<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The first game back from the All-Star break is always an adventure, even with the Western Conference's worst team in town, but the Lakers just might have found a formula that can carry them these last 30 games of the season. They got an aggressive night out of Lamar Odom, held the NBA's 30th-ranked offensive team below its scoring average and let Kobe Bryant finish things off in the fourth quarter. It added up to a 99-82 victory Tuesday night at Staples Center and a step in the right direction for the Lakers, who sit eighth in the Western Conference standings, two games ahead of Utah, two games behind the Hornets. Odom finished with 20 points and a season-high 17 rebounds while Bryant scored 15 of his game-high 27 in the fourth quarter. The Lakers also gave up a whopping 31 fewer points to the Blazers than in their 113-103 loss to Portland last month. Then again, the Lakers' defense also was aided by an unbelievably bad night at the foul line for the Blazers, who made just 12 of 28 (42.9 percent) from the line. Portland also was playing without injured centers Joel Przybilla and Theo Ratliff. Odom, meanwhile, found his rhythm at the end of the first quarter, tossing in a hook shot as Bryant gave up the ball to him, then driving for a dunk against Viktor Khryapa with 3.0 seconds left. He came out of halftime and drilled a jumper on the Lakers' first possession. Odom also drove for two layups against Travis Outlaw, one at the end of the third quarter, one at the start of the fourth. "I've just got an aggressive mindset right now," said Odom, who is still bothered by a rib injury from earlier this month. It also was the end to one of the strangest stats of the Lakers' season. They were 0-7 when Odom took 15 or more shots before he went 9 of 21 in Tuesday's victory. "When he's playing like that," Bryant said, "he's being aggressive, he's taking the open jumper, and does a good job moving the ball, we're a very, very dangerous team." The Lakers led by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter, only to see their lead shrink to 74-66. That was when Bryant took over, driving through all five Blazers for a layup, knocking down two 3-pointers and drilling two jumpers. </div> Source
It's true what Kobe said. The Lakers are a dangerous team when Odom is playing as aggressive as he did last night. I don't know if he's incapable of keeping up his endurance or he gets winded all the time, but if he played like last night for the rest of the season, we would be doing a whole lot better. I hope Odom realizes that
annnnnndd he'll probably have a whopping 5 points tomorrow (if he's even still around tomorrow) ... my opinion anyways
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"I've just got an aggressive mindset right now," said Odom</div>that sums it all up..
haha. lol. if odom was consistent, we would be a very dangerous team. i just hope he can keep it up. if he can do it once every two games, id be happy.
hes probably gonna get like 2 to 9 points and in like 3 games later he'll probably put up like 20...just stick with one pace hes always up and down which annoys me if hes actually a good player or not
I think there are too much ego structure in L.A. right now. It seems like the team won't allow the "role players" to see what they can bring to the table, because they're too concerned about keeping the structure of Kobe with Lamar as the secondary guy and so on. there is an ego pyramid. Then they go IF Lamar is consistent we can be good. Why don't you just try and get whoever wants to play hard every night on the floor and if that means Lamar comes off the bench then so be it. But they're too protective of Lamar's ego. Look at Phoenix. THey are a selfless team. They aren't saying okay you're an MVP type player, you're an all-star player, you're a good starter, you're a bench player, etc. they just say you're a player now PLAY. Why don't you give Brian Cook a chance to be a core player or Smush or whoever? Odom gets way too much respect just because he has "talent". Talent is overrated. Come to play every night.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting philip2136:</div><div class="quote_post">hes probably gonna get like 2 to 9 points and in like 3 games later he'll probably put up like 20...just stick with one pace hes always up and down which annoys me if hes actually a good player or not</div> if he has 3 games...
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Talent is overrated. Come to play every night.</div> Preach.
