Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times reports:
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Lamar Odom is not only one of the most genuinely good guys in all of Los Angeles sports, but also one of the most maddening. The Lakers need him, but, even after six years here, they don’t really know him. Even this spring, while he’s finally wearing one of their rings, they haven’t figured him out.
Is he the guy who finished so well against Oklahoma City, or who had trouble getting started against Utah? Is he the guy who went for 19 points and 19 rebounds against Phoenix or was he, as the Suns’ Amare Stoudemire said, just lucky?
So far in the Finals, he’s been neither. So far, he’s been less involved than Dustin Hoffman. With the series tied at one game apiece, he’s averaging four points and five rebounds in an average of 18 foul-ridden minutes per game.
From the moment one of Kobe Bryant’s passes bounced oddly off his chest in Game 1, Odom hasn’t been able to match the moment. Is his cluttered head there? Is his bruised body there? We know the Kardashian family is there, and that’s enough to make anyone lose his marbles.
