He finally did it. He finally put all those massive talents together and played up to his potential. Imagine if he plays like this the rest of the way. The Lakers won’t need Andrew Bynum back. Lamar Odom put together a doozy of a game, against a Mavericks club that was shooting the lights out despite pretty solid defense by the Purple and Gold. Odom made 12-14 shots, totaling 31 points. Pulled down ten boards, dished 5 assists, blocked 2 shots and threw in a steal to cap off his night. Plus he made two of the best plays of the game with a fake pass, layup that made Dirk look foolish, followed by a quick scoop pass to Pau for an and-one. Not only was his offense up to snuff, despite giving up 27 points to Dirk, Lamar made the key stop on the Big German with a about 30 seconds left. He played perfect defense. I mean, Diggler still shot a scorching 13-19, but Odom was in his grill on most of them. Dirk was just hot. I knew Lamar was feeling it. In the past, he would always look to Kobe to set the tone, or to make sure he was running the right plays. Tonight, he took the ball himself, juked, spun, shimmied, dropped dimes, battled for loose balls, dove to the basket for putbacks (he dunked Kobe’s missed layup at the end of the game when Kobe got fouled) and ice-manned the ball in the hoop all night. It was beautiful and extremely exciting to watch. Odom, for the first time I’ve ever seen him play, looked like he wanted the ball in his hands at the end of the game.
The Lakers played pretty good team defense to start the game, but the Mavericks just came out hot. Even Kidd was hitting his shots. The Lakers turned up the defense in the second half and after giving up nearly 70 points in the first two quarters, held the Mavs to 44 points the rest of the way. Kobe had another efficient game. And the chemistry between Pau and Odom is enough for me to proclaim the Lakers favorites. Sure, it was against the Mavs who are now 1-11 against elite teams, but the Mavs played phenomenal tonight and the Lakers found a way to win. Mark Cuban's face said it all...
In other news, Bynum and Ariza participated in shoot around. Watch out rest of the league. The Lakers are peaking at the right time…
