A day after seeing and facing Shaquille O'Neal of the Lakers for the first time, Magic rookie center Steven Hunter still sounded in awe of what he had seen.

"I've never, ever seen anything like him before," Hunter said before Monday's game against the Utah Jazz. "He's like a human Zion. I looked down at his feet, saw these size 22s and thought, 'Oh my goodness.' "

Hunter got his second NBA start Sunday, but fortunately he didn't have to guard O'Neal. That chore went to power forward Horace Grant, who later got help from Patrick Ewing and Andrew DeClercq.

Although Hunter is tall enough at 6 feet 10, he is just 224 pounds. O'Neal is 7-1, and although he is listed at 315 pounds, his actual weight is closer now to 400 pounds than it is to 300. Only a select few with the Lakers know for sure, but most of the Magic were guessing in the 360-380-pound range.

"He makes grown men, big men, look like little boys," Hunter said. "He's almost unfair."