Time to Step Up, Lamar Odom

I know this term gets thrown around a lot, but I figured what the heck.

Lamar Odom is the X-Factor.

Role players are so vital to the cause. As such, I wanted to rank the importance of our role players, the guys that will have the largest impact on the outcome of the Finals.

1. Lamar Odom – Mr. Versatile.
2. Trevor Ariza – Creates havoc on D.
3. Andrew Bynum – Can’t teach size, something we will need versus Dwight Howard.
4. Derek Fisher/Jordan Farmar/Shannon Brown – The 3-headed monster, with each guy bringing something different:  Heart, speed, and hunger.
5. Sasha Vujacic/Luke Walton – One solid game from each could be the difference in any one game.

Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain had Happy Hairston; Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had Michael Cooper; Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal had Robert Horry; Kobe and Pau Gasol…well, I think most of us are hoping that 10 years from now, we can look back on this season and say those two were able to win it all because of Lamar Odom.

His performance in Games 5 and 6 versus Denver last series was insipring. The numbers might suggest that we do not need him to win (averaged only 8/9 vs the Rockets), but I would argue his good play goes beyond simply making things easier for us; he is what will push us over the top versus the Magic.

Everyone will focus on the points he scored (19 and 20), but it was his high activity level that resulted in those points and led him to be a force on defense (four blocks in Game 5). I think he also took it personal, the rebounding pounding we took in Game 4. He grabbed 14 and eight rebounds in Games 5 and 6 off the bench, helping us cut the rebounding difference from -18 in Game 4 to -1 in Game 5 and +11 in Game 6.

I thought Phil Jackson said it best in an interview during Game 5 when he said that Lamar is so versatile and can affect the game in so many ways that he needs to be active and stay out of foul trouble, so that he can have a positive effect on games, like he did to end the series. We all know, if he plays like he can, we are unstoppable. He is a nightmare match up for anyone, but can be especially tough for Rashard Lewis. LO can defend him out to the 3-point line and will not get beat by him in the post. Plus, Odom has a huge rebounding advantage and if he stays aggressive on offense, maybe he can tire Rashard out a little, so those threes in the fourth quarter will be tougher to knock down.

I know he struggled in the two games versus the Magic during the regular season (the game in Orlando he was awful as he went 1-7 from the field with four points and six fouls; the game in LA was better as he put up 17/9/3 and only had two fouls), but, to me, if there ever was a series for him to take over, this was it. The nice thing about him coming off the bench, is that you do not need him to dominate every single game. If he can pull out two or three top performances, which we all know he can easily do – say 15/10 with great defense — we won’t lose.

Lamar Odom

1st Rd 17.8 ppg 11.0 rpg

2nd Rd 8.3 ppg 8.9 rpg

3rd Rd 11.5 ppg 9.0 rpg

• In the first four games vs the Nuggets, he only averaged 7.5 ppg and 8.0 rpg; in the last two wins, he averaged 19.5 ppg and 11 rpg.
• We are 4-1 in the playoffs when he has a double-double.
• We are 8-2 when he scores in double figures.
• This league is about making shots:  In wins, he is shooting 55% from the field, 57% from three, and 65% from the foul line; in losses, he is only shooting 45% from the field, 33% from three, and 44% from the foul line.
• The biggest factor for Lamar:  He is averaging only 2.3 fouls in wins; 4.3 fouls in losses. He needs to be on the floor to be effective.
• As a side note, he played very well versus the Celtics in the Finals last year, averaging 13.5 ppg, 9 rpg, 3 apg, 1 bpg, on 52% from the field.

I expect big things from The Candy Man (and I don’t mean Michael Olowokandi).

The Lakers Need an Edge

After watching the Lakers lose to the Blazers and the beat the Rockets, I have determined the keys to success.

1. The offense clearly gets their defense going; at least we become more aggressive.  Missed shots — especially long shots, which means long rebounds — lead to fast breaks.
2. Interest/Focus, meaning the Lakers almost looked bored to start the Portland game, and maybe that was due to how easy the Memphis/Minnesota games were.  We saw it again in the Spurs game where we relaxed after a big first quarter.  When we are focused, we run our offensive sets, take our time, show patience, plus we  keep our heads in the game on D.  We get in trouble when we slip-up on our assignments (due to a lack of focus) that tend to lead to lay ups and open threes.
   
3. Lamar Odom cannot get into foul trouble, especially early on, because he has proven time and time again that he cannot play with fouls.
4. The Lakers bench no longer blows other teams’ second units away.  What they need to do is bring back that high energy they used to play with to keep things close.  Lately, the unit has played uninspired and look lost on offense.

