Dallas ? Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has depicted Shaquille O’Neal as a cartoon “Shaq Albert” on the video scoreboard.

Expect more of the same when O’Neal and the Heat come to American Airlines Center for the Finals starting with Game One on Thursday night.

“We might change it up a little bit, but yeah, you will see something,” Cuban said.

O’Neal doubled over in laughter when the Mavericks unveiled the “Shaq Albert” video in 2003, when he was with the Lakers. It was a chapter in the unique relationship between the outspoken owner and colorful center.

When the Heat prepared to play the Lakers earlier this season, Cuban poked fun at the feud between O’Neal and Lakers owner Jerry Buss. Buss had cited O’Neal’s poor conditioning as one reason he traded him to the Heat in 2004.

“I think Jerry ought to bring a bag of Hooters chicken wings and see if it distracts Shaq when he’s running by,” Cuban said. “That would prove his point.”

O’Neal has never seemed to take offense at Cuban’s barbs. More than once he has said Cuban is his “hero.”

Cuban, who once tried to acquire O’Neal from the Lakers, said the good feelings are mutual.

Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal takes questions from reporters following a practice on Tuesday in Miami. The Heat will meet the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday in Game One of the NBA Finals.

“Neither one of us takes ourselves too seriously,” Cuban said. “I think that is why we get along so well. … Every now and then we will bump heads, but when it is all said and done we end up smiling about it.”

So Cuban plans to razz O’Neal again during the Finals. He said it might include music from O’Neal’s rap albums and his movies Kazaam and Steel.

“We are having problems finding them, but we are looking,” Cuban said.

Cuban said he inquired about a trade with the Lakers for O’Neal in 2004, but that a deal never was close to happening.

Cuban wouldn’t include Dirk Nowitzki. The Lakers didn’t want to trade O’Neal to a team in the Western Conference and weren’t interested in an offer of players with expiring contracts and draft picks.

“The response was, ‘There is nothing on your roster that we want,’ period, end of story,” he said.

“It was about a two-minute conversation.”

¢ Wade ailing: The Heat have had a problem with illness this week. Battling a sinus infection, Miami guard Dwyane Wade did not work out with the Heat on Tuesday. Former Kansas University forward Wayne Simien also missed practice for the second-straight day because of illness.

Backup guard Gary Payton missed practice Monday because of headaches.

Wade attended practice, “but didn’t do anything ultra-live,” coach Pat Riley said. Wade went to team meetings and planned to fly with the Heat to Dallas later Tuesday.

Miami will practice in Dallas today,.

“He’ll be OK,” said Riley, adding that he expects Wade will have a full workout today.

Wade is averaging 26.2 points in the playoffs, seventh-most in the NBA and second-most among those who reached the finals. Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas is averaging 28.4 points.

Wade was not on the Heat’s practice floor when the doors opened to reporters Tuesday.

“He’ll be ready,” Heat center O’Neal said. “Just getting some rest, getting some fluids. … It happens. Just have to get his fluids and try to be ready. He’ll be ready.”

Wade scored at least 20 points in every playoff game until Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against Detroit, when he managed 14 on a day where he visited a hospital to receive several intravenous fluid bags to fight dehydration. He had another IV in the arena at halftime, delaying his arrival for the second half by a couple minutes.

“He had the illness, came home and was sick as a dog for Game 6,” Riley said, not worried the player may have given Payton and the seldom-used Simien the bug. “And he still hasn’t shaken the effects of it. But he’ll be ready for Thursday night. He won’t be in the same state that he was, coming out of the hospital, having IVs and all that stuff.”

¢ Slowing the Mavs: Riley said the Heat has been working “long and hard” on its transition defense in an effort to slow down the Mavericks’ fast break.

“It depends on what lineup they have in there,” Riley said. “They’ll get out and run but they actually have averaged less fast-break points in the playoffs than they did during the regular season.

“They can also play a half court game which is what they did going down the stretch against Phoenix.”

¢ No rest for Mavs: Coach Avery Johnson put the team through two workouts Tuesday.

“We are anxious to get going,” Johnson said after the morning session. “That is why we are practicing twice today. We have a simulated game day today.”

Forward Dirk Nowitzki said the loss to the Suns in Game 1, two days after beating the Spurs in seven, was a matter of circumstance.

“A day turnaround was too quick,” he said. “We weren’t quite ready for the pace of Phoenix and they just overran us. Still, we were up eight with two minutes to go.

“This time we have more time to enjoy this and get ready for the Finals. I think both teams will come ready to play.”