It feels like the Lakers have Friday's two acts switched around, with tonight's anticlimatic game against the Wolves following the emotional unveiling late this afternoon of a Shaquille O'Neal statue outside Staples Center.
It's the fifth such one commemorating a Laker -- if you count legendary play-by-play guy Chick Hearn -- and the 1,500-pound hanging statue depicting Shaq hanging two-fisted from the rim goes out on the plaza alongside statues of hockey's Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille as well as boxer Oscar De La Hoya.
I'll have to admit, it made me feel old.
I remember watching O'Neal announce on a San Antonio military base in 1992 that he was turning and today watched the Laker family honor him seven years after he played his last game.