When the NBA announced that it would allow zone defenses for the first time in its 55-year history, Shaquille O'Neal declared that they would turn him into a "token."

Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley predicted that games would turn into jump-shooting contests.

And Michael Jordan insisted that it would stifle the creativity of great players.

But midway through the first season introducing zones, the Lakers center remains the most dominant player in the NBA, there's plenty of dunks and drives, and the great players are still named Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Allen Iverson.

"The game seems to be the same," said Sonics Coach Nate McMillan, who had been a critic of the proposals last summer. "So there really hasn't been a major change to the league."

Virtually all teams have used zones this season, but the scheme is usually employed following timeouts and only used briefly.

Just one team, Minnesota, has made zones a staple of its defense. And that's largely because Minnesota's starting frontcourt is composed of rangy players: the 6-foot-11 Garnett at small forward, the 6-10 Joe Smith at power forward and the 7-foot Rasho Nesterovic at center.

The modern NBA has been criticized for having too many players who can't shoot. However, the main reason that zones haven't been used more is that the league has too many good shooters, at least when it comes to open looks.

Teams like the Kings, Mavericks and Sonics ? flush with good shooters and passers ? are capable of scoring 70 points by halftime if an opponent plays zones exclusively.

That's another reason it's not worth it to play zone, McMillan said.

"Most players don't like to play defense," he said. "To get these guys to play man-to-man is difficult enough. And now you're trying to get them to move in a zone.

"Most of them like it because they don't have to move as much. And they end up giving up open opportunities."

Despite the official change in the rulebook this season, NBA teams have always played a form of zone. But it was restricted to traps and presses, with defenders only allowed to double team the ballhandler. Clubs coached by George Karl and Don Nelson pushed the rules for years by utilizing pseudo-zones.

Now players are free to defend open areas without being called for illegal defense.

NBA teams averaged 106 points during the 1990-91 season. But over the past decade scoring plummeted to an average of 94.8 last year. Better defense was a major reason for the decline in scoring.

But the shifting style of play ? with isolation offenses ? forced the NBA to shake up the rulebook.

This season, field-goal attempts and scoring have increased slightly while the average game length of 2 hours, 14 minutes is down a couple minutes. However, the best aspect of the zone can't be measured quantitatively: the game's flow and aesthetic.

Now there's more cutting, passing and fluidity. There are fewer offensive sets with four players on one side of the court watching like fans as a teammate makes a move.

"It's forced you to have to be creative and move more," McMillan said, "instead of just watching someone play on one side of the floor. It forces you to teach your big players how to move and set screens."

Although the focus of the new rules has been zones, there were other significant rule changes: eight seconds to bring the ball past half court instead of 10; a three-second call for defenders who plant themselves in the paint; and incidental contact no longer is considered a foul.

The rule having the most effect is the eight-second rule. Teams are rarely called for the violation, yet there's a focus on pushing the ball to beat the clock. And a byproduct is that teams have more fast-break opportunities.

Utah has been hampered by the zones because it was forced to alter the vaunted pick-and-roll. Now Karl Malone is double-teamed early and often, which takes away from the play's effectiveness.

But Utah's scoring has remained about the same, as John Stockton's laser passing has made teams pay for being aggressive with double teams.

It turns out the zones proponents were on target while the biggest complainers were as off the mark as an O'Neal free throw.