During the Blazers game, we simply looked tired.  The Rockets game rejuvenated our guys as we found a reason to play at a high level.  The Lakers were without LO (who had to sit out a game for defending his teammate when Brandon Roy came charging out of no where; I cannot blame him for that), so you know other guys had to step up.  A perfect example was when Derek Fisher knocked down his first three jumpers.

As far as that Rockets game goes, I am ready to put Kobe Bryant’s finish to that game in his personal greatest-ever moments — at least top five.  18 points in the final five minutes; 12 in the last 1:42 on 4-4 shooting.  The first quarter was just high energy and good offense for both teams.  The second quarter we got off to a 16-6 run (finally a good stretch for our bench), only to watch the Rocket’s bench explode on a 14-0 run (lapses/focus, see a trend?).  All of this was due to sloppy possessions, leading to fast breaks, and we let them out-hustle us.

After letting Yao Ming and Luis Scola both go 7-8 in first 30 minutes as the Rockets destroyed us on the inside, we allowed Yao and Scola to combine for 3-7 shooting in the second half, by packing the paint.  The Lakers reversed their fortunes in the third by crashing the boards (three tip-ins and eight second chance points) and by securing every missed shot, we forced them play 1-on-1 instead of the good ball movement they had in the first half.

Back to how good Kobe is.  At around the four minute mark in the fourth, he starts in the low block and gets pushed (and yes that is a foul) all the way out to 20 feet, frees himself up, and goes by Ron Artest who manages to poke it away, recovers it and forces a shot up and over Carl Landry and Scola. Count the basket, and one.  Next time down, he gets it poked away by Artest again, recovers it near half court, turns and nails a 28-footer.

This truly is where amazing happens — yes I just went corny on you, NBA style!  Oh, and he followed that up with back to back to back great plays off Gasol picks in which he sliced and diced his way around and over Yao for a lefty lay in, then stopped, double-clutched, and nailed a jumper over Artest, and finished it off with another jumper over Battier, plus the foul.  He hit 6-7 FTs down the stretch, and got a mini MVP champ. 

He is an assassin and I wished it rubbed off.

What I would have given to be a fly on the wall to hear the trash talking going on between he and Artest at the end of that game!

I did notice that by packing the paint and focusing doubles on Yao resulted in their PFs (Scola/Landry) getting free for easy baskets.  It did not matter as the Lakers beat a great home team that was 27-6 at home going into that game.  

As a side note, Von Wafer was 6-6 in the fourth and now has two 20 point games versus us.  Read my previous article for more on ex-Laker Wafer.

The Lakers first quarter versus the Spurs was a thing of beauty.  Near perfection.  

However, there were two things that were troubling.  1) The bench, which has been struggling for a while now, was awful.  That is when the Spurs made their big push.  2) Did anyone else notice the Spurs shot lights out for the game (52.1%), yet only 22 of their 95 points were in the paint?!?

That is unheard of.  With all that good outside shooting, not to mention yet another complementary player — Michael Finley 25 points — have his best game of the year, by far, yet the Lakers still held on in San Antonio.  The Spurs overcame that big lead no problem, but I was just impressed how our guys held on.

I am still stunned, because a couple of my friends and I spent the past week ripping the Lakers D for not being able to stop guys inside (especially against Shaquille O’Neal and the Suns), but then we managed to hold Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, two of the best inside scorers, to only 22 points inside.

Someone brought up that the Spurs were without Manu Ginobilli, I guess as an excuse for them.  It just made me realize how we (Lakers fans) take for granted that we are without our big man, Andrew Bynum.  We are playing so well (16-4) without him, that we do not even notice he is missing, but we notice Manu is out and how much it affects the Spurs.  Manu may be more important, but Bynum is still a big, physical force that can help.  He clogs up the middle, strengthens our bench (whether he starts and moves Odom there or goes to the bench himself), and gets us easy buckets in the form of ally-oops and offensive rebounds.

Lakers need to gain an edge.  When you are defined as soft, you need to step up and show you will not be pushed around and that you won’t back down.  Trevor Ariza’s hard foul on Rudy Fernandez and Lamar’s subsequent suspension showed two things:  1) We are not afraid to dish out punishment.  2) We will stand by our guys.

Kobe also got up in Artest’s face, and even pushed him back showing he too will not back down.  Holding off a superior team, like the Spurs, in their building is another good sign.  I do not mind when things get a little chippy, or when we are presented with a challenge.  It might end up being what defines our success.  At the very least, the Lakers’ players showed they do have a pulse, they do care, and they are going to fight and scrap for everything.

We no longer have an enforcer, a Rick Fox type — you know, the guy who gives hard fouls and is not afraid to get in a guys’ grill.  What we do have is Kobe and he needs to be the guy that gives everyone an edge —  most likely in the form of his intense play and his ability to instill confidence in teammates to let them know they are never out of any game and that the season is far from over and things are far from being decided.

