In the world of pro basketball, there are three undeniably very lucky fellows today.

	Miller got the best of Shaq earlier in the game, but then came the melee.

One of them is Chicago Bulls center Brad Miller, who caught nothing but wind instead of a very fast-moving right fist of Shaquille O'Neal that had "no solid food for days" written all over it.

Another lucky lad is O'Neal's coach, Phil Jackson. He will lose his center and putative MVP for a short span, but he'll make do with some cupcake opponents coming to town. He would have had to quickly go to Plan B, or maybe Plan Z, had O'Neal's intended roundhouse connected.

And finally there's the Big Felon (his nickname, not mine) himself. He's lucky his punching is about as accurate as his free-throw shooting because if he had connected, he'd be looking at a long, dry spell and his three-peat, not to mention that coveted, post-basketball career in law enforcement, might be in serious jeopardy.

The NBA has broad, discretionary and essentially unchallenged powers in this one and Shaq is going to pay. When Marcus Camby went charging after Danny Ferry last season (a year ago tomorrow, for what it's worth) and was eventually stopped by his coach, he was suspended for five games. The Knicks cried foul, cried New York backlash, cried media pressure and then Van Gundy, in one of his less prescient moments, actually said, "I wonder what he would have gotten had he actually hit the guy."

How about 25 games and an assault charge?

Camby was responding to an elbow in the eye from Ferry. Like Shaq, he went charging after his intended, fist clenched, vengeance in his eyes. And, like Shaq, he never connected. Or, should we say, never connected with his target. Van Gundy intervened and took the hit and 15 stitches for the franchise. (No wonder he never really warmed to the guy.)

Saturday's Shaq-Miller contretemps had been preceded by the usual number of fouls, whacks and other assorted bits of mayhem that O'Neal seems to absorb on a nightly basis. But until Saturday night, no one had been assessed a flagrant foul against O'Neal, which possibly speaks to the wisdom of opposing centers more than anything else. But Miller and Charles Oakley hit him one too many times and, in the end, he finally snapped.

	“	He's lucky his punching is about as accurate as his free-throw shooting because if he had connected, he'd be looking at a long, dry spell and his three-peat, not to mention that coveted, post-basketball career in law enforcement, might be in serious jeopardy. ”
		— May

Referee Danny Crawford called it "a nasty situation" and he sure got that right. Shaq, looking like he'd been schooled by some hockey goon, then got ahold of Miller's shirt, to the point where a security guard had to rip it off the Bulls' center because, as Crawford noted, "it was choking (Miller.)" Four players were required to reign in an angry Shaq.

The whole thing conjures up frightening possibilities. The NBA standard, of course, is Kermit Washington's face-arranging punch on Rudy Tomjanovich in December, 1977. But that stiff punishment (a fine and two-month suspension) came at a time when there were no hard and fast rules on fighting (or flailing fists) and so Washington paid for the damage he did, not so much as for the intent. He was not seen as the type who would do such a thing. Earlier that season, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was suspended for 20 games for breaking Kent Benson's hand in the season-opener.

	O'Neal

	Miller

The Lakers, as expected, are in laager mentality now about their meal ticket. Jackson is blaming the referees for not being more assertive early in the game. "I hold these officials responsible for not controlling the game earlier," he said. Then, in another perceptive moment, he added, "what the league does not want to see is Shaq explode and break somebody's face up." Gee, Phil, no kidding. Brian Shaw noted "it's about the respect" and that Shaq always acts in self-defense.

O'Neal seems unfazed by the whole thing, as if to say, "y'all saw this coming and didn't nothing about it. What did you expect?" The money certainly isn't going to hurt him. It won't even cause a ripple in his portfolio. The suspension will give him some down time and, if we learned anything from last season, it's that the Lakers became experts in managing and handling down time. So, in a roundabout way, he'll benefit.

Had Shaq managed to land his punch, Lakers' GM Mitch Kupchak might be on the Olden Polynice hunt today. Even though he missed, the NBA doesn't care. There's no distinction between intent and result in terms of the bare minimum. You're still going to get whacked, even if you miss. It's an automatic one-game suspension just for throwing a punch, regardless of where it lands.

Kupchak has said he's going to bring the matter up at the All-Star Game, when the competition committee meets. What's he going to say? That there's a double standard for Shaq? Does he indeed to bring footage of all the time O'Neal lowers his shoulder into an opposing center and doesn't get called for an offensive foul? He takes it, for sure. But he dishes it as well.

You're going to hear a lot about the way Shaq gets abused on a nightly basis and lives with it. He does take his share of hits, no question about it. He's second in the league in free-throw attempts, however, which says that this he is not suffering without consequences. You may even see the players association step in, but this isn't baseball. There won't be any hearing or postponement of the suspension until April.

Those Memphis Grizzlies are going to walk into the Staples Center tonight and see a lot more of Samaki Walker than they might have thought. The Lakers were 3-2 in the five games Shaq missed earlier this season when he went on the injured list. They know how to survive without him in the short run, which, luckily for them, is how it's going to be once again. The other possibility is too scary to even contemplate.

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.