Los Angeles-The Clippers regained the Pacific Division lead by beating Utah on Saturday 107-94, with a huge boost from and Lamar Odom.
It was a very rare night at the Staples Center on Saturday night. Odom went ballistic with a breakout performance- 18 points, six rebounds and two assists. We haven’t witnessed this Odom since his Lakers days. Whatever the case might be the timing couldn’t be perfect with the playoffs just around the corner. The Clippers will need big plays from Odom in order to be a legit contender in the playoffs.
“He came out, and there was that Lamar Odom that everybody around here has grown to know and love,” said Chris Paul. “With the spirit that he has, you have no choice but to be happy for him. That’s my guy. I’ve been waiting for him to do this because we know he’s capable of it, and we hope there’s more to come.”
After showing up to camp 30 pounds overweight, Odom has finally began to transform into the player everyone fell in love with. He has so much to offer to a basketball team. It was just a matter of time before the drought ended. He looked confident, focused and comfortable on Saturday night out there. It wasn’t the same confused player we’ve been seeing, something was different about about him.
Perhaps, Odom realized his value as a versatile player and what he can do on the basketball court; Maybe he figured out his purpose and identity on the team. When you are playing with a lot of talent on one roster, it’s hard to acclimate to new conditions. But with a teammate like Paul on your team it’s not hard to find your groove, he encourages Odom to shoot the ball without hesitation.
“All season long we’ve been yelling at him to shoot it,” Paul said. “Now he’s starting to shoot it. At the end of the day, you have the confidence in yourself and we all have the utmost confidence in him. Out of a timeout, we drew up a play for him, and I’m one of the guys who is always telling him to shoot it. You’re always open, shoot it. If he gets it going like this for us now, it just makes us that much more dangerous.”
Paul credited Odom as the hero of the game;e told reporters that if it wasn’t for Odom’s aggressiveness and performance on Saturday night, there’s no way they would’ve won that game.
It’s no surprise that Odom has finally broke out of his shell- and the Clippers aren’t depending on him to drop 18 points every game. But they ‘re relieved that he’s starting to play like a champion. Odom resume speaks for itself and that’s how he earned his respect around the league. If he continues to play with urgency the Clippers are going to be a migraine headache. It’s always good to have a great supportive system from your teammates.
“He was unbelievable,” Griffin said after the game. “That’s the kind of scoring I remember from Lamar back when he was with the Lakers when he was on championship teams and won the Sixth Man of the Year. He’s so tough to stop because he’s so versatile. There’s flashes of him scoring like that, and the thing about him is he handles the ball so well and he really wants to pass first, so a lot of times in games, we’ll be on the bench or in the game, and I’ll tell him to shoot it and look at the rim, and tonight he was and it was a good thing.”
Tamara is a graduate of Cal State Los Angeles where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism. Tamara is passionate about covering sports. She has covered the NBA and Major League Baseball routinely for the past several years. A Southern California native, Tamara developed her skills as a sports journalist while working for various Los Angeles-based news publications.
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