LOS ANGELES — Merry Christmas to all and give thanks for the Lakers being at home again this year so some of us can be, too. But we won’t be seeing old buddy Shaquille O’Neal; that’s the topic of my weekly column, which delves into the NBA and ABC not pairing Shaq and Kobe Bryant for the first time in nine years.

Personally, I sorta miss seeing The Big Fella at this time of year.

I don’t miss being in Miami, as was the case the past two Christmases. Even if the Lakers play on Christmas, as they have for nearly a decade, it’s manageable when it’s a home game. Then everyone can have some semblance of a home life, even if there’s work to be done on the 25th.

So no complaints forthcoming from this corner about the Lakers taking a week-long trip before Christmas … even though my flight home from New York on Sunday night was delayed five hours (scheduled departure 7 p.m.; actual departure midnight … arrival at LAX, before 3 a.m.). One of the other writers who had a connection in Las Vegas never made it home until the next full morning after an overnight in Vegas, so I did well by comparison, right?

Posted in: 2007-08 • Pregame notes |

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