A Little Less Contempt on Court

Perhaps it’s the passage of time, or lack thereof, that makes Kobe-Shaq IV seem less heralded than its predecessors, almost as if it sneaked up without warning, posing as just “another game on the schedule,” as the main participants would have you believe.

Only 22 days have passed since the last time the Lakers and Miami Heat saw each other, hardly enough time to pad the hyperbole when compared with the 107 days between meetings last season.

Each team has dealt with its own reality of late -- the up-and-down Lakers are 20-17 and a game behind last season’s 21-16 start, and the good-but-not-dominant Heat is fully aware that the Detroit Pistons aren’t about to flutter at its feet -- all of which makes tonight’s game more of a break from other distractions than a distraction itself.

“I don’t think it’s a story,” Kobe Bryant said matter-of-factly. “The guy’s in Miami. Who the hell cares anymore? You know what I mean?

“He’s down there doing his thing, we’re doing our thing here. It’s a basketball game.”

As for “the guy’s” thoughts?

“I don’t know what’s going to happen and I don’t care,” Shaquille O’Neal said. “It is one of 82. I don’t look at it as a do-or-die game to me. It doesn’t mean anything.”

They might be right, or they might be in denial, but Staples Center will be filled just the same, curious to see if the Lakers will win for the first time in four tries against the Heat since O’Neal was traded.

If Christmas Day in Miami was any indication, the Lakers are in the same ballpark.

Lamar Odom missed an open three-point shot with 41.9 seconds left and Bryant was well short on one with 2.9 seconds to play, and the Lakers lost, 97-92.

That Gary Payton scored 21 points was surprising; that he engaged in a trash-talking dialogue with Odom throughout the second half was not. Odom was so incensed afterward that he had to be pulled back from going after Payton at halfcourt.

Odom later used the phrase “extremely disrespectful” six times to describe what Payton had said, calling his words “horrible, atrocious

Reminded that they’ll be sharing the same court tonight, Odom curdled.

“Don’t ask me about that,” Odom said. “It’s nothing. It’s nothing. He’s a little dude anyway.”

Payton, who called the earlier exchanges “having fun on the court,” seemed to have forgotten whom he was having fun with.

“Me and Lamar Odom?” he said to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “I’m not even thinking about it. I don’t have a rivalry with him. I don’t care. It’s over with. They’re talking about it too much as it is. I’ve got nothing to do with that guy. It’s over with me.”

The Heat had nicer things to say about Bryant, who has averaged 40.5 points in his last 11 games. He won the showdown with LeBron James by making three shots in the final 90 seconds Thursday against Cleveland, and he scored 38 points while wearing a protective pad on his sprained right wrist as the Lakers out-gunned the run-and-gun Golden State Warriors on Saturday.

Payton, a teammate of Bryant’s for the Lakers’ ill-fated run at the 2004 championship, traced Bryant’s increase in scoring to a more consistent jump shot.

“He’s improved it to a level where he’s got Michael Jordan in him,” Payton said. “Remember when Jordan was getting in his later stages and couldn’t get to the basket as easily as he wanted to? He started pulling up jumpers and making all that, the mid-range jump shots.

“You saw [Bryant] when he played Cleveland the other night. He made three consecutive baskets, mid-range jumpers. And then he can get to the basket when he wants to.”

Then there was this admission about Bryant from Heat guard Dwyane Wade: “You turn to ESPN to see what he did that night.”

Meanwhile, O’Neal continues to round into shape -- slowly -- after missing 18 games because of a sprained ankle.

The Heat center is averaging 18.6 points and 9.2 rebounds, both of which would be career lows if they hold up, but the Heat has gone 13-5 since his return and won its last four. O’Neal had 18 points and 17 rebounds last time against the Lakers.

After barely acknowledging each other before tipoff in both games last season, Bryant and O’Neal didn’t even approach each other last month. Laker Coach Phil Jackson, who oversaw the best and worst of times between them, admitted to being affected by their lack of communication.

“He’s such an emotional guy,” Jackson said of O’Neal. “It’s just not the forum for him to deal with it. He should just acknowledge Kobe.

“There’s plenty of time in their lifetimes for them to hopefully make up the distance that’s between them and the process that will happen. Until Shaq’s ready, my words aren’t going to force him alone. I don’t enjoy seeing that in his actions, but I understand his reasons.”

*

TONIGHT

vs. Miami, 7:30, TNT

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- 570, 1330.

Records -- Lakers 20-17, Heat 23-15.

Record vs. Heat -- 0-1.

Update -- Heat guard Dwyane Wade, the league’s fifth-leading scorer, had 31 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in Miami’s 100-94 victory Saturday over Utah. The Lakers have never lost four consecutive games to the Heat.

Tickets -- (800) 462-2849 or ticketmaster.com.