The encore is finally here, David and Golliath; the rematch.  Or is it?  The Los Angeles Lakers are claiming that Shaquille O'Neal playing will be a game-time decision due to a sore toe, but with a wild brawl that formed last time the two tangled last month fresh on player's minds the Chicago Bulls are ready and are accepting no excuses.

"I'm not going to chicken out," Miller said, seemingly urging for O'Neal to play and have another go at him. "If I weighed 350, I wouldn't be missing the game."

Miller is once again back in form, but is his confidence blinding his abilities?  "I've been around big people my whole life. Yeah, Shaq's big and can push me around. But he can't guard me because I can step outside and use my quickness on him."  Shaq cannot guard Miller?  The undrafted center out of Perdue?  Believe it or not Miller actually gave Shaq fits the last time the two met, scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 rebounds - despite the obvious stature differences - in 32 minutes before being ejected along with Shaq, Charles Oakley and Rick Fox in the fourth-quarter melee.

But this game isn't just about Shaq and Miller, with Kobe deriding the Bulls' use of confetti to celebrate home victories and saying that he'd be waiting for Wednesday's rematch.  This has Bulls forward Ron Artest, one of the leagues best defenders, saliving from the mouth, with Charles Oakley adding "We'll have somebody waiting on Kobe too, Ron-Ron (Artest's nickname) The Rottweiler."

"They can talk all that whatever, but we're going to play real aggressive. And if they want to get dirty, we'll get dirty," added Artest.