A winning game and a sixth man award!

All at once, our Lakers are taking on a whole
new look. Lamar Odom was presented with
"The Best off the Bench" 6th man award
in honor - reserved only for him. A very quiet
and unassuming man this is and very into
team effort playing. One by one Lamar Odom's
Lakers teammates rose and gave him a standing
ovation Tuesday as he accepted his Sixth Man
of the Year Award at a hotel ceremony near the
Los Angeles International airport."Sit down man,"
he told them laughing. Lamar is the first Laker
to win this award. He has recently married
Khloe Kardashian and landed his own reality
show with his wife too. Quite a versatile fellow!

Yes, we won! After the terrible loss on Sunday, we
were all most grateful for the energy levels and the
determination shown in Wednesdays game.
During the first quarter it still did not look too good.
In fact, Pau Gasol still seems a bit lethargic in his
playing which is worrisome but Lamar picked up
the slack and even Steve Blake made his own
contribution. Still weakened, however, since his
bout with having chicken pox and in bed for a week,
he showed up with vigor and made a real attempt
to help his team out. He wore a headband to try
and cover up some of the pox spots all the same.
Kobe Bryant and our Andrew Bynum were the
players we all rave over today. Drew made 17 points
and 11 rebounds and celebrated his scoring before
getting fouled in the second quarter. He was a real
force in the paint & as coach Phil Jackson reminds
us,"We're just about playing basketball. We're not
trying to blow anybody away. We have to play the
right way offensively and defensively,then it will
be a great game". The worst mistake made during
the first game played in playoffs was the lack of
energy. In game 2 our Lakers marched in lockstep
with the Hornets almost from the opening tip and
then began asserting themselves in the 2nd. quarter.
Final score on Wednesday's game was 87-78.
Now we play Friday night and Sunday night in
New Orleans and try to continue with our energy
levels high and work on our pick and rolls.
This last game was but a wee glimpse but it was
an impressive one so we can only hope for more
of the same. High Five lads!
Babs Wells