what I usually do when I go to New Jersey,'' he said. ``I'm going to see my father's father and I'm going to see my great grandmother. Chill out, eat some macaroni macaroni: see pasta. and cheese and fried chicken and just hang out, and that will be about it.'' Otherwise, O'Neal said, it's purely a business trip. And he expects, like Bryant, ``I'll get booed and all that. But I'm on a mission and I want to take care of business. Nothing else really matters.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Shaquille O'Neal has a chance, like Kobe Bryant last year, to win a Finals game, and maybe a championship, close to home. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer |
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