COAST TO COAST

Maybe the Shaquille O'Neal deal wasn't the worst trade in history after all. . . .

For Lakers fans rejoicing in the change atop the Pacific Division, it's changing back.

While the Lakers, who've held first place since Feb. 24, somehow managed to lose at home to Charlotte (previously 25-45) and Memphis (18-53), the Suns were figuring out how to fit O'Neal into their pick-and-roll game and going 9-2.

"They just kept doing pick-and-rolls and dunks and [making] threes," the 76ers' Andre Iguodala said after the Suns' romp last week in Philadelphia.

As O'Neal promised, he has made a monster of once-casual Amare Stoudemire, who's averaging 29 points alongside Shaq.

"He was an unstoppable force," the 76ers' Rodney Carney said of Stoudemire. ". . . I think Phoenix is just jelling right now."

Can't we all just get along?

Not quite yet . . .

If O'Neal thought he was the scapegoat in Miami and the Heat thought he quit, they managed to keep their parting amicable until last week, when O'Neal told the Boston Globe's Jackie MacMullan, "No one is asking me to play with Chris Quinn or Ricky Davis. I'm actually on a team again."

Replied Heat Coach Pat Riley: "It's sad that he says those things. We shared so much here together for three years, good and bad."

Responded O'Neal: "I don't give a . . . what Riley is disappointed in. Sue me."

Said Riley in closing: "We have sutured up the stab wounds in the back."

One day they'll laugh about this. It's just not soon.

That day arrives in Philadelphia

It's almost hard to remember when Allen Iverson was a never-ending source of controversy, now that he has become an elder statesman.

Vilified by management at the end in Philadelphia, Iverson returned for the first time as a Nugget, kissed the 76ers logo when he took the floor, hugged Coach Mo Cheeks, blew kisses to the crowd and got a hero's welcome.

"I'm 32 years old now," said Iverson. "I don't make the mis- takes, do some of the things I was accustomed to doing, anymore. I don't want to be that person that I used to be."

Big D as in disappearing

Now 0-9 against winning teams with Jason Kidd, the Mavericks may get injured Dirk Nowitzki back this week, they're praying.