#34- 1/5: Houston Rockets @ LA Lakers. 7:30.

[Slava]

Lamar Odom gotta be one of the most underachieving player ever in the history of NBA. Look at this guy when he is at his best.

6 10
speed of a shooting guard
7 ft 1 wingspan
quick hand
great dribbling skill for his size
great rebounder
great passer
great court vision for his size
can shoot the 3
can attack the rim anytime he wants to
good basketball IQ
not a selfish player

Who? Not Lebron, it's Odom

if Kobe can lend him half of his attitude and determination we are talking about a legend here.

25/10/7 is what I am looking for

He'll have one of these games every now and then. You are right that he's the perfect physique and skillset for a phenomenal basketball player and he'd got all the chances he needed to come good with the Clippers and the Lakers but his consistency is what lets him down.

[So Gutta]

Solid win tonight by LAL.

We got the lead early, and never let the Rockets get it back. We seemed focused. It's good to see Ron out there again. He really helps increase our overall energy and intensity as a team, especially on the defensive end. Lamar almost had a triple double, Bynum led us in points, and hit some nice crunch time buckets, Kobe did his thing. We held 'em to 79 points, that's an obvious huge plus after giving up sooo many points the last couple of games.

Ariza didn't particulrly impress me tonight. He seems like he's out of his element a little bit now as a primary offensive weapon for a team.

Good showing by the guys tonight! Now let's put the Clippers in their place tomorrow and keep the momentum going.

Oh, and in honor of Rory Markus:

"Just another Laker victory."

[Sedale Threatt]

Everybody raves how weak the Laker bench is, but truth is we don't need 25-35 points from our bench. What we need is solid execution for 5-6 minutes stretches...

That's the thing, though. How often do we get that? That's what makes these guys so frustrating. We don't even need them to be good, just solid, and even that's usually a struggle for them.

[semi-sentient]

Incredible performance by Odom last night. I wish he would play with that kind of energy/focus every game, or at least every other game. Hell, every 3rd game.

Anyway, what a boring game. I was really struggling to stay awake in the 4th quarter. The Rockets play with envious intensity though. Teams like that always stay in ball games and give themselves a chance to win. They'll be a dangerous team in the playoffs, particularly if a guy like Ariza can hit his shots.

[Edrees]

We actually don't really need the bench to score much during the regular season, we just need them to defend more than anything, since usually we have leads that they give up. If they can defend it will be enough to continue giving our starters rest, keep them healthy fron injury, and be ready come playoff time. I agree with Deep3CL.

Also, everytime a Laker is injured and lamar jumps into the starting position we all realize how valuable and good lamar is to this team!

Lamar may not win 6th man of the year but if any team in the league could take any 6th man in the NBA i think every team would pick Lamar.

[Sedale Threatt]

The Rockets play with envious intensity though. Teams like that always stay in ball games and give themselves a chance to win. They'll be a dangerous team in the playoffs, particularly if a guy like Ariza can hit his shots.

I have absolutely no idea why, as they always play us tough, but I still take them lightly. On paper, they look like an expansion team. On the court, they play hard and do all the little things. I really noticed last night how they almost always got four and five guys back on defense. Stuff like that makes a difference. I never, ever thought I'd say any of that stuff about a team coached by Rick Adelman.