Was it: A) Shaquille O'Neal, B) George Mikan, C) Kobe Bryant, D) Bobby Wanzer?

Was it: A) Hal Greer on Wilt Chamberlain, B) Jon Koncak on Dominique Wilkins, C) Christian Laettner on Jerry Stackhouse, D) Kobe Bryant on Brian Shaw?

Was it: A) Jerry Sloan on John Starks, B) Allen Bristow on Muggsy Bogues, C) Phil Jackson on Kobe Bryant, D) Phil Jackson on Dennis Rodman?

Of course, the cognizanti knows that I've thrown you a red herring. It's none of the above on all of these. The answer to No. 1 is J.R. Rider, when he was in Atlanta. The answer to No. 2 is J.R. Rider, talking about Kobe Bryant and his lust for shots. The answer to No. 3 is Lenny Wilkens talking about, you guessed it, J.R. Rider, before the wayward guard was waived and Wilkens allowed to resign. You will recall both walked out with full pay, which speaks to the generosity of cable TV baron Ted Turner.

Now, fade to the locker room of these same Atlanta Hawks, Jan. 15, 2001.

Dikembe Mutombo, whose mind is on other matters, abruptly asks, "What's going on with Kobe and Shaq?"

Told they are oil and water, Mutombo says, "Why?"

Egos, Dikembe.

"Foolish," he says.

	Mutombo

	Rider

So foolish, J.R. took a verbal shot at Kobe. Deek is apparently siding with the Big Aristotle, who named himself for a philosopher who said, among other things, "There was never a genius without a tincture of madness."

Mutombo rolls his eyes. He likes J.R. only slightly more than the late Sese Seko, dictator of his native Zaire, now Republic of Congo.

"J.R. criticized Kobe?" Mutombo whistles softly. "I have to go on line and read about this thing. I don't understand it."

But what if J.R. is suddenly making sense? What if J.R. has it figured out when nobody else does?

"No," Mutombo says. "I don't think so."

Maybe you don't know the story. Almost exactly a year ago, Rider accused Mutombo of having rat-finked him to the league for marijuana smoking. This came out when Rider commandeered a rostrum the night the Hawks agreed to waive him and made the accusation public. What Rider did not volunteer is that he threatened to have his boys take care of Mutombo during the All-Star weekend in Oakland.

"I wasn't worried about Mutombo," he said. "I had a body guard."

So Rider-as-referee in Kobe vs. Shaq is not an appealing idea for Mutombo, who would as soon have Dennis Rodman sitting in judgment.

Of the current situation in which he stands to profit by Kobe's distress -- more playing time, more shots, Rider said, "They are the two stars, the two main guys, and they need to cut this stuff out. They are too good to cry about the things they are crying about. No one can steal the show here. It's a team. It's silly."

Mutombo scratches his head. "He said that?"

Recall that Phil Jackson hired J.R., figuring this was a piece of cake. After all, he handled another famous maverick, Rodman. When J.R. literally shriveled up as a player, who knew it would be Shaq and Kobe who would have the very public separation that Michael and Scottie never dreamed of?

"J.R. is nothing compared to this," Kevin Loughery says.

Where is all this going? Former coach and player Loughery says, "Nowhere. It's goin' no where because neither one of those guys is going anywhere. Who cares if they like each other. Did Kareem have to like Oscar? Absolutely not. But they won a title together."

Of course, we know Shaq isn't going anywhere. Check out his $152 million contract. He's a Laker through and through to 2005. Kobe's locked to Shaq for the same period, but at less than half the money, which is certainly part of the problem.

This and that

	Camby

Didn't Van Gundy learn anything in 1999 when he got involved in the Larry Johnson-Alonzo Mourning fracas, latched onto Zo's leg like a chihuahua, being dragged all over the floor at the Garden?

And now here's JVG Monday. He slips inside a looping right hand meant for Danny Ferry from enraged Marcus Camby and gets head-butted.

Ripped by the New York tabs for his offense, his personality, his appearance, Van Gundy has his Knicks playing brilliantly right now. He should think about staying in one piece.