Odom Is Burning It Up The keys to the Laker-Sun series were supposed to be Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, even Kwame Brown. Lamar Odom's name was hardly mentioned, but the Laker forward is averaging 21 points, 10.5 rebounds, four assists and 63% shooting in two games. He is also scraping the court for highlight-reel material, such as his floor-burn save of a rebound that he passed to Bryant for a dunk late in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' Game 2 victory. -- Los Angeles Times One Win Not Enough To Be Satisfied Easy now, guys. Don't get too pleased with yourselves. Don't go thinking you've accomplished something here. Hey, Lakers, you've won one game. A very well played game. A hard fought and deserved playoff victory on the road in Phoenix. Congratulations. It's just that it takes four of those to advance, and dare we even mention, 15 more for that shining gold ball. With youth, with collective and individual playoff inexperience, there can be a tendency in these situations to get a tad too happy. To start believing you've actually got this playoff thing down. -- Los Angeles Daily News Phil Has Lakers Banding Together It's the time of the season when Phil Jackson slips a championship ring onto one of his fingers, a symbol of past greatness and a reminder of the possibility of future triumph. He is now wearing his 2000 championship ring, the first of three he won as Laker coach, when a dynasty was in its infancy and potential was finally fulfilled after lingering uncomfortably for a few years. The parallels aren't as strong with the current Lakers, who missed the playoffs last season and are seeded No. 7 in the Western Conference. But it was Jackson who wrote "15" on the locker-room board after they won in Phoenix to even their first-round series with the Suns at 1-1. -- Brown Stops The Finger-Pointing They all heard how Kwame Brown blamed others for his shortcomings when he played for the Washington Wizards. They all read the stories about how Brown refused to be accountable. This season, Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw noticed those tendencies in Brown. Shaw and the rest of the Lakers coaching staff had to put a stop to it. Now, four months later, Brown finally seems to be willing to accept responsibility. -- Riverside Press-Enterprise
