O Neal

Sometimes greatness results from attrition as well as accomplishments, with the rivals dropping away to leave a select few names with which to compare. Before Shaquille O'Neal could be talked about in comparison to all-time greats Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he had to separate himself from Alonzo Mourning, who was chosen right behind him in the 1992 draft and who retired from the New Jersey Nets last week because of a deteriorating kidney.

LeBron James is the league's reigning NBA MVP and seems to be the favorite to win the award for the fourth time in five years. Will the voting be unanimous?  If so, it will be the first time in the history of the award. Former Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal came closest in 2001 with 120 of 121 possible votes. Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida caught up with Fred Hickman (formerly with CNN), who was the lone holdout -- casting his vote for Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson.

1996-1997 After signing as a free agent on July 18, 1996, O'Neal immediately delivered, leading the Lakers to a conference-best 36-13 record until suffering a knee injury that forced him to sit out 28 games. (The Lakers were 16-12 in his absence.) He returned for the last five games of the regular season and finished the season averaging 26.2 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.9 blocks, good enough for third-team All-NBA honors. The 56-26 Lakers beat Portland in the playoffs before losing to Utah.

SAN ANTONIO -- Kobe Bryant wasn't tweeting Wednesday night, so perhaps the most compelling electronic observation came from a text sent to press row from a neighbor who probably spoke for a city. "Dwight ain't Shaq. " In three words, that was the entire story of the Lakers' 102-91 playoff loss to the San Antonio Spurs. In three jabs, that was the theme of the Lakers' 2-0 deficit in a first-round series that doesn't need to feel this lopsided. BOX SCORE: Spurs 102, Lakers 91 Dwight Howard, who could soon sign a $118-million contract to become the Lakers' next Shaquille O'Neal, is not playing like Shaquille O'Neal.

Only Leslie O'Neal knows if the physical pain caused by a major knee injury was greater than the mental anguish of not knowing whether the knee would ever heal properly. "I had a lot of doubts," O'Neal said Friday. "Sometimes you just couldn't see progress on a day-to-day basis. Or even a week-to-week basis. But then I started focusing on progress on a month-to-month basis. And that helped my head." Sunday afternoon in Miami, O'Neal will play football for the first time in 22 months.

Most of the gang showed for the big homecoming bash Friday night--Nick Van Exel and his 22 points and 13 assists, Eddie Jones with 23 points, Rick Fox accompanied by eight points, six rebounds, six assists, four blocks and two steals. What Shaquille O'Neal had been missing, he quickly became part of again. In a return to action and close enough to a return to form, O'Neal rejoined the party after 20 games and six weeks away because of a strained abdominal muscle.

There were bruises, taunts and several near-brawls. There was a basketball game too, between two high-profile, low-chemistry basketball teams and the Lakers and New York Knicks took out all their frustrations on each other for four slug-it-out quarters. The Lakers won, 99-91, before 17,505 on Sunday at the Great Western Forum, ending a two-game home losing streak and raising their record to 20-11.

The smart money says it'll be a San Antonio-Miami matchup in the NBA Finals, and it's hard to argue otherwise -- at least with the Eastern Conference half of that presumption. The Heat entered the weekend with an NBA-high 51 victories, an 11-game winning streak and record of 35-6 -- that's a victory percentage of .853 -- in games against Eastern Conference opponents. Even Shaquille O'Neal is surprised. "I did not know that we would get to 50 wins this fast.

Old notions of advertising are being scrambled on the Westside, inside boutique agencies with names like Blitz, Ignited and Omelet. The hot shops are pushing big-brand clients beyond the familiar confines of radio, television, magazines and newspapers and onto the Internet, smartphones, game consoles and tablets. With more than 42% of the country's TV homes equipped with digital video recorders, which allow users to fast-forward through commercials, and some younger viewers leaving TV altogether, advertisers are rushing to build Internet infrastructures, create Web videos and funnel content to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Ron O'Neal, a stage and film actor who rode the wave of blaxploitation movies in the early 1970s starring as the sartorially resplendent Harlem drug dealer in the 1972 hit "Superfly," has died. He was 66. O'Neal, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2000, died Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said his wife, Audrey Pool O'Neal. "Superfly," director Gordon Park Jr.'

Before Shaquille O'Neal's jersey retirement ceremony during halftime of Tuesday night's game at Staples Center, the former Laker superstar talked about the team's current one. "There's two different types of dislike: there's an athletic dislike and a real dislike. We never had a real dislike," O'Neal said of Kobe Bryant. "Every time I see his lovely wife and his beautiful children, I always go to his children and say, 'Hello babies, I'm uncle Shaq. "  O'Neal said that he and Bryant stopped feuding a long time ago. PHOTOS: Lakers retire Shaquille O'Neal's No. 34 jersey "We haven't played since 2004 -- nine, 10 years later -- and you're still talking about the so-called beef we had?

