Shaq traveling but not ready to play

Shaquille O'Neal is getting close enough to returning to the Miami Heat following knee surgery four games into this season that he was on the Heat's road trip that swung through Utah Saturday night.

But he was along mainly to interact with his teammates more and to get in a few workouts with them. He did some drills the other day and expects to get into a practice in Los Angeles today but said there is no chance he will play Monday night against his old Laker team as the defending NBA-champion Heat concludes this six-game venture west.

O'Neal said he does not know precisely when he will return to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 12. "I'm not sure. I don't like to give dates because it's like giving a promise and not keeping it, so whenever I'm 100 percent, I'll be ready to go," he said.

What he observes from the bench is that, "Right now is a learning period for all of us. We haven't played with our five that won a championship all season. It's a long, grinding season, and things just happened."

That included coach Pat Riley deciding he needed to undergo knee and hip surgery recently, so he is not on this trip.

"We just have to fight through it, and once we get back together try to get back on track," O'Neal said. "We have a horrible record right now, but the impressive thing about our horrible record is that we're only six games out of first place, and we've got 50-some games left. If we can't gain six games in 50 games, we don't deserve to be there. I know once we get our five back we're going to be fine.

CHAMPION UTE: Former University of Utah star Michael Doleac is pretty matter-of-fact about the Heat, and himself, having won the NBA title last spring. "It hasn't changed anything at all," Doleac said Saturday. "Still wake up every morning. Still go to sleep every night. It doesn't change your life."

He said he doesn't get recognized any more on the street than before, and it didn't improve his confidence because he had to have that to get as far as he has. He is in his eighth NBA year.

"(I) just go along, live my life, enjoy it, play hard," he said. "It was a lot of fun to win. Obviously it was the goal of everything, but it doesn't change anything. It's just a great accomplishment of the goals of your season."

His best memory of last season? "Accomplishing the goal, getting all the way done," he said. "Fighting through the adversity. We had a lot of ups and downs. A lot of low periods through the season and to be able to fight through that and keep coming back and overcoming all the adversity was incredible achievement."