Timberwolves guard Wally Szczerbiak thought about the question while sitting on a chair after practice Tuesday and watching newly acquired Marc Jackson work on drills across the court.

After several seconds, he came up with a simple answer.

"It's tough to stop him," Szczerbiak said. "You know he's going to score points. You just can't let him go wild and score well above his average"

"Him" being Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal.

Even with the recent addition of the wide-bodied Jackson to provide depth in the frontcourt to wear teams down, the Wolves can't be confident in their ability to stop O'Neal when the Lakers visit Target Center tonight.

Even triple-teaming O'Neal rarely has worked.

So what about trying to stop, or contain, the Lakers' second-best threat ? guard Kobe Bryant?

"That's just as tough," Szczerbiak said. "He's a great player. He's going to get his points. That's why he's one of the top players in the league."