Time to start pumping the hype for Shaq vs. Lakers. Never mind the undercard on Christmas Day features the NBA's best teams -- the Pistons and Spurs. If you were to watch ABC's promos, you would be hard pressed to know there was an early game.

But, hey, this is what the league wants -- Heat vs. Lakers. Shaquille O'Neal vs. Kobe Bryant. Pat Riley vs. Phil Jackson. The fact the teams have muddled about for most of the season is irrelevant.

So, let's get to hyping. Lakers owner Jerry Buss recently defended his decision to trade O'Neal two years ago, calling it the right move and saying he was an honest businessman because he did not divulge the "real" reasons he made the trade.

This, naturally, caused Shaq to break his silence on the issue.

"Everybody knows what that is really about," O'Neal told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "He had to make a choice, the young guy (Bryant) or the old guy (O'Neal). He made his choice. Good luck with his choice."

O'Neal was amused when he heard Buss claim he would make the same choice "100 out of 100 times."

"How many years was Phil Jackson there?" O'Neal said. "And how many years did we go to the Finals? And how many points did I average and how many times was I the MVP?"

Let's see -- the Lakers were in the Finals four of the five years under Jackson, and O'Neal was MVP three times, averaging 38, 33 and 36.3 points.

"Do all the math," O'Neal said. "Everybody knows what that trade is really about."

Riley rips

Riley endured an avalanche of criticism and cynicism when he took over the coaching reins in Miami last week. He stood in there and took it pretty well, until a squeaky little voice in Cleveland piped up.

Damon Jones, who played in Miami last season, spoke what many believed, that former coach Stan Van Gundywas set up to fail, in large part by moves that Riley made.

"This is a business, and in my opinion, Stan was set up to fail," Jones said. "The way he likes to coach the game, he didn't have the personnel to do it. Stan's a great coach."

Riley was beside himself.

"That's a ludicrous statement," he said. "He is questioning my integrity, and it is absolutely who he is. That's why he's who he is. If he said that, it's a false statement, it's a lie, and I want him to come to my face and tell me to my face and not tell (the media). That's wrong, but that's why he's Damon Jones."

Jones, who turned down a two-year, $6 million offer from the Heat to sign a four-year, $16 million deal with the Cavaliers, backed off later.

"I'm in a better place now as far as my career and the contract I received, because of the opportunity they (the Heat) gave me last year," Jones said. "What I said as far as Stan's departure, I didn't say those exact words. It was probably construed as that. I just said that if the coach wasn't brought in on any decisions as far as those trades, then what else can you get from that?

"If (Riley) felt that I was assaulting his judgment or his character, I'm not going to do that. I am smarter than that. He's a Hall of Fame coach, and everyone perceives me as a journeyman. That's a battle I can't win."