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Local beat writer after game 5.
Odom carries Lakers on his aching back
Miller: Lamar won't be blamed this time as Lakers win.
Jeff Miller
The Orange County Register
LOS ANGELES –He has been criticized everywhere, particularly here, where even today, in a column praising him, we’ll start by noting that Lamar Odom ruined a perfectly tired sports cliché.
You know the one about a team responding when its back is against the wall? Odom just responded when his back was against the all.
Everything – from the fate of his team to the state of his game to the health of his body – confronted Odom on Wednesday, and he responded by knocking the Nuggets onto their backs.
The Lakers won the latest biggest game of their postseason – 103-94, taking a critical 3-2 lead over Denver – because of a hearty effort by their hurting forward.
“I know his back has been killing him even if he might be saying otherwise to you guys,” teammate Luke Walton said. “He really muscled through it tonight. He ended up being huge for us.”
Here’s just how huge…
They needed his strength. No one finished with more rebounds than Odom’s 14 in a game in which the Lakers, outrebounded by Denver by 18 (58-40) in Game 4, stayed nearly even this time (43-42).
They needed his offense. Odom scored eight points in the deciding fourth quarter, you know, normally Kobe time, on a night when Bryant didn’t make a fourth-quarter field goal.
They needed his passion. Odom blocked four shots, had four offensive rebounds and capped a fourth-quarter slam dunk over Chris Andersen by unleashing a growl that came straight from his New York roots.
“In that time, in that moment, you’re caught up in the game,” Odom explained. “Sometimes aggression just comes out, and it came out with a scream after that dunk.”
He did all this – and so much more (just read on) – with a bruised lower back that already has required one injection this postseason just so he could play.
Odom is out there wearing padding, sometimes limping and often grimacing after contact.
Yet, he continues to dismiss questions about his health, refusing to hide behind a reason so legitimate that it could be more explanation than excuse.
“He’s got a big lump on his back,” Walton said. “I don’t know how bad he feels, but when there’s a big lump on your back that’s not supposed to be there, it can’t feel too good.”
Odom’s spectacular night didn’t start that way. He missed four of his five first-quarter shots and nearly was forced to inhale what was supposed to be a dunk, his dunk. Late in the opening quarter, Odom drove, leapt and encountered Andersen.
The Birdman, who has been so everywhere in this series that he has appeared to be The Birdmen, couldn’t have more completely blocked Odom’s dunk had he used a tennis racquet.
At halftime, Odom was only 3 of 9 from the floor, and him starring in the second half seemed about as likely as the teams coming back out and playing pants and skins.
But in the final four minutes of the third quarter, Odom hit a three-pointer that evened the score 73-73, and his late-game surge was underway.
A short time later, he fought for position down low and scored again. Then he grabbed a defensive rebound on Denver’s next possession. Then he grabbed another defensive rebound, this one leading to a Shannon Brown three-pointer.
Before it was over, Odom would block a Kenyon Martin drive, convert a three-point play to kill the Nuggets’ final, fading hopes and punctuate everything with that angry dunk over Andersen.
“I think I gave him a big head butt after that one,” Walton said. “The Birdman got him a couple times. He paid him back with that one.”
And Odom paid back the Lakers and Coach Phil Jackson for their patience and trust during his uneven time here.
When the Lakers are labeled as soft, the face on that label belongs to Odom. When they’re ripped as inconsistent, the image of that inconsistency belongs to Odom. When they’re mocked for lacking heart, the missing beat belongs to Odom.
“I had to suck it up,” he said of the latest dark wave that followed his one-field goal performance in Game 4. “Couldn’t pick up the paper. Didn’t want to answer the phone. Couldn’t watch ESPN. I took it like a man.
“I just had to. This is my 10th season. Game 6. I haven’t been playing well. Put my focus cap on. Came out and just went after it."
OK, so this actually was Game 5, but Odom’s head probably was still spinning from the previous four quarters of almost must-win basketball.
He could be in his final days with this franchise, Odom unsigned after this season and the Lakers more likely to pay the younger Trevor Ariza.
If that’s the case, he still has a chance to leave the most positive final impression – an NBA championship. And if he keeps playing like this, no one will accuse him of backing into it.
