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MINNEAPOLIS -- While being asked to solve one of the NBA's greatest mysteries -- How do you slow down Shaquille O'Neal when Shaquille O'Neal is playing like the real Shaquille O'Neal? -- Michael Olowokandi called a 20-second timeout on the inquiries.

"Let me tell you something," said Olowokandi, who as a Los Angeles Clipper one March night in 2000 took the brunt of a 61-point night by O'Neal. "The guy is just so big and so strong there's nothing much you can do."

Leaving the circle blank on this multiple-choice question isn't an option for the Wolves. They're already down 1-0 to the Lakers. If they're going to push this best-of-seven Western Conference final beyond four games, they'll need a better response to O'Neal and, right now, Olowokandi is as good an answer as any on the Minnesota roster.

Flip Saunders will once again employ the center-by-committee of starter Ervin Johnson, Olowokandi, Mark Madsen and Oliver Miller but will rely on Olowokandi. At 7-foot and 270 pounds, he is the only one who can be more than a speed bump to O'Neal's monster-truck power drives and make him pay a small price for standing still on defense.

Replacing Johnson after only 3:20 elapsed in Friday's series-opening 97-88 loss, Olowokandi held his ground against O'Neal and scored eight points to help Minnesota take a 24-23 lead after one quarter. O'Neal went on to score a game-high 27 points but only 13 against Olowokandi, who finished with 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds while logging 30 of his 33 minutes against Shaq.

"I tried what I can do, but can I get better? Sure, I can get better," Olowokandi said. "But there's nothing you can design to stop him. I think it's a matter of effort."

Olowokandi has been handed a prominent role in Saunders' rotation, mostly out of necessity, partly out of design. Wolves president Kevin McHale had Shaq in mind when he signed Olowokandi to a $16.2 million, three-year contract after last year's first-round loss to L.A., a six-game series in which O'Neal averaged 28.7 points, 15.3 rebounds and 2.83 blocks.

A regular season limited to 43 games due to arthroscopic knee surgeries -- first on the left before the preseason, then on the right in December -- and poor showings against Denver and Sacramento rendered Olowokandi a high-paid afterthought. He entered the West finals averaging only 2.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 13.6 minutes in the playoffs and not having played since Game 4 of the Kings series.

"Even with our crowd, he'd go into the game against Sacramento and you could hear a sigh. He was playing out of fear," Saunders said. "Here, no one expects him to do anything against Shaq. As I said after the last series, I thought Michael would have a good series. He played well ... I think he will continue to play better and better every night."

Phil Jackson expects the Wolves to "double team at certain points" against O'Neal, using Kevin Garnett whenever they can to get the ball out of Shaq's hands. "When you throw two guys who are 7-foot on Shaq, that really changes up his opportunities," Jackson explained.

Saunders admitted that Minnesota's best hope for limiting O'Neal might be the Lakers center himself and how well his 32-year-old body can recover from a 41-minute effort in 48 hours. "[Friday] night is the most energy we'll see out of the Lakers," Saunders said. "There's no question we're hoping to put more pressure on them and get to their legs a little bit."

If you ask Olowokandi, though, Minnesota's biggest defensive tweaking isn't in the middle but on the perimeter. When the Wolves got O'Neal and Kobe Bryant to pass, the ball ended up in the basket anyway as the Lakers made every clutch jumper, namely 6 of 15 3-pointers.

That said, the Wolves' troubles start with the league's most dominant force, one that is starting to make his free throws.

"After a night against Shaq, there's absolutely no reason to go to the weight room," Olowokandi half-joked. "He does wear you down; there's a lot of pushing. But such is the challenge."

Joe Lago is the NBA editor at ESPN.com.