I have never seen Kobe Bryant laugh that hard and that long on the bench during a Lakers game.
When I mentioned to Lamar Odom after the Lakers’ victory over Chicago that Bryant was sure having a lot of fun with him — Bryant was rolling all over the bench because he thought it that funny that Odom was getting such a raw deal from the referees — Odom agreed.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “I played 23 minutes and fouled out of the game. First time for everything.”
It’s intriguing that one game after Phil Jackson benched an angry Odom early in the fourth quarter for losing focus and indulging frustrations on the court, an angry Odom again bowed out early in the fourth quarter — yet hilarity ensued. That’s a good sign for the Lakers, and all the positive energy that flowed from this game despite the incident between Trevor Ariza and Sasha Vujacic early in the second quarter definitely showed me something about this team.
Jackson joked later that Odom was tagged with “bench players’ fouls” … the sort of tough calls that the more highly esteemed starters don’t get. Odom is now, of course, a reserve. (And Jackson certainly made amends for not playing Odom enough last game, making sure Odom entered midway through the first and third quarters this game.)
Odom was legitimately aggravated by the calls — mostly made by extremely veteran referee Jack Nies — even though Odom wound up laughing about it with Bryant in the end.
“Some of those fouls were tight; that’s all I’m going to say,” Odom said. “Especially now the way we’re playing team defense, some of those fouls were really tight.”
Recent headlines …
thank you kevin, i wanted to read your take on the trevor/sasha ‘fight’
Very interesting article, as usual…you’re by far and away the best local writer for the Lakers.
viclue Says:
November 19th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
OK! Listen fellas. I’m going to need an ice tea drink after I address this LeBron James youngest to score past Kobe. While I understand the NBA’s effort to use James as a marketing tool for the league, I must state that the truth and logic ought to applied to the scenario. Let me get straight to it. Lebron is nearly 24 years of age, right? right. He just broke Kobe’s record of reaching 11,00 points the youngest right? right. Ok. I wonder with all the hoopla about James and all that he is accomplishing in passing Kobe as youngest in scoring, if anyone has thought about the real reality that James has only done this a little more a year earlier than Kobe. This is tricky because Kobe really didn’t start starting untill his 3rd year in the league. His first year, Kobe only averaged about 3-4 points a game off the bench. The next year, Kobe averaged 7 points a game off the bench. His third year, Kobe averaged 13 points a game as a starter. His fourth year Kobe averaged 17 points a game as a starter. Then he just blew up and began rounding into what we know him as today. That is four years that Kobe wasn’t scoring even 20 points per game. If you ask me, if James had been drafted by a team that was not so God awful, he would not have surplanted Kobe as the youngest. All I’m trying to say is, nobody in the league can compare to what Kobe has done since cominiing into the league. Take Kobe’s crown from James, and give back to whom it rightfully belongs. One Kobe Bean Bryant.