MARK HEISLER , Times Staff Writer

Talk about your matchup for the ages, how about Shaquille
O'Neal vs. . . . Terry Mills?

Mills, a paunchy Piston forward
with a career average of 5.6
rebounds, got the blindfold, the
cigarette and the assignment to
play O'Neal on Sunday night,
perhaps in the hope Shaq would
take pity on him or collapse
laughing.

Instead, O'Neal scored 22 points
with 24 rebounds and four
blocked shots as the Lakers ran
up a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter and coasted to a
101-93 victory before 18,785 in Staples Center.

"It's hard," Piston Coach Alvin Gentry said. "It's unfair
really. We ask Terry Mills to guard Shaq. One time we asked
[reserve forward] Jerome Williams to play Shaq. Shaq ate
more for lunch than Jerome weighs. . . .

"You spend so much time and energy trying to figure out
what you can do about Shaq. He breaks your heart. As a
coach, he breaks your heart. . . . You try to block him off,
you think you do a good job and he jumps up there and
gets it back. There's nothing you can do about it."

Someone told Laker Coach Phil Jackson what Gentry said
Shaq could do to a coach's heart.

"That's probably why I'm coaching here now," Jackson
said.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 26 points. Rick Fox, coming
off the bench, had a season-highs in points (20) and
rebounds (eight).

The Pistons? Let's just say their balance needs a little work
too. Grant Hill had 25 points, Jerry Stackhouse 24. The rest
of the team combined for 44.

For the Pistons, it was the start of a West Coast swing. For
the Lakers, who played Saturday in Vancouver, it was the
second night of a back-to-back.

"This is a game I'd like us to win," Jackson said before the
game. "I'd like us to win back-to-backs, particularly against
a team like Detroit.

"It's a type of team we're going to have to face--small center,
spaced court, penetrators who kick out to shooters. That's
the type of team we're going to have to find a way to beat.
This is a team that represents the kind of game that Toronto
brought to us. It's a challenge for us."

The challenge lasted until the second period, anyway.

The Pistons came out, determined to let anybody but O'Neal
beat them, conceding any outside shot while they stationed
defenders in front of and behind Shaq. With Glen Rice home
sick, and Ron Harper missing, they got away with it for a
while, jumping out to a lead that grew as large as 18-10.

Then the Lakers caught on, and the ball started going into
O'Neal. When it didn't, he just waded through the Pistons'
smurfs and got it off the boards.

"We have a counter-action," Jackson said. "It's just a matter
of patience and being able to read the defense and
understand, sometimes you have to move the ball to one
side of the floor before you come back to make an entry
pass [to O'Neal].

"This is a process of learning we're still going through. It's
like a jigsaw puzzle. Some days, it all works out well and
you've got all the figures and facts in front of you. And
sometimes, teams can put up smoke and mirrors and you
have to go through this problem-solving on your own and it
takes a little bit of time."

The score was 25-25 after one quarter but was Lakers 58,
Pistons 51 at the half.

Mills, whose forte is long-range shooting, knocked in three
long jumpers in a row early in the third quarter, but Jackson
brought Robert Horry in, put him on Mills and switched
O'Neal to Christian Laettner. Horry silenced Mills after that
and the Pistons slid away.

From then on, the Lakers moved further and further ahead
until the score was 91-71 with 6:40 left. By then, O'Neal had
left the game, for the first time and for good, joining Bryant,
who was already done for the night as Jackson sent in his
reserves to mop up. The Pistons staged a mini-rally to cut
the final margin to eight but Jackson played it cool, with his
stars sitting next to him.

An impressed Gentry later complimented his players for
competing.

"I mean, if they were voting right now, Shaq's the MVP of
the league," he said. ". . . Obviously, there is nobody in the
universe that can stop Shaq, not even Lomas Brown and
Reggie White [NFL linemen]."

He didn't have to tell Jackson. He already knew.