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.

Continue reading "What We’ve Been Waiting For…"

Andrew Bynum has reportedly been working out with Chris Mihm and could run through full practice as early as this week. This is great news. Also great news is the recent play of Lamar Odom. As discussed last week in this blog, Odom has finally started to play with a fire and confidence that has been sorely lacking from his all-around game. He’s shooting 86 percent in his last two games. He’s found a great rhythm playing with both Kobe and especially Gasol and has become deadly efficient.

With that being said, it will be interesting to see how Phil Jackson manages the inevitable working back into the rotation of Bynum. This could have serious ramifications on Odom’s sudden surge. It’s obvious that Bynum will be a huge part in shoring up the Lakers weak interior defense, but I wonder at what cost? The Lakers need Odom to be on his game. They need everyone to be firing on all cylinders in order to emerge from the crowded west.

Continue reading "Bringing Bynum Off the Bench"

t’s amazing how differently a play can be called depending on one’s point of view. I watched Lamar Odom’s flagrant 2 foul on Brandon Roy last night live, on KCAL 9, the Lakers home station. In real time, the foul looks bad because of how Roy fell, on his back and hip.

Joel Myers, who’s an idiot (on a side note, how do the Lakers go from the best play-by-play man ever, to this shmuck?) and Stu Lanz both called the play as a hard foul, but not a dirty one. Flip up Youtube and watch the play again, and you hear Mike Rice and even play-by-play man Mike Barrett say things like “cheap shot,” “flagrant 4” and Rice even mentions a time (not sure if it’s real or not) when Odom apparently came into the Blazers huddle last year.

Continue reading "Blazer’s Announcer Out of Line"

I don’t know if anyone has noticed besides 3-point starved fantasy basketball owners, but Vladimir Radmanovic is starting to become a very solid basketball player. And I’m not just talking about his outside shooting. There was never really a question, okay, he kind of made us question last year, but outside of that, his outside game was never in doubt. He could always stroke the long ball. That’s why Mitch signed him two summers ago to the tune of 31 million over five years. This deal was done in spite of having newly inked Brian Cook and soon-to-be long-contract Luke Walton.

The “Space Cadet” as he was so lovingly deemed by Phil Jackson last year, has seemed to come back down to earth. I’ve always liked his game in spite of that dumb look he always seems to have no matter the situation. He can pass, and is a willing passer. He can board a bit (as evidenced by his career high 14 boards against Sacramento). He’s even shored up that non-existent defense, working to stay in front of his man and usually getting a hand in his opponent’s face.

Continue reading "The Space Cadet Blasting Off"

There’s been a huge hullabaloo over the questionable call (and that’s putting it as politely and as PC and as grossly understated as possible), that went in the favor of the NBA’s favorite son, well his team the Cleveland Cavaliers anyway, and effectively screwed over the hard-working, young 76ers, as well as the loud-talking Washington Wizards. Dropping both into situations, that should, quite frankly, not be—or, not necessarily be.   

The 76ers, half of whom had walked off the court, the other half lingering on it in celebration as confetti fluttered around them, hugging, congratulating each other on a hard-earned victory, lost the game due to a call, that in every single situation should have and would have been a no-call.  

Continue reading "Crying Foul"

Pow!

Everybody’s talking about Pau’s monster game. ESPN’s JA Adande is reminding folks about the legacy of Lakers’ big men. A 36-point, 16-rebound, 8-assist, 3-block game will get people to notice. Kobe dropped 32 but shot a putrid 9-26. After the game, #24 talked about how he was the decoy and how the Lakers have a vicious 1-2 punch.

I hope Mr. Bryant isn’t forgetting Lamar. Maybe LO likes being low-key, not getting any attention, and if that’s the case, then perhaps I shouldn’t be trying to get him noticed. His game was phenomenal as well, 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists with only a single turnover. He had some great dishes to Pau, who, to be fair, was set up a great deal by all of his teammates (33 assists on 45 field goals).

Continue reading "Pow! Kobe's Dilemma"

49 and 10 with 2 turnovers. Toldja. 

Yeah, soak that up J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin. You too Kobe haters... 

K. Had to get that out of the way, now on to the rest of the blog.  

I’ve been meaning to get this out there, but over the next few days I’m going to be spotlighting the Lakers role players. Wednesday night’s standout performer (besides Mr. Bryant) would have to be DJ MBenga. With Ronny Turiaf out with a sore throat, MBenga came in and played 7 crucial minutes while the foul-plagued Lamar Odom sat out. DJ grabbed 5 boards, had a steal and handed out 3 fouls. The box score doesn’t say much, but he was energetic, brought toughness, got underneath and banged with Camby and Martin, and did about as much as one could possibly do to impress in 7 minutes of work.  

Continue reading "What’s Next? The Lakers "Others""

Well, until last night’s beat down of the Spurs, in which Boris Diaw nearly dropped a triple double and Amare Stoudemire was held to single digit points, Phoenix championship hopes looked about as bright as Flava Flav.

Now, staring a 3-1 deficit in the face while returning to San Antonio tomorrow night, the Suns chances look only slightly better. No team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit. It goes without saying that Boris Diaw is far from a consistent player, and there is no way that yesterday’s performance will be repeated—by either team.

I’ve also not hidden my disdain for Shaq, in this blog, in my myspace blog and on the website I am trying to put up where he tops the list of players I’ve relegated to the SmushPot.

I always thought Shaq was way too immature. I never understood why so many people loved him. Sure, it was great when the Lakers were winning championships. Shaq waving to the crowd and screaming, “Can you dig it?” The Shaqisms, “One lucky shot deserves another!” And of course, his dominating numbers during the three-year title run (28 ppg, 2.4 bpg, 3.3 apg, 11.5 rpg on 57.5 percent shooting).

Continue reading "Take that Shaq!"

Wow. They let another one slip away from them. There are no excuses this year. Just sloppy play, poor execution, and a lot of missed freethrows. How fitting (again, sorry for harping on this point) that the very thing Shaq never bothered to work on throughout his career, was the very thing that cost his team the victory in this series. He shot a putrid 9-20 at the line last night…uh, those all counted Shaq, especially since your team lost by 5 points.

And, yeah, I’ve got to go back to my other favorite whipping boy, Amare Stoudamire. He was frustrated after the game, but not at himself. Instead, he concentrated his wrath on others…

About Mike D’Antoni’s decision to focus the offense through Boris Diaw, he said, “The decision was made by the head coach. We’ve got to live with it.”

Continue reading "Let’s Talk Suns"