No Concerns About Odom

Until Wednesday’s victory over the Chicago Bulls, the Clippers’ one-two inside combination of Elton Brand and Lamar Odom hadn’t accomplished much in three exhibitions. Brand missed several shots and neither player received significant playing time.

Brand broke loose for 22 points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes in a 110-102 victory against the Bulls, his former team.

Odom did not play because of flu-like symptoms and it’s uncertain whether he will play tonight against the Mavericks in Dallas, the fourth stop on a five-exhibition trip for the Clippers (2-2).

Coach Alvin Gentry isn’t concerned about Odom, the team’s leading scorer last season with a 17.2 average.

“I’m not worried about Lamar Odom,” Gentry said. “When the lights come on for real, he’ll be ready.”

Gentry said Brand “looked great” against Chicago. He also praised Keyon Dooling and Quentin Richardson for their work against the Bulls, but remains troubled by at least one thing.

“I’m concerned with the rebounding,” he said. “We’re giving up too many offensive rebounds. We gave up 16 [against the Bulls]. That’s way too many. I thought we did fine on our free throws [24 for 31, 77.4%] and we did a great job keeping our turnovers down.”

Last week, Gentry said two keys to the Clippers’ season will be rebounding and turnovers.