A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog entry about Lamar Odom being overrated. Of course, the Laker faithful showed up in full force and defended Odom to the grave. "Look at all the rebounds he gets!" they say. "He's the perfect third man!" they cried.
Well, the day I wrote the article, Odom went off for 26 points (in a loss) against the Jazz. The next game, he scored 22. Lakers fans felt vindicated. Surely, I was wrong, they thought.
Well, Lamar is back to his old self. He's averaging a whopping 9 points and 8 rebounds in the series. He is shooting 0% from 3-point range and hasn't gotten double figures in rebounding once.
Last month, I wrote, "Lamar Odom can't be trusted in the clutch." Nothing is more clutch than the NBA finals, and no one is underachieving more than Lamar Odom.
The Lakers are down 2-1 in this series, and if they have any hope of getting back in this thing, they need Odom to step up. They can't rely on Sasha "the walking shampoo ad" Vujacic to catch fire every single game. But here lies the problem - Odom is in uncharted territory. He has never been on a stage this big before (unless you count the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he averaged 5 points en route to a bronze medal. But let's be honest - that was the worst USA team every assembled. Marbury was the starting PG, so I can't put the US incompetence solely in Odom's hands).
But yet, all the Lakers fans continue to support Odom. Hell, even Boston fans are becoming fans of Odom. Curt Schilling, who knows absolutely nothing about basketball, wrote in his blog that he "became a fan of (Odom) last night". My God, WHY!?!? Is Schilling a huge fan of underachieving professional athletes? Is Adrian Beltre, Larry Hughes, Kyle Boller and Michael Owen on his "favorite athletes list"?
So to all you that defended Odom through these playoffs (where he's averaging below his season averages, by the way), I will not say, "I told you so." But if the Lakers lose this series to the C's, you can't point the finger at Kobe, who's averaging 32-6-6. The finger will be pointed at the supporting cast. And finally, perhaps you'll realize Odom isn't the golden child you all thought he was.
3 comments:
I'm going to break my hand at some point because of Lamar Odom. God I hate that man... and I thought Curt Schilling was being sarcastic because of his terrible play, I didn't even think that he could actually be a Odom fan... The Spurs would be up 3-0 right now...
well he became somewhat more competent when pau arrived. maybe when bynum gets back next season and lamar becomes the fourth option (or better yet, sixth man!) he'll turn into the crazy 6'10 beast everyone always envisioned him being.
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