Before Shaquille O'Neal's jersey was retired Tuesday, he took a few digs at the current Lakers' big man. O'Neal was asked whether he thinks that Kobe Bryant will win another championship before he retires. His response was aimed directly at Howard. "I hope they will, but I'm a big-man guy," O'Neal said. "The other guy needs to step into his own. " O'Neal went on to say that he'd like to see Howard average 28 points and 10 rebounds a game.  "That's the number that was thrown in my face, 28 and 10, so that's the number I'm always going to throw in his face," O'Neal said.  After the Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks, Dwight Howard was told about some of O'Neal's comments.

A slightly less heralded Laker nudged his way into the spotlight Tuesday night alongside Shaquille O'Neal , Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson . His name is Earl Clark , and his fame in NBA circles is burgeoning. "You saw the game," veteran Dallas guard Vince Carter said after Clark helped the Lakers emerge with a 101-81 victory over the Mavericks at Staples Center. "He did everything. He was as big as their stars. " Clark had 17 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high five blocks, the forward reappearing in a big way after a string of mostly forgettable performances since his midseason breakthrough.

The moment was perfect. The jersey wasn't. On Tuesday night the Lakers retired Shaquille O'Neal's jersey, but they overlooked one not-so-minor detail: O'Neal's name is stretched across the front of a Lakers home jersey instead of the back. "The oversight will be corrected and a new jersey put up as soon as possible," Lakers spokesman John Black said Wednesday. PHOTOS: Lakers retire Shaquille O'Neal's No. 34 jersey A close look at O'Neal's jersey reveals a V-shape neckline associated with the front as opposed to the more rounded one for the back like the other jerseys around hung at Staples Center for Lakers legends Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Gail Goodrich and Jamaal Wilkes.

The Lakers retired Shaquille O'Neal's jersey Tuesday night as L.A. hosted the Dallas Mavericks. Knowing he wouldn't have the time or ability to thank everyone properly in the ceremony, O'Neal released a video on YouTube -- seemingly on the set of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" where he appeared Monday night. His message to Kobe Bryant stands out. PHOTOS: Lakers retire Shaquille O'Neal's No. 34 jersey "Kobe, we had a million great times and a thousand bad times," he said. "But as a doctor, I know that a million outweighs a thousand.

Shaquille O'Neal will have number 34 jersey retired on Tuesday night at Staples Center as the Lakers host the Dallas Mavericks. On Monday night, former teammate Brian Shaw said he's excited for O'Neal. "He deserves it.  He's a big part of the Laker tradition," said Shaw, the associate head coach of the Indiana Pacers.  "He was directly responsible for a lot of that.  I couldn't be happier for him. " Although O'Neal left the Lakers somewhat contentiously in 2004 after winning three titles with the team (eventually even becoming a Boston Celtic)

Shaquille O'Neal dominated the Staples Center court one more time Tuesday, in a halftime jersey retirement ceremony that perfectly mirrored his Lakers career. It was booming. It was poignant. It was funny. It had thousands of fans chanting and cheering. And Kobe Bryant appeared to blow him off. "Can ... you … dig … it?" asked O'Neal, repeating his trademark championship chant for a sellout Staples Center crowd that screamed its affirmation. Bryant apparently couldn't, as he chose to record only a brief video tribute that ran on the scoreboard at the start of the ceremony.

Jack Benny lived there--a 2.5-acre Holmby Hills home across the street from Hugh Hefner's "Playboy Mansion"--and the old Benny home has been sold, again. The house--a 1927 Italian villa with a long, private driveway, a motorcourt for 30 cars, a chauffeur's quarters, a ballroom-size living room and rolling lawns--was the last place the famous comedian lived. Benny died at the age of 80 in 1974. His wife of nearly 50 years, Mary Livingstone, lived there until she died at 77 in 1983.

If Shaquille O'Neal needed a nickname on his first day as a Laker, it could have been the Big Worrywart. As dominant as he was, the best big man in the NBA recognized he represented just a fraction of the Lakers centers who had come before him. George Mikan won six titles while becoming Mr. Basketball. Wilt Chamberlain won two titles (one as a Laker) and scored 100 points in a game. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won six titles (five as a Laker) and was the league's all-time leading scorer.