Lakers need more from Odom while Bynum hurting

[duncan228]

Lakers need more from Odom while Bynum hurting (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-nbafinals-lakers)
By Howard Ulman

The Lakers count on Lamar Odom to provide a lift off a bench that has been outplayed by the Celtics in the NBA finals.

They’re still waiting.

With Andrew Bynum’s sore right knee cutting into the center’s playing time, it’s even more important that Odom step up in Game 5 on Sunday night. Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson suggested an unorthodox way to get him jump-started.

“I was thinking of an electrode, you know,” he said Friday to a round of laughter. “Something that would really be a stimulus.”

Odom wasn’t much help in Boston’s 96-89 win Thursday night that evened the best-of-seven series at 2-2. He had 10 points and 7 rebounds in a series-high 39 minutes, while Bynum was limited to 12 minutes—only 2 in the second half. Jackson believes the Lakers can win Game 5 even if Bynum can’t play.

Off the bench, the Celtics outscored the Lakers 36-18. For the series, Boston’s reserves hold a 102-70 edge in points and a 45-37 lead in rebounds.

“They do a great job of moving the ball, and different guys took shots,” Odom said. “You can only apply so much pressure when different guys take shots.”

While the 7-foot, 285-pound Bynum is a tough matchup for the Celtics big men inside, Odom, at 6-10 and 230, brings the ball up court and plays around the perimeter instead of putting his lanky frame near all that pounding near the basket.

That was costly in Game 4 when Boston’s beefy but agile Glen Davis, at 6-9 and 289, scored 9 of his 18 points in a fourth quarter that started with the Lakers leading 62-60. Odom began that quarter with just 4 points and didn’t score again until the Celtics had gone ahead 71-64.

“He still has a guard role out there,” Jackson said. “So his responsibility is to actually bring the ball up and initiate the offense. That gives us kind of an unusual attack and gets Kobe (Bryant) at the wing, and it’s something that obviously Boston is quite prepared to try and stop.

“And the quickness of Davis, who’s a rather unusual player in the NBA with his size, still his quickness is, I think, affecting Lamar.”

In the four games, Odom is averaging 7.5 points and 5.3 rebounds. In Game 1 alone of the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Suns, he scored 19 points with a career playoff high 19 rebounds. He finished that series averaging 14 points and 11.8 rebounds.

Without Bynum, Pau Gasol is the Lakers’ only powerful inside presence. The Celtics have Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins and Davis to play that role.

“We just have to run our offense and have movement, especially with Andrew out of the game,” Odom said. “We have to move the ball and be quicker. We just can’t stand around and watch.”

Los Angeles had more second-chance points than Boston in each of the first three games. The Celtics turned that around in Game 4 with a 20-10 scoring advantage and a 16-8 dominance in offensive rebounding. Odom grabbed just one off his own backboard.

He must play closer to the basket to help the Lakers improve on that.

“He had a couple post-up opportunities that he chose to step out and take the ball outside rather than post it,” Jackson said. “(He) probably wasn’t quite comfortable in those positions at that time.”

Odom also had trouble against Boston’s big men in the 2008 finals, won by the Celtics in six games. He averaged 13.5 points and 9 rebounds. Bynum didn’t play that season after Jan. 13 because of a left knee injury.

“Lamar struggled two years ago in this series in this matchup, and he has to break through kind of that mental gap that he had from that experience to move forward,” Jackson said. “We’re just trying to find a comfort spot for him out there. He looked uncomfortable (Thursday) night, and he got a couple double whammies go against him; Garnett out there for a while and then he had Davis coming at him, and things kind of snowballed on him.”

Odom doesn’t have to carry the team. But he must play better, especially as a rebounder.

“I’m not going to put it on my shoulders to win or lose the game,” he said. “We have to move the ball and become a team, become a tighter team.”

[TheMACHINE]

Lakers need more from Odom while Bynum hurting (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-nbafinals-lakers)
By Howard Ulman

The Lakers count on Lamar Odom to provide a lift off a bench that has been outplayed by the Celtics in the NBA finals.

They’re still waiting.

With Andrew Bynum’s sore right knee cutting into the center’s playing time, it’s even more important that Odom step up in Game 5 on Sunday night. Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson suggested an unorthodox way to get him jump-started.

“I was thinking of an electrode, you know,” he said Friday to a round of laughter. “Something that would really be a stimulus.”

