The Big Cactus, it seems, is a bit prickly these days.

Spurs forward/center Kurt Thomas characterizes O'Neal this way: "He's a good guy, and a big man."

After recently finding themselves on the pointed end of O'Neal's acid tongue, Van Gundy, Howard and Bosh might argue the first point. Nobody in the league can argue the second.

This afternoon, O'Neal will put aside his running feud with what seems like half the NBA and return to his one-time hometown for a nationally televised showdown with the Spurs. He does so in the midst of a fairly spot-on impression of his MVP self, circa 2000.

Riled and rejuvenated, O'Neal in his past five games has bullied his way to averages of 27.2 points and 8.4 rebounds while shooting 71.6 percent from the field.

By following a 45-point night against Toronto on Feb. 27 with a 33-point night against the Lakers on March 1, O'Neal became just the fourth player in NBA history over the age of 35 to record back-to-back 30-point games.

"It's what I do," O'Neal said after beating his old team. "I've been doing it since 1992. If you don't believe it, Google me."

The fountain of youth O'Neal could not find in Florida - where he appeared to be on his last gimpy legs before his trade to Phoenix last season - he has discovered in the desert.

At the grumpy old age of 37, O'Neal is at the center of a personal renaissance.

His resurgence comes at a critical time for the Suns, who must fight for a playoff bid without All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire.

Making O'Neal's recent bounce-back more impressive, it comes after Alvin Gentry replaced Terry Porter as the Suns' head coach and reinstalled the run-and-gun offense that O'Neal never quite fit in last season.

The Suns, though still three games out of a playoff berth in the Western Conference, are averaging 121.7 points per game since Gentry took over after the All-Star break. In 51 games under Porter, Phoenix averaged 104.4.

"They're scoring a lot more points, so one would assume that's a quicker tempo," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, whose team has yet to face Phoenix since the change. "They're for real."

Said Spurs point guard Tony Parker: "They look a little bit like the old Phoenix."

Shaq, meanwhile, is looking like the old Shaq - as opposed to last season, when he just looked old. Bad knees robbed O'Neal of whatever mobility he had left a year ago, a situation magnified by the Suns' breakneck style.

Healthier this season, O'Neal has had an easier time keeping up.

Popovich says O'Neal - who has averaged 17 points and 10.3 rebounds in three games against the Spurs this season - is still the best in the league at getting to his spots on the low block. Tim Duncan says the 7-foot-1, 320-pound O'Neal is still the most physically demanding frontline player in the league.

"You just have to try to make it difficult for him," Duncan said. "Limit his dunks, make him make shots over the top of you, and keep him as far away from the basket as possible."

And if O'Neal is able to bulldoze his way to his favorite spot, 2 feet from the hoop? Forget about it.

"There's nothing you can do," Duncan said.

There is likewise no stopping Shaq when his mouth gets moving downhill.

After Popovich opted to dust off the old Hack-a-Shaq tactic in last year's playoffs, O'Neal blasted the move as "cowardly."

Later, O'Neal admitted his criticism of Popovich was mostly for show. Nobody got a bigger laugh than The Big Agitator when, after an offseason of Shaq's barbs, Popovich went back to Hack-a-Shaq on the first possession of the season opener.

O'Neal might have been similarly jesting last week when he compared Bosh to celebrated cross dresser RuPaul, or charged Howard with stealing his moves.

He was not kidding, however, when he warned Van Gundy to back off, after the Orlando coach questioned O'Neal's manhood for flopping in a game last week.

"I don't ask for a lot," O'Neal said. "But I demand respect."

After his string of recent big games, O'Neal will have little trouble finding it in San Antonio.