Riley threatens 'massive changes;' Shaq vows to step up
Posted on Wed, Nov. 21, 2007
By ISRAEL GUTIERREZ

After a bad loss to a previously winless Seattle team, one in which Shaquille O'Neal did his best to latch himself to the bench with fouls and looked uninterested when he was on the floor, Pat Riley used words like ''nothing at stake'' and threatened ''massive changes'' if things didn't change.

Clearly a message for his big man.

No?

''I said, yeah, we're 1-7, if I'm going to make changes, I'm going to make changes,'' Riley said Tuesday. ``It could be massive. It could be two guys. That's pretty massive. It could be somebody out of the rotation. It could be bringing in somebody from the outside.''

OK, fine. But pulling Shaq after 58 seconds against the Nets, there's no way to disguise that. That was a specific, clear-as-day, don't-mess-with-the-coach, get-your-stuff-together message for Shaq that everyone could decipher.

Not so much?

''I don't think I have to split hairs with guys that I take in and out of games,'' Riley said. 'There will be other guys. I've made that point to them . . . I'm not going to tolerate a lack of understanding of what we're trying to do in the game plan. It will be as a reminder to say, `This is what we're doing.' ''

Seriously? So no part of 2-8 is because Shaq is 35 with bad knees and slower feet and still tries to play the Antoine Walker slap-down defense even though he's a foot taller than the guy driving at him?

EASY EXPLANATION?

Is that too easy an explanation? Must be.

''You're barking up that tree, the obvious, academic tree,'' Riley said. ``We're 2-8, and it's not his fault. And that's where you're trying to land. You're trying to lay it there, and nobody on this team is trying to lay it there. Everything I read is directed at him.''

Apparently, where the audience sees a giant, slow-moving target, Riley still just sees a giant. A giant that no one else has, and one that can still shoot with great efficiency as long as his shots come within a foot or two of the basket. And maybe he sees a rather sensitive giant, which is why he backs off any apparent messages for the sake of the giant psyche.

Whatever the thinking behind Riley's approach, it appears it's on the verge of working once again. Because even after Shaq went all Frank Sinatra and insisted he's going to do it his way from now on and didn't give a bleep who liked it, all was fine.

Just when it looked like there was a chance to have some real Shaq drama here in Miami, it turned into a whole lotta nothing.

Damn Pat Riley and his people skills. And damn Shaq for his ability to spin a story.

So, as was the plan, it goes back to basketball now. And back to recovering from a rocky start and making the past three years of Shaq's contract not about the team keeping its head above water but about Dwyane Wade and Shaq walking on it so everyone can prosper with more championships.

For those who believed that Shaq could no longer carry his own weight, much less the burden required to get the team back to 2006 level, he assures that's not the case.

His knees hurt, yes, but not enough to keep him from dunking. So getting him the ball in a dunkable position is the key.

Despite a start to a season that would humble just about any other aging superstar (Chris Kaman, Chris Wilcox and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are all having better seasons than Miami's center), Shaq insists no barking knees, no barking coaches and no barking teammates will keep him from regaining his force.

HARD TO BELIEVE?

Hard to believe after what you've seen the past 10 games? Absolutely. Hard to believe after listening to Shaq's promises? Not as much.

''I'm real with myself, I know what has to be done,'' he said. ``We are on the same page. We just have to go out and do it. Everybody has to do their part, including myself. I'll step up. I will.''

There's another reason to believe his production will improve, and it has less to do with his guarantees and more with the assurance that his star guard will make him look good.

It used to be said that Wade was the player who benefited from the presence of Shaq. But now it's Wade who is responsible for raising the level of his big man.

''He played for 15 years trying to bang, bang, bang,'' Wade said. ``Now, we're trying to make it easier for him.''

That sounds like a massive change.

http://www.miamiherald.com/594/story/315642.html