BEFORE Pistol Pete Maravich, Shaquille O’Neal and Rudy Macklin (no, not David Duke) flaunted their simonized stuff at LSU, Bob Petit splashed its program all over the basketball map.

Despite achieving Top 50 recognition, the 6-foot-9 forerunner of Rick Barry, Larry Bird and Karl Malone is far and away the NBA’s least discussed superstar. So it was a thrill for those of us who kept his pro career under tight surveillance to see Petit, looking especially fit, gracing the stands for the Hornets’/NBA’s/sports’ triumphant (there were only winners Wednesday) return to New Orleans.

Five years from now, we’ll all claim we were there for yet another 40 by Kobe Bryant, who went to the bench in the final seconds of the Lakers’ win making like a helicopter and drawing the wrath of 17,744 fans.

How good was Petit? His ’58 St. Louis Hawks and Wilt’s ’67 76ers were the only teams to spoil the Celtics’ 11-titles-in-13-seasons scourge. How good? In 11 seasons, Petit averaged 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds. How good? Nobody else ever won four All-Star MVPs: ’56, ’58, tied Elgin Baylor in ’59, and ’62.

While on the subject of former greats, and before getting to an ingrate, during All-Star weekend I did some TV alongside Dolph Schayes. Nobody fouled more people in NBA history than the Syracuse Nationals, 6-foot-8, set-shooting forward.

Oh, yeah, Schayes also happens to have been voted one of the league’s Top 50 players. During a commercial break, I respectfully inquired how many years he’s been on earth. “LXXVII,” replied the wise guy. “I’m tall for my age.”

Jim Jackson scored two points in just under four minutes as a Laker debutante. How poetically unjust! There ought to be a law against playing against a team considered so unworthy by Jackson he withheld his esteemed services following a December ’04 trade from Houston.

After the game, Jackson (12 teams in 13 years) vowed never to show up in New Orleans again until he’s named head of FEMA.

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Think my Paper Clips might regret not packaging Corey Maggette and Shaun Livingston and more for homegrown Paul Pierce, Ricky Davis and others earlier this season? Eight straight games of 30 or more points, and 13 of 14, as well as repeated high-water marks across the stats sheet, is indubitably due north of enough to make both sides shutter at what might’ve been.

The State of Massachusetts hasn’t seen numbers like this since the last time Ted Kennedy blew up a balloon.

Pierce has scored 532 points in his past 16 games (33.3 ppg), a feat which undoubtedly would have earned much more pub had Boston been better than 7-9 over that stretch.

Still, Doc Rivers‘ youth squad (average age 25.15 years; average experience 3.25 seasons) has captured three of its past four and five of seven, including Wednesday night’s 3-point comeback against Philly. Pierce recorded his sixth career triple-double (first this season), again trailing only the Senator among Bay Staters in that category.

Pierce’s trifecta (31 points, 12 boards, 10 assists) beat the 76ers. The night before, his floating corner jumper with Gilbert Arenas‘ hand in his face was the decider at the OT buzzer in D.C. against the Wizards.

I’ll say he’s having a career year: bests in points (27.3, No. 6 overall), free-throw attempts (just over 10 a game, No. 3) and FG percentage (.480).

“See what happens when Antoine Walker is given his Mass. exodus,” I thought I overheard Danny Ainge say.

If Pierce is second-half Player of the East, then Yao Ming is second-half Player of the Far East.

Over the past month, the Rockets center has gone from Enron to enthralling. Turn back the clock to Feb. 16, when Houston was waxed by 34 points at Phoenix; Yao finished with a grand sham of a half-dozen points and a half-nothin’ rebounds.

In the nine games since, looking more agile than ever, he has accumulated 250 points (27.8) and 123 boards (13.7), with his team winning seven of ’em, including the past four. Yao was a rebound shy four games ago of nine consecutive double-doubles.

His (don’t even think about it, inserting anything here) roll has bumped Yao’s ’05-’06 averages to career-highs 21.4 from Column A and 10.1 from Column B. In the interest of full disclosure, it should be stressed, for all of Pierce’s and Yao’s success, Boston and Houston are a combined 13 games under the equator. In other words, there’s still plenty of work to be done if either franchise hopes to back-door their way into the second season.

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Andrei Kirilenko‘s marrige was voted most likely to succeed in an informal poll of notorious “players.” In case you missed it, his wife said she allows him one dalliance per year as long as she knows about it. Or two if Dick Bavetta is watching.

The only two women off limits for Kirilenko are Kendra Davis and Sebastian Telfair‘s girlfriend.

In a related item, Allen Iverson‘s wife is permitting him to give up his dribble once a year.

Thought my eyes had betrayed me Wednesday when Dwyane Wade dribbled over the head of Arenas near midcourt on a fast break en route to a jamboree. As Mad Dog Carter would say, “That ain’t right.”

The Kings are giving up about eight fewer points since Ron Artest put on his coveralls. Other than Bill Russell, I didn’t realize one player could have that much of a defensive impact.

“He can’t,” Terry Porter informed me. “You’re forgetting to factor in all the points Peja Stojakovic‘s man used to get.”

Think Charles Barkley, whose Suns number was retired last season, would’ve passed Phoenix CEO Jerry Colangelo‘s Olympic inspection?