Odom wasn’t much help in Boston’s 96-89 win Thursday night that evened the best-of-seven series at 2-2. He had 10 points and 7 rebounds in a series-high 39 minutes, while Bynum was limited to 12 minutes—only 2 in the second half. Jackson believes the Lakers can win Game 5 even if Bynum can’t play.

Off the bench, the Celtics outscored the Lakers 36-18. For the series, Boston’s reserves hold a 102-70 edge in points and a 45-37 lead in rebounds.

“They do a great job of moving the ball, and different guys took shots,” Odom said. “You can only apply so much pressure when different guys take shots.”

While the 7-foot, 285-pound Bynum is a tough matchup for the Celtics big men inside, Odom, at 6-10 and 230, brings the ball up court and plays around the perimeter instead of putting his lanky frame near all that pounding near the basket.

That was costly in Game 4 when Boston’s beefy but agile Glen Davis, at 6-9 and 289, scored 9 of his 18 points in a fourth quarter that started with the Lakers leading 62-60. Odom began that quarter with just 4 points and didn’t score again until the Celtics had gone ahead 71-64.

“He still has a guard role out there,” Jackson said. “So his responsibility is to actually bring the ball up and initiate the offense. That gives us kind of an unusual attack and gets Kobe (Bryant) at the wing, and it’s something that obviously Boston is quite prepared to try and stop.

“And the quickness of Davis, who’s a rather unusual player in the NBA with his size, still his quickness is, I think, affecting Lamar.”

In the four games, Odom is averaging 7.5 points and 5.3 rebounds. In Game 1 alone of the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Suns, he scored 19 points with a career playoff high 19 rebounds. He finished that series averaging 14 points and 11.8 rebounds.

Without Bynum, Pau Gasol is the Lakers’ only powerful inside presence. The Celtics have Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins and Davis to play that role.

“We just have to run our offense and have movement, especially with Andrew out of the game,” Odom said. “We have to move the ball and be quicker. We just can’t stand around and watch.”

Los Angeles had more second-chance points than Boston in each of the first three games. The Celtics turned that around in Game 4 with a 20-10 scoring advantage and a 16-8 dominance in offensive rebounding. Odom grabbed just one off his own backboard.

He must play closer to the basket to help the Lakers improve on that.

“He had a couple post-up opportunities that he chose to step out and take the ball outside rather than post it,” Jackson said. “(He) probably wasn’t quite comfortable in those positions at that time.”

Odom also had trouble against Boston’s big men in the 2008 finals, won by the Celtics in six games. He averaged 13.5 points and 9 rebounds. Bynum didn’t play that season after Jan. 13 because of a left knee injury.

“Lamar struggled two years ago in this series in this matchup, and he has to break through kind of that mental gap that he had from that experience to move forward,” Jackson said. “We’re just trying to find a comfort spot for him out there. He looked uncomfortable (Thursday) night, and he got a couple double whammies go against him; Garnett out there for a while and then he had Davis coming at him, and things kind of snowballed on him.”

Odom doesn’t have to carry the team. But he must play better, especially as a rebounder.

“I’m not going to put it on my shoulders to win or lose the game,” he said. “We have to move the ball and become a team, become a tighter team.”

fuck you odom...grow some balls.

[duncan228]

Media all over him.

For Odom, burden of leading Lakers too heavy (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=dw-odomlakers061010)
By Dan Wetzel

[TheMACHINE]

Media all over him.

For Odom, burden of leading Lakers too heavy (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=dw-odomlakers061010)
By Dan Wetzel

fuck you even more Odom!

[z0sa]

lol blaming the team effort when you are a career underachiever

[djohn2oo8]

Don't worry Laker fans, all Odom needs is a dose of that Khloe pussy, and he should turn into superman

[TheMACHINE]

Don't worry Laker fans, all Odom needs is a dose of that Khloe pussy, and he should turn into superman

i have a feeling he left his balls in her.

[djohn2oo8]

i have a feeling he left his balls in her.

:lol

[mindcrime]

i have a feeling he left his balls in her.

Or she left her balls in him.

[JMarkJohns]

I have a friend from LA who is saying media reports have the Lakers thinking about sending Odom (NOT BYNUM) back to LA for a mental respite which would have him absent for game 5. Anyone else heard this? That would be a devastating loss if both Odom and Bynum couldn't play.

[Giuseppe]

I have a friend from LA who is saying media reports have the Lakers thinking about sending Odom (NOT BYNUM) back to LA for a mental respite which would have him absent for game 5. Anyone else heard this? That would be a devastating loss if both Odom and Bynum couldn't play.

