Minneapolis ? The birth of his son and the death of his grandfather made it a week of joy and sorrow for Shaquille O’Neal.

Through it all, he’s trying to stay focused on the task at hand: leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a fourth straight NBA title. O’Neal had a solid Game 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and his team has no doubt he’ll be ready for Game 2 tonight.

O’Neal left the Lakers Monday to attend the wake for his grandfather, Sirlester O’Neal, in South Carolina. Coach Phil Jackson said his star center was expected to return late Monday night and attend the team’s shootaround this morning.

“We’re all praying for him and his family,” Kobe Bryant said. “When he gets back, we’re sure he’s going to be looking forward to Game 2.”

Said Jackson: “He’ll be here.”

That’s bad news for the Timberwolves, who secured home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series, only to give it right back to the Lakers. A day after his wife, Shaunie, gave birth to the couple’s third child, O’Neal had 32 points and 10 rebounds, and Bryant had 39 points in Los Angeles’ 117-98 win Sunday.

The Wolves were routed despite doing everything they could to chase Bryant and bang around with O’Neal in the paint.

After watching video from Sunday’s game, Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said he didn’t think his team played as badly on defense as it looked.

“Defensively, we contested a lot of shots,” Saunders said after practice Monday. “Unfortunately, they made a lot them.”

If O’Neal isn’t able to perform at peak level, the Lakers are confident that the rest of the team will pick up the slack, as it did Sunday.

Minnesota’s plan to throw multiple defenders at Bryant and O’Neal backfired in more than one way: They still combined for 71 points, and L.A.’s uncovered role players contributed key baskets to help the Lakers pull away. Derek Fisher and Rick Fox each had three 3-pointers in the first half.

“I’ve been impressed with the focus of this basketball club on matching and tailoring the game to beat their opponents … as opposed to the regular season, when I needed a drumbeat to get their attention,” Jackson said.

On defense, Mark Madsen played well against Kevin Garnett, though Garnett still had 23 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. But the Lakers slowed down Wally Szczerbiak as Minnesota’s scoring option; he attempted only nine shots and scored 15 points, a week after scoring 44 against Chicago.

“We’re going to have to get Wally off; he’s our second main scorer,” Wolves point guard Troy Hudson said.

Szczerbiak wore down trying to defend Bryant and couldn’t muster much offense. Saunders said the Wolves might go with a smaller lineup for Game 2, with Anthony Peeler guarding Bryant to get Szczerbiak more shots.

Saunders also said the only way to beat the Lakers is to fluster them and put doubt in their minds — two things that haven’t been done over the last three years.

“They doubt whether anyone will beat them,” he said, drawing laughter from reporters.