LOS ANGELES — A summer contract extension is the farthest thing from Patrick Ewing’s mind today. He’s got a much more mountainous goal ahead of him now — a 315-pound mountain they call Shaq.
“I’m not even thinking about that [a contract],” said Ewing, who enters the final year of his deal next season. “I just want to go out there and have fun.”
It was more nightmare than fun the last time Ewing and Shaquille O’Neal bumped bodies on the low post. O’Neal outscored him 43-12 en route to 92-85 slaughter March 19 at the Garden.
“I’m just disappointed I let [Shaq] off the hook [last time],” said Ewing, who shot 6-for-20 in the loss.
Payback time is today as the Knicks meet the 61-12 Lakers and attempt what was thought impossible — finishing up their wicked western trip at 4-1. Maybe it was something in the Pacific Northwest prawns Dave Checketts feasted on in Vancouver the other night, but the Garden boss believes the Lakers can be had.
And so does Ewing. “We’re playing well and they’re playing well,” said Ewing. “But I think we’re playing better now than we were playing the first time. We’re better prepared, I know I am.”
The Knicks have beaten Portland, Seattle and Vancouver on this trip. They came out West last week, with the looming possibility of losing significant ground to Miami by the time they return. Instead, they can take sole possession of first place today with a win and Miami loss to San Antonio.
“We know how important this game is and how special it would be to come off this road trip 4-1,” Marcus Camby said. “It’s going to be a war out there. We’re definitely coming in with the intention of beating these guys after they beat us in the Garden.”
How the Knicks plan to stop Shaq is unclear. Jeff Van Gundy staunchly refused to double team Shaq in the first meeting until he made his first step into the paint and then it was too late.
Van Gundy believes the Knicks lost the first game by allowing Kobe Bryant to get off for 17 second-half points to finish with 24. Asked if the Shaq strategy may change, Van Gundy said, “I don’t know, we’ll see.”
Camby said he doesn’t know how to stop him. “He’s hitting foul shots, dunks, jump hooks, turnaround spins,” Camby said. “He’s doing it all. I haven’t see anyone stop him yet. Shaq is going to get his points; we just have to shut down Kobe. If we keep Kobe and Glen Rice down, we’ll be all right. We understand Shaq is going to get his 30. We just don’t want him to get his 40, 45, 50.”
Said Ewing “It’s hard to stop him 1-on-1. He’s big and strong and I’m big but he outweighs me by 70 pounds. So I’m not concerned about that.”
Ewing is concerned with putting up his own points. In the prior meeting, Ewing seemed to force matters, shot just 6 of 20 and complained afterward he didn’t get the calls Shaq got.
O’Neal went to the line 13 times, Ewing didn’t get there once. Ewing has already picked up two technicals on this trip for arguing non-calls.
“If he scores, I’m going to try to come back and score,” Ewing said. “That’s the nature of basketball.”
Ewing made it easy for Shaq, settling for jumpers. “I’m going to mix my game up,” Ewing said. Then teasingly, he added “All jumpers. You think I’m going to change?”
The Knicks shot 40.7 percent in the initial meeting, scoring 14 points in the third quarter when the game was decided. Checketts believes the outcome was not an accurate barometer of how the Knicks stack up and contends they can take out the Lakers in a seven-game series.
“We feel better than last time especially going in 3-1 as opposed to something unsatisfactory,” Latrell Sprewell said. “We could be 4-0 at this point. The thing is to try to get that last game because it definitely is a big game. If we don’t, it’s a somewhat success but it’s not the finish we would like.”
“It’s going to be a big challenge,” Ewing said. “I think we’re playing better now than the first time we played them. They beat us pretty convincingly in New York. It’s now our turn to go out and play a better game than then.”
Allan Houston is not surprised the Knicks are in this position of heading East 4-1, although they came West a miserable road team this season.
“I know coming into the trip, all of us told each other about what we had to do,” Houston said. “And I had a good feeling about us playing well. You can never tell about wins and losses, but I had a good feeling we were coming out here to win.”
