Statistics Say Lakers Are Still Shaq's Team

Kobe Bryant has said he wants to test the free-agent market this summer, maybe try life as a big Jordan in a small pond.

Well, for the last five games, he has.

With Shaquille O'Neal planted on the bench, Bryant has been the man, throwing up dozens of shots off hundreds of dribbles, jacking, jabbing, juking.

And, oh yeah, losing.

Which, in the last seven years, is what happens nearly half the time when Bryant plays and O'Neal doesn't.

The Lakers' 1-4 slide might temporarily continue, but the debate is officially over.

There is nobody more important to this team than O'Neal.

If Bryant thinks he can win as many championships without him, he's as loopy as some of those jump shots.

Bryant needs O'Neal more than O'Neal needs Bryant.

What few will acknowledge, statistics collected since the start of the 1996-97 season will prove.

In games featuring O'Neal but not Bryant, the Lakers are 36-8, an .818 winning percentage.

In games featuring Bryant but not O'Neal, the Lakers are 53-45, a .541 winning percentage.

Letter writers, start your keyboards.

While this is a Shaquille O'Neal team, it remains a Kobe Bryant town, the majority of folks typically embracing David while chiding Goliath.

Folks love Bryant's effort and question O'Neal's commitment. Folks think Bryant is exciting and O'Neal is exasperating.

There was even a letter in Saturday's Times in which one fan actually wanted to -- gulp -- trade O'Neal.

To which the Lakers politely respond with please.

"You tell those people to come down to the court when Shaq is playing and say that," Horace Grant said after Saturday's practice. "This team is all about the big fella, and we're kidding ourselves to say otherwise."

O'Neal's conditioning and work ethic cannot match Bryant's.

In many ways, from his training camp money gripes to his recent unexcused absence from practice, O'Neal is a 7-foot pain.

But like it or not, he's their pain, and recent events have proven again that the Lakers cannot win without him.

When he has played at least 24 minutes this season, the team is 19-7.

When he has played less, the team is 3-4.

"Shaq is the centerpiece of everything we do," Derek Fisher said. "Nothing can change that fact."

When O'Neal plays, Gary Payton is not griping, Devean George is not shrinking, the Denver Nuggets aren't scoring 113 points and opponents aren't posing after dunks.