Lamar Odom was born on November 6, 1979.
Thirty years later, he has a championship ring and a wife to cap a fantastic personal year.
Happy Birthday Lamar!
Archive for the 'Players' Category
Lakers.com’s Ty Nowell had the camera rolling during Pau Gasol’s post-practice workout on Thursday afternoon, which shows the nimble seven-footer to be moving quite well.
Over on the main website, we took a closer look at Gasol’s hamstring and Andrew Bynum’s elbow, with video from the two seven footers, plus Phil Jackson and Lamar Odom.
Lakers starting center Andrew Bynum sprained his right elbow on one of the final plays of L.A.’s 103-102 overtime victory in Houston.
Bynum, who finished the game with 17 points, 17 rebounds, a career-high tying five assists and three blocks, will be re-evaluated in the morning.
Good news for Lakers fans on Pau Gasol’s hamstring injury: He’s good to go.
Lakers spokesman John Black confirmed prior to L.A.’s Wednesday night contest in Houston that Gasol’s doctors in Spain agreed with the diagnosis of L.A.’s doctors and team athletic trainer Gary Vitti that the injury is healed.
Gasol has been cleared to resume basketball activities, which he commenced by running, jumping and shooting prior to the Rockets game. The All-Star forward is also expected to practice on Thursday, and if there’s no set back, he is cleared to play in games as soon as Phil Jackson thinks Gasol is ready to conditioning wise.
****UPDATE: Bryant’s fever went down before the game, and his temperature was at a normal level. He will start. Phil Jackson also said that Pau Gasol would miss his fourth straight game, and that the MRI of Gasol’s hamstring had not yet come in to the team.
Lakers spokesman John Black confirmed that Kobe Bryant has a fever and a sore throat, and is listed as “questionable” for tonight’s game against Oklahoma City.
The Lakers did not play well in Friday night’s 94-80 loss to Dallas (OK, they did the opposite).
Yet coming off an emotional Ring Night win to open the season and again playing without Pau Gasol, a loss in October wasn’t exactly the end of the world for the Lakers.
That, of course, didn’t mean that Kobe Bryant was at all interested in losing again.
So on Sunday against Atlanta, he scored 31 points in three quarters to open a 22-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, then checked back in to thwart a Hawks’ comeback attempt that had cut L.A.’s lead to 10 points with just over four minutes remaining. When the final buzzer sounded, Bryant had amassed 41 points, eight rebounds, three assists and five steals to lead the Lakers to their second victory of the young season.
As good as he was, and as easily as he found the bottom of the bucket, Bryant credited the outstanding defensive energy of Ron Artest (who locked up Joe Johnson after he had scored 18 first quarter points mostly on Bryant) and the all-around play of Lamar Odom (who nearly reached a triple-double with 11 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists) without mentioning his own name.
But it was Bryant who came out in attack mode particularly to start the game and the second half, almost as if to let his teammates and the Hawks know how things would turn out before they got any other ideas. The Finals MVP went for 13 points in an otherwise tepid first quarter as the Lakers held a two-point lead, then exploded in the third for 14 more points to turn a six-point halftime edge into a 22-point lead heading into the final quarter.
Not that it was a surprise to anyone in the building. After all, of L.A.’s 17 regular season losses last season, only four came in back-to-back style, and Atlanta’s Maurice Evans - who used to guard Bryant in practice when he was a Laker - was wary of No. 24’s expectations prior to the game.
“You have to focus on bringing the effort and energy for 48 minutes or as long as you’re out there because he doesn’t have weaknesses,” said Evans. ” He constantly attacks and he’s constantly effective out there, so if you don’t match his energy he’ll just roll over you.”
“Roll over” the Hawks did not, but they also had no answer whatsoever for Bryant.
Since Evans comes off the bench for Atlanta, the first time he saw Kobe face-to-face came with 3:16 left in the first quarter, and Bryant faced him up about 17 feet away from the basket. Evans stayed off Kobe a few feet, attempting to take away driving lanes, so Bryant simply rose up and nailed a jumper for his 10th point of the quarter. Evans was more successful on Bryant’s next shot, a turnaround fadeaway from nearly the same spot, but when Evans lost Bryant in transition three possessions later, Kobe sprinted to the corner and knocked down a three-pointer. What Evans had yet to see was Bryant on the block.
“I think that as he gets older his body takes more of a beating, so if he’s able to get it in a good position down low, he doesn’t have to expend as much energy to score the ball,” Evans said. “I’d almost prefer to see him on the block, because that way you can get quick help from a double-team. But out there on the perimeter, he has everything at his disposal.”
Phil Jackson said after Saturday’s practice that Pau Gasol would not play on Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks.
It’s the third straight regular season game missed by the Spaniard, who strained his hamstring in the preseason.
After Thursday’s practice in El Segundo, we learned that Pau Gasol would miss his second consecutive game when the Mavericks come to town for a 7:30 PM tip at STAPLES Center.
Phil Jackson, however, remains unconcerned with Gasol’s hamstring strain and said that the team is simply being overly cautious to ensure that the Spanish big man is entirely comfortable when he returns.
“We’re not worried about it,” he said. “We’re just taking it real slow. Don’t you worry about it.”
Jackson also suggested that Gasol might be able to play in Sunday’s game against Atlanta.
But until Gasol plays, the very capable Lamar Odom (16 points and 13 rebounds in L.A.’s opening win) will slide into Pau’s spot in the rotation, and against Dallas be charged with defending Dirk Nowitzki, which Gasol did very well last season. Jackson added that having Ron Artest – who can also guard Nowitzki – on the roster makes it easier to be cautious with Gasol, since Artest is so versatile at both ends of the floor.
A quick injury note: Lakers guard Kobe Bryant missed Monday’s practice with a sore left foot, but is listed as “probable” on L.A.’s injury report.
Bryant is expected to start against the Clippers for L.A.’s 7:30 p.m. tipoff at STAPLES Center.
