O'Neal shoulders a burden

The objective for Jermaine O'Neal in Game 2 against the Celtics last night, as it was for all the Indiana Pacers, was to simply get back to playing the type of basketball they were before the debacle of Game 1. And for O'Neal, that meant submitting a more physical effort, his aching right shoulder nothwithstanding.

Humbled. Humiliated. Embarrassed.

O'Neal was all of the above after the hideous 102-82 loss Saturday night, in which he had 7 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 turnovers. Before last night's rematch, O'Neal vowed that he and his teammates would give a better acquittal of themselves.

"We have been through a lot this year, and to come out and play the way we played [Saturday night] is kind of disrespecting what we've done this year," said O'Neal, referring to the suspension of five players (including Ron Artest for the season) after the brawl in Detroit Nov. 19 and the numerous injuries that depleted the team. "Nobody expected us to be in this position, and to win the games that we won, especially since we didn't have our team. So, to come out and play the game that we played [Saturday] was unacceptable."

O'Neal, who publicly blamed himself for the Pacers' shortcomings in the paint, was more than willing to shoulder much of the responsibility. But he clearly is still playing with some degree of pain; last night was only his fifth game since a 22-game stint on the injured list with a sprained right shoulder.

But he refused to use it as an alibi.

Asked how his shoulder felt before last night's game, all O'Neal would say was, "I'm all right."

When pressed, and asked what percentage he was playing at, O'Neal said, "I'm OK."

The pain, said O'Neal, "is always going to be there. But I've been really trying to pound myself with the idea that I can't just play that way. Their defense, I can really tell that they've talked about hitting me and hitting me on the shoulder. Almost every guy who guarded me in the low post came down with a forearm on me [Saturday], so that helps me understand what I need to do and how physical I have to be with those guys, because they're trying to be physical with me."

But Pacers coach Rick Carlisle doesn't want O'Neal -- or Reggie Miller -- to feel as though the fate of the team rests on their shoulders.

"It's got to be a collective effort," Carlisle said. "We're all in this together. This isn't a series that Jermaine has to win for us or Reggie has to win for us. Players, coaches, all our management people, we're all in the same foxhole together and we've all got to band together. I never put the onus on one guy.

"Are Reggie and Jermaine important to us? Absolutely. But this series, whether we win or not, isn't going to come down and fall completely on one guy's shoulders."

After sitting out 22 games and watching his team catch fire, O'Neal returned to the lineup hoping not to disrupt the karma. "It is a very sticky situation," O'Neal said. "Being out 20-plus games and seeing the things that they're doing and seeing how fluidly the offense is running, I think I'm at a point right now where I'm not looking to score 20 points a game. I'm just looking to be effective and I think that's the best thing I can bring to the table.

"Getting numbers in the regular season is OK, if we're winning. Getting numbers in the playoffs, it just really doesn't matter if my other teammates aren't doing well. Trying to change the format of getting me the ball takes away what this team has been doing so good the last month and a half. I really want the offense to stay the way it is.

"But when given the opportunity, and when we need low-post scoring, I need to be effective."