The sexual-assault case against Kobe Bryant threatens to cloud the Lakers' entire season, and Shaquille O'Neal concedes the ugly affair could present an ongoing distraction.

"To some people," O'Neal said. "But not to me."

The media crush that already envelopes the Lakers after every game and practice could double in size. At every stop, in every city, there will be dozens of new faces, wanting to ask the same old questions -- if nothing else, how Bryant and the Lakers are coping with the strain.

Team officials are contemplating ground rules for reporters in an attempt to shield Bryant and his teammates. O'Neal has his own solution.

"I'm going to make it clear that I'm not answering (questions) about it," he said. "I'm not going to speculate about it. And I'm not going to try to step in his shoes and think what he's thinking.

"I'm going to make it clear: Don't ask me about it. But is it going to be a distraction? I'm sure it is. Because guys are going to ask, Do you think this? Do you think that? But I'm not going to answer it. I will not answer it. And I will not speculate."

While team officials expect Bryant will play this season, they have received no direct assurance yet. Assuming he does play, Bryant could be summoned away to deal with legal matters and, of course, for the eventual trial in Colorado.

"We'll be all right," O'Neal said. "Because we got two more hungry, upset veterans (Gary Payton and Karl Malone). We'll be fine. It's going to be a fun year."

Amid a broiling atmosphere tonight in which the teams were meeting for the fifth time in two weeks - the first half between Puerto Rico and the retooled Dream Team ended in a benches-clearing fracas of shoves, angry words and plastic cups hurled from the stands - the United States accomplished its primary goal and breathed a sigh of relief.

The players rode the emotion of halftime to a 23-point lead in the third quarter and hung on to beat Puerto Rico, 87-71, in the Tournament of Americas semifinals.

The teams shook hands and hugged after the game as the United States team earned a place in Sunday's gold-medal game against Argentina. But both of those teams automatically qualified for the Olympics, because the top three teams from the Americas region advance.

In the earlier semifinal tonight, the San Antonio Spurs' Manu Gin?bili scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half, leading Argentina to an 88-72 rout of Canada.

Puerto Rico and Canada will play Sunday for the bronze medal and the final berth in the Olympics.

Andy Miller, agent for Antonio McDyess, warned Knick fans not to count out his client just yet.

Miller won't project when McDyess will return to action and how much he'll participate in training camp that begins with the first veterans' practice Oct. 3. But Miller reports his client's rehab from left knee surgery - done mostly in Houston - is going smoothly.

"Things are going well," said Miller, who spoke to McDyess Thursday. "I don't care about what people are projecting, because 99 percent of times it doesn't come to fruition. All I'll confirm is he's doing well and he's speaking in a positive tone and doesn't have a morbid outlook. His spirits seem very high right now and I just spoke to him."

Quietly, there's been a spike in optimism inside the organization on McDyess' rehab, though the Knicks haven't publicly given an update in more than four months or set a timetable for his return.

Knicks public relations director Joe Favorito said the club would have an update "shortly before training camp begins" on whether McDyess will participate in any team drills, though it seems a longshot he'll play the preseason schedule.

"Personally, I'm extremely optimistic, but I'm not a doctor," Miller said. "Antonio wishes he had all the answers, too. He's frustrated too and wants to know the same answers everyone is asking."

A month after Karl Malone and Gary Payton made their cut-rate deals with the Lakers, sacrificing cash for the opportunity for an NBA title, Reggie Miller re-upped with the Indiana Pacers, for whom he'd played his entire career. Miller then proclaimed a purity of purpose and organizational devotion.

"I didn't want to be like some other guys," Miller said, "who jump on another team's bandwagon just to get a ring."

Take that, fellas.

"If I was coming in here and playing 10 minutes a night, that's riding a coattail," Malone said. "I'll tell you what, I wasn't pulling against the Lakers, but it made my decision a lot easier when they didn't win. When I heard Reggie make his decision, I like Reggie and I won't elaborate, but I'll say this: He had opportunity to do what I did and take less money. But he chose to make more money and stay where he was at. So, God bless him and God bless me."

Miller, who earned $12 million with the Pacers last season, agreed to a two-year contract for about $5 million per season. It is believed the Lakers offered Miller the same deal they did Malone and Payton: Play for less, earn more.

"At some point, somebody had to make some statement to say it's not all about the money all the time," Malone said. "Now, I don't want to hide the fact it wouldn't have been nice to make $10 million a year. Don't get me wrong. But how is that to the regular fan now?

There has been lots of talk in the past week about Jermaine O'Neal, about what Donnie Walsh knew and when he knew it, about the timing of the Isiah Thomas decision.

The bottom line, though -- on the Thomas firing and the impending Rick Carlisle hiring -- should not be obscured.

The Indiana Pacers are making themselves a better basketball team.

Maybe they won't be markedly better next season -- some of us think Brad Miller will be a big loss -- but they will be vastly improved down the road (assuming, and we are, that O'Neal eventually will make his peace with the organization).

