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Shaq says attention on Wizards, not MVP
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-08 09:41

Watching Washington's series-clinching win over Chicago on television with his Miami teammates, Shaquille O'Neal heard Wizards fans chanting, "We want Shaq! We want Shaq!" Bad move.

"Be careful what you ask for," O'Neal said Saturday. "We'll be ready."


Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, left, jokes with center Wang Zhizhi of China. [AP]

So, while Phoenix guard Steve Nash formally is named the NBA's Most Valuable Player on Sunday, O'Neal insists all his attention will be on the Wizards, whom the Miami Heat host in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

O'Neal said he didn't consider losing the MVP race to be a snub. Others strongly disagreed; Heat coach Stan Van Gundy called the result "beyond ludicrous."

"If you went and asked any general manager in the league for the past dozen years who's the one player they'd want to have, they'd say Shaquille O'Neal," Van Gundy said. "And he's been selected by you brilliant people in the media, selected as the most valuable player in the league one time. Once? Only once?"

The Wizards, who were 0-4 against Miami during the regular season, seemed less than excited about the prospects of facing an angry and motivated Shaq — who says his sore right thigh is much better and that he doesn't expect to be physically hampered in this series.

"He didn't win MVP? Uh-oh," Washington guard Gilbert Arenas said. "Oh, wow. No comment."

O'Neal feigned disappointed tears when asked about the MVP topic Saturday, and congratulated Nash — the first Canadian to win the award — on his season.

"He's a great guy," O'Neal said. "It's been a good year for Steve. He had twins, just got married, is playing great basketball. Congratulations, Steve. Congratulations to the Canadian people. It's a great honor. ... But we're focusing on the big prize at the end. I think that's going to be more important."

The Wizards are the next obstacle for the Heat, who had the week off waiting for the Chicago-Washington series to conclude. Miami won its four regular-season games against Washington by an average of 12.5 points, but the teams haven't played since Dec. 15.

Washington — which is in the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time since 1982 — feels it has improved vastly since then.

"I think we're a better team now. I know we're a better team," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "I'm sure they are, too, so let's toss it up and see where it goes."

The biggest statistical discrepancy Washington couldn't overcome against Miami in the regular season was points in the paint; the Heat outscored the Wizards by 90 points around the basket in the four matchups.

And, certainly, the Wizards won't come up with a way to stop O'Neal before Sunday, especially with their frontcourt corps thinned by the suspension of forward Kwame Brown for the remainder of the postseason. But Washington's triumvirate of perimeter threats — Arenas, Larry Hughes and Antawn Jamison — could give Miami fits, especially if Heat point guard Damon Jones is limited defensively by his bruised right heel.

Arenas, Hughes and Jamison combined to average 63.4 points — more than three-fifths of the Wizards' total offensive output — in the six-game series against the Bulls. No other Washington starter averaged double figures against Chicago.

"We're going to play our game, we're going to try to keep the tempo and force the pace, make them run with us," Jordan said. "We'll pressure, we'll zone, we'll do everything we can to get them out of a rhythm — which is going to be hard to do."

True, especially since Heat guard Dwyane Wade is coming off a sensational series against New Jersey, one where he became just the seventh player in NBA history to average more than 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds while shooting 50 percent in a playoff round.

"Everything starts with their guards, and they're playing well right now," Wade said. "But we've got a lot of confidence and things have been going well for us."

If he was paying attention, Wade may have learned long ago that these teams would meet in the playoffs. Hughes said he told him things would work out that way during their last regular-season meeting.

He says the Wizards are relishing the chance to silence their critics.

"It's fun to have people doubt us, and we did lose to them in the regular season," Hughes said. "But it was early. We're a much better team. We have better focus now. We're ready to play."



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