ShareThisIt may not have been Babe Ruth calling his shot in front of a full stadium.
But after posting consecutive games of 17, 18 and 19 rebounds, Lamar Odom played along with some pre-game cajoling.
"Tonight," the Lakers forward said with wink before the Los Angeles took the floor against Atlanta Tuesday night, "I'm going for 20."
Say it, then play it.
Odom not only got his 20 rebounds, he added side dishes of 15 points and five assists in a suspense-less 96-83 win.
Odom never seems too far from the wrath of Lakers fans, but "wrath" isn't in the air these days.
With the Lakers heading into the final two months of the season completely in charge of the Western Conference, it's all good for No. 7, whose most recent trick is soothing the frayed nerves of the faithful by elevating his game in the panicky aftermath of Andrew Bynum's knee injury.
When Atlanta coach Mike Woodson noted before Tuesday's game that the Lakers simply "had to grow other players" into the Bynum void, that would be Odom's 6-10, 230-pound frame coming into view.
He began the season in a new role coming off the bench, but had no trouble readjusting to starting.
"I'm comfortable with this team," Odom said. "I knew what to expect from myself."
The people watching at home probably didn't. They would cite a legacy of inconsistency and sporadic intensity that plagued him his first four seasons as sidekick to Kobe Bryant.
It's made him a frequent resident of the local doghouse. For now, he's way out.
Against Boston two weeks ago, he scored 20 points and played a key role in an overtime win that exorcised so much Lakers angst from last June's NBA Finals loss. The next game at Cleveland he really moved the giddy needle with a 28-point, 17-rebound game to help hand the Cavaliers their first home loss and complete a 6-0 sweep of the Lakers' No-Bynum road trip.
Odom followed those landmark games with 12 points and 18 rebounds vs. Oklahoma City, and a 19-point, 19-rebound game at Utah.
Tuesday, 20 was in the air. Bryant teased him after he got 19, and Coach Phil Jackson admitted he left Odom in extra minutes Tuesday to hit the mark.
A new bandwagon of Odom fans is pleased, but probably not surprised. One reason the nine-year pro has been such a source of frustration is that everyone knows he has it in him. They just haven't seen it as often as they'd like.
There's an energy and concentration required to pull down 17-plus rebounds every game that isn't easy to summon. Odom is there, and he's milking it.
"I'm in a really strong place right now," he said. "It's hard to take me out of that. I'm going to try to keep it going."
When Bynum got hurt, and every other cliche around LakerLand was "everyone has to step up," Odom understood exactly whom, in particular, that guy should be.
"My time has come," he said.
The Lakers have a comfortable lead in the West and confidence to spare, but as Jackson pointed out, the remaining path to the No. 1 seed begins with "not thinking this is a done deal yet."
With 74 rebounds in four games, someone sure thinks there's still something to prove.
(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
