Odom Nears Point Blank

The Lakers are back, at least some of their drama is, with Lamar Odom voicing his desire to score more often and Coach Phil Jackson, hesitant to fiddle with one of the few Lakers who will “give the damn ball up,” saying not so fast.

A 4-6 start does not a satisfied franchise make, with continual struggles to grasp the triangle offense, Kobe Bryant averaging 35 shots over the last three games, and the Lakers falling further behind the Clippers in the Pacific Division.

Bryant is averaging 33 points and Odom only 13.9 -- easily the largest gap in the league between a team’s top two scorers -- which is part of the reason for Odom’s declaration after Tuesday’s practice.

“I have to just put the ball up, just to put it up, try to get these defenses to stop focusing on [Bryant],” Odom said firmly. “We need some scoring. Most likely, it’s going to have to come from me. Next four games, I’m going to look to average 20 points.”

Odom is averaging 9.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists. He is shooting 42.9%, better than only Kwame Brown among starters, and has made only 10 of 35 three-point attempts (28.6%). The Lakers’ next four games are against Seattle, New Jersey, San Antonio and Utah.

Odom said he and Bryant communicate often, and that Bryant encouraged him to shoot more.

“He’s known me for a long time now,” Odom said. “He knows how I like to play. How I like to play and how I have to play is two different things. He wants me to shoot the rock.”

Bryant was not available for comment after Tuesday’s practice, but Jackson was.

“I was really happy with Lamar’s game on Sunday night [against Chicago],” Jackson said. “He made really good passes in the post to players in the first quarter, set our offense up, moving the ball from that position and playing a nice stellar game.

“That’s what we love about Lamar, is he’ll give the damn ball up. We need guys to do that on this team more than we need guys to shoot. He doesn’t need to shoot. If he keeps giving the ball up, we’ll be fine.”

So Odom should ... ?

“Just play his game,” Jackson said. “He doesn’t have to focus on anything more or anything less. I have no fault at all with how Lamar plays. Sure, we’d like to have him have this outstanding shot. That’s not part of his game. His game is really distributing the ball, hitting the open man, getting opportunities for teammates and then taking advantage of people when he has an opportunity in the clutch.”

Odom’s potential has long intrigued Jackson, who late last season told the Laker forward as much. On Tuesday, the coach defended Odom’s overall play and went so far as to criticize a television reporter who questioned the player after Sunday’s game about the number of shots he had taken in a 96-93 loss.

Odom had six points, 10 rebounds and five assists in 30 minutes against Chicago. He did not take a shot in the first quarter and was two for four for the game.

“You put that pressure on him,” Jackson told the reporter. “You were interviewing him after the game, I saw that stuff. You didn’t need to do that. His game was fine. He did a really nice job with his game. He made that pass to [Andrew] Bynum and if he dunks the ball and [Tyson] Chandler doesn’t block that shot, we win the ballgame more than likely, and everybody says what a great pass Lamar made, what a team player he is.”

Odom has been uncharacteristically poor at the free-throw line, making only three of 13 over the last two games, and acknowledged a recent decline in his play.

“Everybody goes through a little slump,” he said. “If you’re a baseball player, you’re going to go through a slump. If you’re a football player, you’re not going to have the stats you have for three or four games. [I’m] just fighting it off, trying to stay confident, which I have no problem doing.”

*

Forward Luke Walton, out since the exhibition season because of a strained hamstring and, more recently, a strained hip flexor, looked tentative in Tuesday’s practice and probably won’t play Thursday against Seattle.

“I don’t think he’s quite ready,” Jackson said.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Downward trend

Laker forward Lamar Odom was averaging 15.8 points a game through the first five games but only 12.0 in the last five:

*--* DATE OPPONENT, RESULT FGM-FGA POINTS Nov. 20 Chicago, 96-93 L 2-4 6 Nov. 18 Clippers, 97-91 L 8-15 18 Nov. 16 New York, 97-92 W 5-10 13 Nov. 14 at Memphis, 85-73 L 3-8 7 Nov. 11 at Philadelphia, 85-81 L 6-10 16 Nov. 9 at Minnesota, 88-74 L 6-16 15 Nov. 8 at Atlanta, 103-97 W 3-8 13 Nov. 6 Denver, 112-92 W 6-13 20 Nov. 3 Phoenix, 122-112 L 7-15 23 Nov. 2 at Denver, 99-97 W 2-13 8

*--*