:rolleyes

[duncan228]

Bynum a tree, but Odom has been a shrub (http://www.ocregister.com/sports/odom-252934-bynum-lakers.html)
Kevin Ding
The Orange County Register

Because tall Andrew Bynum has been more oak than balsa in this series, his increase in value to the Lakers from the 2008 NBA Finals he missed has been immeasurable.

Bynum reflected the other day on that '08 loss to Boston, raving about how much better Pau Gasol is than two years ago. So emphatic was Bynum that he even jammed an extra exclamation into his statement as he made it: "Pau is twice the player – he's incredible! – since '08."

Which brings us to the third horse on the Lakers' big-man carousel that is priced at $36.5 million this season: Lamar Odom.

Anyone going to raise a hand to volunteer something about Odom being better than before? Anyone have even a single fundamental way in which Odom is built himself up in recent years?

Anyone? Anyone?

Even if there is hyperbole in Bynum's words about Gasol's improvement, it's unimaginable that anyone could say anything about Odom being dedicated to self-improvement. Gasol is a mere eight months younger than Odom, by the way, so it's not as if age should justify one being any more fully formed or underdeveloped than the other.

Yet there are people in life who simply are driven and stay driven as they grow older – people such as Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Gasol.

Then there are people like Odom.

He couldn't be such a great team guy if he didn't understand what it takes to win. He gets it. He just doesn't want to have to do it, because it's too much pressure to have great expectations and too hard for him to stay focused all the time.

The sad reality for the Lakers is that Bynum's knee might not be so thick with yellow goo right now if Odom hadn't been floating like a butterfly out there and mindlessly drawing fouls – overburdening Bynum's knee – early in Games 1 and 2. Despite Odom improving in Game 3, Bynum still had 10 rebounds to Odom's five.

He played slightly more of that game than Odom, too. That was enough time pounding the parquet for Bynum to suffer what he called "two tweaks," leaving the knee weakened for Game 4. Bynum got a drop pass 53 seconds in, went up to dunk it and found himself strangely smaller than Kevin Garnett, who blocked the shot cleanly.

It's not an issue of additional pain. Yes, sometimes the torn cartilage pinches acutely between the bones, which hurts like heck, but the muscles and tendons won't fire properly at all when there's so much swelling.

When Bynum didn't show up with the rest of the team after halftime, he was doing activation exercises to try to get his quadriceps to work like a normal person's would. Glen Davis is a big baby, but when Bynum came back in and got nothing more than a tiny tap – "he just touched my knee," Bynum said – the whole right leg collapsed.

Bynum wasn’t inclined to drain the knee as he had before the NBA Finals started, considering risk of infection and fluid returning last time anyway, but he had it done in the hours after leaving Game 4 at TD Garden. He will also continue through two days of his usual treatment that comes in comprehensive one-hour, 45-minute installments every three hours.

The ice, heat, electric current, swelling-minimizing compression and manual massage "definitely, definitely will help," Bynum said. "Sunday night, I'll be ready to go."

He hopes so after seeing the Celtics shoot 63 percent from the field in the fourth quarter Thursday night, frolicking in the paint he left behind. Those same visions from June 2008 were why Bynum reported for last season finally understanding that his greatest value to the team lay in defense and rebounding, no matter how much he loves to score.

Even in Game 4, Bynum was one of the three Lakers to have positive plus-minus ratings for the game. For the time he was on the court, the Lakers were plus-1 on the scoreboard; they were plus-1 with Ron Artest and plus-4 with Fisher, too. With Odom, the Lakers were minus-5.

For a guy who never sweats his points, Odom had one rebound, no assists and no blocks in 22 second-half minutes. All his 2010 NBA Finals numbers mirror those of the first round, when Odom relaxed immediately upon seeing Bynum come back strong from his strained left Achilles' tendon. It was only after Bynum tore that meniscus in the Round 1 finale that Odom picked it up in Rounds 2 and 3.

In this series I've written about Odom the days before Games 2 and 4, each time sensing the Lakers needed something from him to push forward – though careful not to predict Odom would deliver it. Each time, the fruit has hung there within the Candyman's reach and gone unclaimed in Lakers losses.

As wasted an opportunity as it was Thursday night – no team has ever blown a 3-1 NBA Finals lead, and the Lakers are 9-0 all time when holding such situations in the championship round – this Lakers team's happy ending should still be out there.

The Lakers don't need Odom to dominate.