The formula would appear to be simple:  When things go well on offense, other teams cannot get out and run, we can set up our defense, stay aggressive, focused, and keep our heads in the game.

Basically, we just need to stop beating ourselves.

We are not without our deficiencies:

• Weak interior defense.
• Poor pick and roll D.
• We occasionally struggle to generate offense with Kobe on the bench (at least lately).
• Inability to sustain early leads.

We also have guys who take themselves out of games — LO fouls, Pau Gasol needs others to actually pass him the ball, Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic need to see the ball go in early. 

There are also lapses during games.  For example, versus Portland, we came out missing shots in the first quarter, let a guy come off the bench and destroy us with no adjustments (Outlaw 3-3 threes and 17 points in the second quarter alone), and as good a defensive rebounding team as we are, we let them grab way too many offensive boards in that third quarter (mental lapses) that stopped us from making the run we needed. 

The games are 48 minutes long, the season is 82 games.  If we want Home Court in the Finals, we have to play every minute of every game.  Like LeBron James said after the comeback versus the Clippers, we have to play “as if it’s our last.”

With easily the most talent in the NBA, the only way the Lakers get beat is for a team to out-hustle us and get physical with us.

Shaquille O’Neal — The Great Pontificator?

Shaquille O’Neal has brought Lakers fans much joy over the years, and although he left us and went on to win a ring elsewhere, he is destined to go down in the pantheon of great Laker centers, and will one day see his name enshrined in the Hall of Fame and his jersey lifted to the rafters at STAPLES Center alongside Wilt, Kareem, and Miken.

Why? Because everyone enjoys the fun-loving big guy who has brought us everything from championships (three-peat) to fueds (Kobe/Shaq/Phil) to raps (”Kobe couldn’t do without me”) to movies (Blue Chips, Kazaam, and Steel) to, of course, his infamous self-nicknames (”The Diesel,” “Shaq Fu,” “The Big Aristotle,” “Shaqfuscious,” The Big Shaqtus,” and “The Big Galactus,” just to name a few).

While Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom man the paint today, it was Shaquille O’Neal who, not only took control of the team in the early part of the century, but has dominated the position for nearly two decades now.

I looked at the stats of the recent great big men of the past 20 years and have compiled a few lists.

Double-double with 5 blocks (point-rebounds-blocks)

*(games/seasons)

1. Hakeem Olajuwon  (198/18)
2. Dikembe Mutombo  (157/17)
3. David Robinson  (144/14)
4. Patrick Ewing  (117/17)
5. Shaquille O’Neal  (109/16)
6. Tim Duncan  (88/11)
7. Alonzo Mourning  (87/15)
8. Dwight Howard  (28/5)
9. Kevin Garnett  (25/13)
10. Yao Ming  (19/6)
11. Pau Gasol  (17/7)
12. Karl Malone  (5/19)
13. Dirk Nowitzki  (4/10)
14. Lamar Odom (2/9)
15. Charles Barkley  (2/13)

30-10-5 (pts-reb-blk)

1. Charles Barkley  (67)
2. Hakeem Olajuwon  (59)
3. Shaquille O’Neal  (46)
4. Patrick Ewing  (40)
5. David Robinson  (40)
6. Tim Duncan  (12)
7. Dwight Howard  (3)
8. Kevin Garnett  (2)
9. Pau Gasol  (2)
10. Lamar Odom  (0)

The stat that defines Pau Gasol’s game is versatility (20-10-5, pts-reb-ast)

1. Kevin Garnett  (239)
2. Karl Malone  (212)
3. Charles Barkley  (201)
4. Hakeem Olajuwon  (111)
5. Shaquille O’Neal  (110)
6. Tim Duncan  (102)
7. David Robinson  (89)
8. Dirk Nowitzki  (59)
9. Pau Gasol  (41)
10. Lamar Odom (37)
11. Patrick Ewing  (37)
12. Yao Ming  (10)
13. Alonzo Mourning  (8)
14. Dwight Howard  (5)
15. Dikembe Mutombo  (1)

30-10-5 (pts-reb-ast)

1. Karl Malone  (95)
2. Charles Barkley  (67)
3. Shaquille O’Neal  (47)
4. Hakeem Olajuwon  (45)
5. Kevin Garnett  (37)
6. Tim Duncan  (35)
7. Pau Gasol  (8)
8. Lamar Odom  (4)
9. Dwight Howard  (1)

Dwight Howard is quickly becoming the 20-20 king (pts-reb)

