Shaq’s Injury Becomes Relief for Wright

Rookie swingman Lorenzen Wright, a 6-foot-11, 240-pound power forward who became the Clippers’ starting center after Stanley Roberts and Kevin Duckworth were injured, gets a break tonight. He won’t have to face Laker center Shaquille O’Neal, who is two inches taller and 60 pounds heavier, at the Pond of Anaheim.

“If they sumo wrestle, he’s going to be in big trouble,” Coach Bill Fitch said of Wright before learning that O’Neal would sit out the game because of a knee injury.

Wright said, however, that working against Roberts and Duckworth had prepared him for O’Neal.

“Duckworth is real big and strong and so is Stanley, so it’s going to be similar to playing them,” Wright said before he knew that O’Neal was sidelined. “I’m just going to do some of the things I do to stop those guys.”

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Fitch says he can’t remember the last time he went to the All-Star game but will attend Sunday’s in Cleveland because he was named one of the top 10 coaches in the NBA’s 50-year history.