That's what this was all about.

Were there some other tangential issues involved? Sure. At some point, the egos would have clashed. And it would be na?ve to think that there isn't some lingering animosity between Bird and Thomas from their playing days.

But Bird's motivation for making the change was pure, and he owes nobody an explanation or apology for doing the necessary dirty work. He dumped an ordinary coach and replaced him with last year's Eastern Conference Coach of the Year. What's not to understand?

(And please, let's not inject the race issue into this one. There's nothing wrong with asking the question and having the discourse, but this was about winning, and winning is color-blind).

Thomas was, by almost any rational measure, an average coach at best. Not a rank incompetent, by any means, and revisionist attempts to cast him as a complete bust would be overstated and unfair.

Agent Arn Tellem, who represents Hornets center Jamaal Magloire, said this week he plans to resume discussions this week with the team regarding a contract extension for the center. Tellem, who was traveling last week, said talks with the Hornets aimed at lengthening Magloire's deal have been cordial. The sides have until Oct. 31 to come to terms, or talks are suspended until the end of the season.

From the get-go, he set the tone of the trip. On the first day of the Olympic basketball team's training camp, Allen Iverson donned a red-white-and-blue do-rag and signaled to the basketball-viewing world that international competition was now going to be cool.

Now, Team USA is going to have to be cool without him and finish the job he helped start. Before last night's semifinals at the Olympic qualifying tournament, the United States announced that Iverson would miss the rest of the tournament with a sprained right thumb.

With all this talent, this group of NBA All-Stars should be able to get on without Iverson. But it's hard to over-estimate the impact the guard has made in this tournament. Before getting injured Thursday night, Iverson led Team USA in minutes (22.9) and points (14.3). He also was able to transform what could have been a disruptive reunion with head USA coach Larry Brown into the NBA's summer feel good story.

"Allen's been great," Brown said earlier this week. "He's done absolutely everything we've asked him to do."

Iverson was not available before last night's gold-medal game. Though a CT scan taken earlier in the day was negative, the injury is of some concern because it is a re-occurring problem. Iverson has suffered at total of five injuries to thumbs on both hands during his seven NBA seasons, partly because his style of play is so aggressive.

Whether or not Isiah Thomas should have been fired Wednesday as coach of the Indiana Pacers is not the issue, community activist Amos Brown said Friday.

But the perception, Brown said, is that Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird had no intention of giving Thomas a chance to coach the final season of his four-year contract.

Brown said the buzz in the black community concerning the dismissal is decidedly negative.

"There's disappointment and anger about this," said Brown, the director of strategic research for four local radio stations and a columnist for the Indianapolis Recorder. "Isiah was a symbol because he was the Pacers' first black coach, and until he's no longer the first, there will be some pain and hurt there."

Thomas' teams were successful in the regular season, compiling a 131-115 overall record. But they lost in the first round of the playoffs all three years.

"My concern is that the African-American community will look at the Thomas firing as a signal that blacks are, once again, the last to be hired, and the first to be fired," Pacers fan Mark Madison said.

Said fan Jerri Fleming: "I think everybody should protest, because I knew as soon as Larry Bird came back he was bringing Rick Carlisle back here. This was probably in the works for a long time."

Bird reiterated Friday that the decision to fire Thomas wasn't made until recently and that it wasn't an easy one.

"Hey, everybody's got an opinion and as long as it doesn't get personal, I don't mind," he said. "I've been through all this before.

"You like to have everybody with you and understand what you're trying to do. But my job right now is to prove that I made the right move and that we're going to do good things. And we are going to do good things here."

Rick Carlisle concluded his two-day visit with Indiana Pacers officials Friday, closing in on the job he coveted three years ago but lost to Isiah Thomas.

Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said Friday that talks with Carlisle's agent were progressing. One point being negotiated is a back-loaded contract -- less money in the first year and more in the other years -- because the team will honor the final year of Thomas' contract at $5 million.

Carlisle could be hired as early as Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs must wait to announce Danny Ferry's hiring as director of basketball operations because the Pacers, who acquired the 36-year-old forward last month, are trying to trade his $4.5 million non-guaranteed contract to a team seeking salary-cap relief. After his contract is traded, he would retire as a player.

The story had been rumored on the Internet. There had been a mild buzz in the course of the early games in the Olympic qualifying tournament. But it took until nearly the end of the second round before a source would confirm that the 76ers had negotiated with the agent for Andres Nocioni, a starting forward for Argentina.

Those discussions began in June, but ended because the 6-6 Nocioni is under contract to Tau Ceramica in the Spanish professional league. His agreement with that team includes a large buyout clause.

The source indicated that the Sixers might revisit the situation before the 2004-05 NBA season.

Nocioni leads Argentina with a 13.4 scoring average and .559 floor percentage in eight games in the tournament. He leads the tournament in three-point percentage at .591, knocking down 13 of 22 attempts.