By GREGG PATTON, The Press-Enterprise

Over the years, we've gotten used to the Los Angeles Lakers and their drama-rama aura.

But the Lamar Odom negotiations were a little strange even by their standards. To sum up the month-long process:

Sunday night, Juan Pierre picked up three hits, two RBI, a run scored, a stolen base, led the Los Angeles Dodgers to victory over the Angels -- and got one day closer to a seat on the bench.

When they walked off the Amway Arena court Thursday night, the Los Angeles Lakers clenched their fists, sweat dripping from every pore, and celebrated an overtime win that didn't give them an NBA championship, but sure seemed like it.

Ho hum or uh-oh?
Over the next couple of days, the Los Angeles Lakers' consciousness likely will waver somewhere in between the two.
Was the loss to Orlando on Tuesday night just an expected and predictable detour on the road to an inevitable Lakers' championship?

We may be looking at Kobe Bryant's wildest dream.
While trying to win his first championship as the lead singer of his own band, the Los Angeles Lakers' veteran seems primed to dominate the stage.
At least going by the 100-75 win over Orlando on Thursday night at Staples Center.

Now are they ready? Is it the Los Angeles Lakers' time? Is the NBA championship in their pocket?
Because, honestly, people, I can't keep track. I do know that since the Lakers played really well against Denver the last five quarters of the Western Conference finals, I'm hearing those voices again. They're the best!

For the Los Angeles Lakers, the sweep in Denver was too much to hope for.
And maybe even work for.
If rebounding is the labor-intensive stat in a box score, then it was easy to identify how Denver constructed the win in Game 4 that evened the series at two games apiece.

Its nervous time again in for Los Angeles Lakers fans.
This time, deservedly so.
Denver evened up its series with the Lakers with a 106-103 win Thursday night at Staples Center, and that's a lot scarier than taking a 1-1 tie in games off to Houston.
In some ways, the Lakers played even better than they did in their Game 1 victory over Denver.

One down, just three sweaty, grueling, grinding, nail-biting victories to go and the Los Angeles Lakers are in the NBA Finals.
As expected, the Denver Nuggets aren't the Houston Rockets.
Not by a long shot.

Now why was that so hard?
It took seven games for the Los Angeles Lakers to put away the Houston Rockets, but at least they say they've learned their lesson.