Three weeks later, Shaquille O'Neal was neither cheerful nor somber.

Rather, in the wake of Laker defeat, where blame and regret have been piled at his aching feet, O'Neal, on a gray morning in El Segundo, was defiant.

In his first extensive interview since the Lakers' championship run died at three, O'Neal, dressed in end-to-end blue, stood in a parking lot and said, "I don't need a personal trainer. I need the ball."

That being said, O'Neal fully intends to hire a trainer, work most of the summer on conditioning, and show up at training camp in late September in decent physical shape. On Monday, he told General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Coach Phil Jackson of those plans, and they assume -- or hope -- O'Neal's heart is in it.