1. Shaquille O’Neal  (109)
2. Charles Barkley  (37)
3. Hakeem Olajuwon  (35)
4. Kevin Garnett  (27)
5. Dwight Howard  (23)
6. Tim Duncan  (19)
7. Patrick Ewing  (18)
8. David Robinson  (13)
9. Karl Malone  (12)
10. Dikembe Mutombo  (9)
11. Dirk Nowitzki  (5)
12. Yao Ming  (3)
13. Alonzo Mourning  (2)
14. Lamar Odom (1)
15. Pau Gasol  (0)

The Shaq stat is the 40-20 (pts-reb)

1. Shaquille O’Neal  (4)
2. Charles Barkley  (3)
3. Patrick Ewing  (2)
4. Hakeem Olajuwon  (1)

30-15-3-3 (pts-reb-ast-blk)

1. Shaquille O’Neal  (37)
2. Hakeem Olajuwon  (30)
3. David Robinson  (20)
4. Patrick Ewing  (17)
5. Tim Duncan  (16)
6. Charles Barkley  (8)
7. Kevin Garnett  (5)
8. Karl Malone  (4)
9. Dwight Howard  (3)
10. Alonzo Mourning  (3)
11. Dirk Nowitzki  (1)
12. Yao Ming  (1)
13. Lamar Odom (0)
    
14. Pau Gasol  (0)

30-15-3-3 (pts-reb-stl-blk)

1. Hakeem Olajuwon  (16)
2. David Robinson  (12)
3. Shaquille O’Neal  (4)
4. Charles Barkley  (3)
5. Patrick Ewing  (3)
6. Karl Malone  (2)
7. Kevin Garnett  (1)
8. Dwight Howard  (1)
9. Tim Duncan  (1)
10. Dirk Nowitzki  (1)
11. Yao Ming  (1)
12. Alonzo Mourning  (0)
13. Lamar Odom (0)
14. Pau Gasol  (0)

I want to first mention that I think we take for granted just how good Barkley, Olajuwon, Robinson, Ewing, and Malone were.

Shaq reigns supreme. He has been the most dominant center in the past 20 years.

While Dwight already has 23 “20-20″ games in his young career; Shaq has 109. The next closest is Barkley with 37. Shaq also has three more “40-20″ games than three pointers made in his career, and he has only made one in 16 years. He ranks in the top five in every category above; six of which he is in the top three; and he is on top of the “20-20,” “40-20,” and “30-15-3-3″ assist and steals lists.

For as much flack as he has received over the years for his conditioning and focus, he still managed to put up some astounding numbers:

• He grabbed 20 or more rebounds in a game 35 times; 11 of those games he had five or more blocks. 
• He has had six or more blocks in a game 49 times, including his career high of 15 at the age of 21.

But what makes Shaq stand out from the pack of dominant big men is his propencity for scoring, perhaps what he is best known for.

• He topped the 40 point mark 49 times in his career
• He has had 247 games of 30 points-10 rebounds
• He has had 716 double-doubles in 1,113 career games or 64% of the time. In comparison, Dwight Howard has 282 double-doubles in 404 games (70%).

Just to note, Pau Gasol has an impressive 41 “20-10-5″ assist games and eight “30-10-5″ games.

LO has 37 “20-10-5″ assist games, four “30-10-5″ games, and one “20-20″ game.

For anyone who wants to know, Andrew Bynum has had four “10-10-5″ games with his best professional game taking place earlier this year versus the Clippers, when he went for 42 points, 15 rebounds, and three blocked shots.

I want to see Andrew Bynum come back healthy and stay healthy the rest of his career. I think he may one day make his way on to some of the above lists.

While it is very likely a healthy Bynum could see five “20-20″ games next year, it is hard to see him ever surpassing Shaq, whose stats, bling, and hardware are up there with anyone.

Shaq/Kobe Fifth and 18th on the All-Time Scoring List

*Bold denotes current and former Lakers

RANK   PLAYER                       G        PPG        PTS

1 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar         1560      24.6      38,387

2 Karl Malone                          1476      25.0      36,928

3 Michael Jordan                     1072      30.1       32,292

4 Wilt Chamberlain               1045       30.1       31,419

5 SHAQUILLE O’NEAL           1096      24.9        27,524

6 Moses Malone                     1329       20.6       27,409

14 Jerry West                         932        27.0        25,192

15 Patrick Ewing                     1183      21.0         24,815

16 Allen Iverson                       883         27.1        23,983

17 Charles Barkley                  1073      22.1         23,757

18 KOBE BRYANT                  927         25.2         23,663

19 Robert Parish                     1611       14.5         23,334

20 Adrian Dantley                    955         24.3         23,177

21 Elgin Baylor                       846          27.4        23,149