By John Denton – HOOPSWORLD

This is not how to endear yourself to your new teammates: In a lighter moment following a recent morning practice, Pau Gasol won the Los Angeles Lakers halfcourt-shot contest (and $100 from each player) by hitting nothing but net on his first try. “And I won the 3-point shooting contest too with the big men,” Gasol crowed happily.

But this, well, this is how to absolutely endear yourself to your new Lakers teammates: hitting 13 of 19 shots and gashing the rebuilt Phoenix Suns for 29 points.

These days, it’s hard to tell who’s happier – the rebuilt, retooled Lakers or Gasol. Gasol has the look of a player reinvigorated by being freed from a hopeless situation (Memphis) and thrust upon one with dynamic possibilities (Los Angeles).

“There are so many things to be happy about that we’d be here all day talking about them,” Gasol gushed. “Just the excitement being in a situation where winning is expected and is possible again makes me the happiest guy in the NBA.”

And what about the happiness the Gasol heist from Memphis has provided the Lakers players? There are no more mutterings from Kobe Bryant, who truly believes he has a chip in the big game again with Gasol to form a potent one-two punch (or one-two-three when Andrew Bynum returns). Gasol’s presence – not to mention his 29 points – helped Kobe have enough space to score 41 points on Wednesday and state his case as the league’s Most Valuable Player.

And how about what Gasol’s addition has done for Lamar Odom, who was never entirely comfortable being the Lakers second scorer? Now, he can hit the cracks and holes in the defense and clean up the garbage around the rim. On Wednesday, like last week’s triple-double against Minnesota, there was another example of Odom being the glue guy the Lakers need with his 22 points and 11 rebounds.

As for Gasol, he said he was literally in a form of shock in the days after his Feb. 1 trade from the woeful Grizzlies to the Lakers. In a matter of minutes, Gasol went from a team near the bottom of the rugged Western Conference to one very near the top of the heap.

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Shaq Calls Kobe ‘the Best’

By BRODERICK TURNER – The Press-Enterprise

PHOENIX – Shaquille O’Neal, who has made up with Kobe Bryant and seems more at ease with the Lakers, offered nothing but praise.

O’Neal, more than three years removed from his days with LA, had kind words about Bryant and the Lakers before making his Suns debut Wednesday night.

“Kobe is the best player in the game right now, and the Lakers are playing very well,” O’Neal said. “This is probably a team that we will have to see in the playoffs. So it’s going to be a good test.”

The Lakers and Suns have met in the playoffs the past two years, with Phoenix the winner both times. Coach Phil Jackson and Suns coach Mike D’Antoni have exchanged words.

This has become a more intense rivalry, and now O’Neal has been added to the mix.

“I don’t know if it can be any more (intense),” D’Antoni said. “It’s pretty good. … Hopefully, we don’t meet them in the playoffs.

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By Arash Markazi

Shaq’s debut with Suns becomes Lakers showcase.

PHOENIX — There is always built-in tension whenever Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant step onto the same floor. It’s like being at a party and seeing a couple of divorcees in the same room with their new spouses. You can’t help but dart your eyes back and forth at both of them as if you were watching a tennis match.

Bryant simply shakes his head and rolls his eyes at such analogies. It’s the one subject he hates more than any other despite his insistence that there is no animosity between he and O’Neal more than three years after the two went their separate ways.

“I do not care about that for the last time, geez,” Bryant said when asked about the prospect of playing against O’Neal in his Suns debut. “It makes me sick. How many times have we played in All-Star games and [against his teams]? You know? People want to continue to beat a dead horse. Yeah, it’ll be fun … same old generic stuff.”

Bryant was partly right. While there may no longer be a feud between Bryant and O’Neal — they embraced each other at center court before Wednesday’s game and wished each other luck — the Lakers’ game against the Suns was anything but “same old generic stuff.” If anything, it was a glimpse at the newest championship contender in the ever-evolving Western Conference.

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By Johnny Ludden

PHOENIX – The arena went dark, the flames stretched halfway to the ceiling and somewhere out of the pyrotechnics and howling fans Shaquille O’Neal rose from his seat and lumbered into the most ferocious conference race the NBA has ever seen.

O’Neal would go on to score 15 points, collect nine rebounds, scalp DJ Mbenga with a punishing dunk and take out a ref and “Mr. Pau” while twice diving to the floor in his 29-minute debut for the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night. He would also leave with a loss.

For as encouraging as O’Neal’s performance was for the Suns, the evening still belonged to Kobe Bryant, whose 41 points, coupled with 29 more from Pau Gasol, allowed the Los Angeles Lakers to claw out a 130-124 victory in a game that proved as thrilling as it had promised to be.

Said Bryant: “I felt a familiar energy in the building.”

Everyone better get used to it. The Western Conference race is running nine deep these days with five games separating top from bottom. A three-game losing streak, as New Orleans Hornets coach Bryon Scott recently said, “could leave you on the outside looking in.” The competitiveness has even stretched from the court to the front office with the teams seemingly trying to one-up each other with trades.

The Big Aristotle was the center of attention at US Airways Center Wednesday, but it was the wisdom of 21st century philosopher Cedric Ceballos who put the evening in perspective for the entire conference. Delivering a rousing opening to the crowd moments before tipoff, Ceballos nodded first to the Lakers then to his Suns. “You got bigger. We got bigger,” he shouted. “You got better. We got better.”

So it has gone for the West. You got Gasol? We’re getting Shaq. Well, we just landed Jason Kidd. The Utah Jazz’s earlier pickup of Kyle Korver already has proven to be a season-changing transaction. The San Antonio Spurs, rarely prone to making in-season trades, realized they better step up in size and acquired rugged center Kurt Thomas from the Seattle SuperSonics on Wednesday for Brent Barry, Francisco Elson and their 2009 first-round draft pick.

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Not just Max Contract Players

By Vincent Thomas

…Kobe Bryant: Remember that, since Shaq left, Kobe missed the Playoffs (IN THE WEST) just once – the first season, with an Old Rudy coaching, brand new teammates and a late-season injury.

Say what you want, but the Lakers have always overachieved. They’ve been an ultra-young squad, competing on the merits of their Franchise Players talent and will.

Kobe was also a better leader, during the past few seasons, than people give him credit for. He exhorted his teammates, he taught his teammates and he led his teammates.

And, at the end of the day, every Laker could have been playing on broken ankles, with no arms and guess what? They’d all have believed they had a chance because Kobe was balling on their squad. That’s a Franchise Player.

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