RETURN TO DOMINANCE REVIVED O'NEAL HAS LAKERS ROLLING.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

MINNEAPOLIS - In the final lap of a season that had observers questioning his stamina and his physical state, and indeed his very claim to the title of Most Dominant Ever, Shaquille O'Neal is finally, indisputably himself again.

And maybe he was never anything else, despite career-low statistics and another string of nagging injuries. Maybe he was just waiting for the time and the place to assert himself. Maybe, as O'Neal claims, all he needed to be the Old Shaq again was one thing.

``The ball,'' O'Neal said. ``A guy like me can't do much without the ball.''

For six consecutive playoff games, the last five Lakers victories, O'Neal has played with a familiar focus and ferocity, showing the kind of end-to-end dominance that won him MVP honors in three consecutive postseasons.

Starting with Game 2 of the conference semifinals, O'Neal has averaged 23.8 points, 15.3 rebounds and 4.2 blocks, while making 63.2 percent of his field-goal attempts and 55 percent of his free throws.

His 27-point, 18-rebound performance Friday staked the Lakers to a 97-88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves and a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. Game 2 is tonight. While the Timberwolves spent Saturday pondering the inadequacies of Ervin Johnson and Michael Olowokandi and, most likely, schemes to double-team O'Neal, the Lakers enjoyed the renaissance for another day.

``Shaq's always been about winning,'' Derek Fisher said. ``Every year, he's always been able to continue to elevate his game, round to round, series to series. And after the first round against (Houston's) Yao Ming, and everybody questioning (O'Neal's ability), he just does what he has to do to help us win. That's what he's always wanted people to see, but a lot of people haven't seen it that way.''

In other words, O'Neal is eager to once again beat back doubts about his preeminence.

``Exactly,'' Fisher said with a knowing smile.

This hasn't been one of O'Neal's more memorable seasons, a fact reflected in his sixth-place finish in the MVP voting. By choice and by circumstance, he ceded offensive opportunities, in part to accommodate All-Stars Karl Malone and Gary Payton and in part because Kobe Bryant often seized control of the game.

``We've just got to exploit the mismatches, and of course, whoever's playing Kobe is going to be a mismatch; but on every team, in every division, every conference, whoever plays me, it's a mismatch,'' O'Neal said.

The skepticism over O'Neal's enduring dominance began last spring, when the San Antonio Spurs ended the Lakers' three-year championship reign and O'Neal hobbled away from the scene on a bad knee, steaming over the criticism directed his way.

Suddenly, it had become fashionable to call the Spurs' Tim Duncan the game's best big man, with O'Neal fading into the pack. Then there is the Yao factor. The 7-foot-6 Rockets center gave O'Neal trouble last season and, with plenty of double-team help, pressured O'Neal into a career-low scoring average (16.2 points) in the first-round series against Houston last month.

``Yeah, I heard them,'' O'Neal said of the doubts about his game. ``But if I get 15 or 20 shots a game, then I'm going to do what I always do. If I don't get 15, 20 shots, then how can a man be dominant if he's only taking nine, 10 shots a game? You tell me.''

Hurting O'Neal's cause, of course, was a free-throw shooting percentage that hovered in the 20s and 30s, denying him easy points. But he's converted at a .585 rate over the past six games. More significant, the Lakers' offense has become fluid again, and teammates are finding O'Neal often with space to operate.

Then there is the urgency and the uncertainty that hangs over all of the Lakers, O'Neal included. A roster overhaul is possible, and some say inevitable, this summer as Bryant, Malone, Payton, Fisher and coach Phil Jackson contemplate free agency.

O'Neal can opt out of his contract in another year, but privately he wonders whether he'll last that long in L.A. More than once this season, he has made offhand remarks about getting traded. And recently, O'Neal has told friends that he's heard he might be dealt this summer.

Team owner Jerry Buss has said he will do everything possible to retain Bryant, and there is a sense among some team and league insiders that concessions could include jettisoning both Jackson and O'Neal. Before Game 3 of the semifinals, Jackson reminded every player of their tenuous futures. Before Game 1 of this series, he remarked that Bryant, in particular, is growing more focused as that uncertain future gets closer.

It appears O'Neal is experiencing something similar as the Finals approach.

``He's relaxing in a different way,'' Malone said, ``meaning we realize what we have to do. ... Within what, 3 1/2 weeks or a month, it's over with? It's like the old country term: `The horse is smelling the barn.' You know, when they get back close, they start running a lot harder. So maybe that's what it is, too. I feel it.''

Occasionally, O'Neal repeats certain quiet assurances to Malone, who won't divulge the details. O'Neal claims he's telling him, ``Have no fear, the Diesel is here.''

Malone, whose championship aspirations are dependent on O'Neal's determination, said he never doubted him.

``The only thing we have is our word, OK? And when a man looks me in my eye and gives me his word, that's the end,'' Malone said. ``And he looked at me and gave me his word. He told me on the phone (last summer), and he told me when I saw him. And I believe that.''

Howard Beck, [phone]

howard.beck(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) In the Lakers' last six playoff games, five of them victories, Shaquille O'Neal has averaged 23.8 points on 63.2 percent shooting, 15.3 rebounds and 4.2 blocks.

Morry Gash/Associated Press

(2 -- color) SHAQ ATTACK

(3) As the Lakers near the NBA Finals, their urgency has increased, the offense has become fluid again and teammates are finding Shaquille O'Neal.

Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press

Box:

SHAQ ATTACK