Odom is good enough – even if he's not actually twice as good as in 2008 – to be invited with Bynum and Bryant to the 2010-12 USA Basketball program. Odom's own sore right knee should feel a bit better with two days off before Game 5. The Lakers just need him to show up, with everyone else playing their parts, too.

No matter how Bynum is feeling, Jackson actually prefers to play Odom at crunchtime anyway because of the greater mobility Odom provides in switching assignments on defense and in spreading the floor on offense. His best skill is rebounding, and it's almost comic cruelty that we know that the team with more rebounds has won every 2010 NBA Finals game.

No Laker actually needs to be twice as good as in 2008 to win the 2010 championship. As a team, the Lakers just need to be twice good ... once for one more victory, twice for another.

It's not too much to ask that Odom does what he can.

[21_Blessings]

Bynum a tree, but Odom has been a shrub (http://www.ocregister.com/sports/odom-252934-bynum-lakers.html)
.

:lol

[jacobdrj]

So when Odom, a career facilitator, says he won't take over and will only play within the team dynamic, he is a pussy, but when T-Mac, a career 1st option, says it is his responsibility and fault for not advancing in the playoffs, he is a drama queen...

Come on: Nobody thinks Odom is that type of player. He STILL played really good in game 4, scoring baskets in the paint late in the game, keeping the Lakers in striking distance while Kobe was held in check, and Odom is barley the 3rd option!

[cobbler]

Come on: Nobody thinks Odom is that type of player. He STILL played really good in game 4, scoring baskets in the paint late in the game, keeping the Lakers in striking distance while Kobe was held in check, and Odom is barley the 3rd option!

I don't think most posters are upset by Odom's offense in game 4. You are correct as he did make some key baskets in the 4th Keeping the Lakers in striking distance. It's his D we are upset about. Letting Baby abuse him as if he wasn't even present.

[TheManFromAcme]

I have a silly question being that I have absolutely no orthopedic medical background nor training background:

As of late Drew's knee is being drained right? Recent MRI's indicate no further damage to his knee right? Does their not exist any pain killing/numbing medication or application to counter his pain and swelling?

Just wondering. I am all ears for anybody who can explain this to me.

Very curious.

[Giuseppe]

I have a silly question being that I have absolutely no orthopedic medical background nor training background:

As of late Drew's knee is being drained right? Recent MRI's indicate no further damage to his knee right? Does their not exist any pain killing/numbing medication or application to counter his pain and swelling?

Just wondering. I am all ears for anybody who can explain this to me.

Very curious.

I'm not a doctor, Acme, but, I surmise that they'd have weigh on the side of extreme caution in administering pain killers during game conditions. Pain is a warning signal to humans. Without it, irreversible damage could occur and Bynum wouldn't even know it until later when the medication wore off.

[TheManFromAcme]

Got ya.

But can he not still damage his knee with our without pain? Doesn't feeling pain limit your abilities and skills especially in this game? I get what your saying Cully but it sounds like if he feels pain already how much more damage can he do to himself with our without it?

Not trying to circle jerk it but I was just wondering.
Thanks for the explanation anyway. :tu

[Giuseppe]

They keep saying no more damage can be done.

I'm sure Media would like to differ on that opinion, but, since they went to bat for the Blazers and Roy a couple months back, they've no right now.

[TheManFromAcme]

They keep saying no more damage can be done.

I'm sure Media would like to differ on that opinion, but, since they went to bat for the Blazers and Roy a couple months back, they've no right now.

:lol

Yup. Your right.

Good point.

[cobbler]

Drew has gone on record as saying he can handle the pain. The problem is with the swelling, fluids, and pressure on the knee, it's effecting the surrounding muscles, tendons, etc. He stated that he has tried to jump and get's nothing. I can't argue with the kid as we have all seen it. There were several times in game 4 where he got rebounds and had NO elevation when going back up with it. He got stuffed. No doubt we all screamed into our TV sets... "DUNK THE DAMN BALL!!!" He has no lift.

[Giuseppe]

^Yep, Cobb has the goods. Just have to go on to the end.

Jackson sounds upbeat & positive which is kind of strange to hear him talk that way....hope it ain't a harbinger of bad tidyings.

It'll have to be earned. The Celtics, regretfully ain't gonna give it up without a fight. That's why anybody sans them out of the East woulda been cake work. GD it.

Everybody cept Cubby thought their continued defense of the '08 Championship was so much blather. Uh, uh. They heartily believe it and have lived it for two years. If we don't end them, we're white bread.

[D-Wade #3]

we will see