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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICS

June 4, 2008

Lamar Odom

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day

Q. Lamar, how important is ball movement to your offense, and how does the way the opponent defends Kobe affect that?
LAMAR ODOM: Especially this series, this team is big and quick, and they've got Kevin Garnett protecting the rim and Perk is protecting the rim. We're going to have to move the ball to beat them. As you know, in our offense, every pass leads to a different play, leads to a different set of plays, and if we're going to win, we're going to have to win with passing the ball, cutting, using our quickness, using our passing ability. For Kobe it's really important because they're so good defensively. Watching that Detroit series I watched how they lulled to the ball, and we're not going to be able to win this series if we just give the ball to him and let him go one-on-one because they won't let him do that. So we have to move the ball and execute as much as possible.

Q. Talk about your days at Rhode Island and what going there did for you, and what is your connection to the school now?
LAMAR ODOM: It's still heavy. I'll never forget the opportunity that they gave me. Of course I was the No. 1 high school player coming out of high school, went to University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Things didn't work out there, I had to come here. They had open arms for me and they gave me a chance to play. Of course I had to sit out my first year, and of course I had the big Atlantic-10 tournament where I hit the winning shot against Temple, and that's their only tournament championship. This is a special place for me, so it's really important, special for me to be able to come back to the New England area and play in the championship.
I have a lot of friends that are still here, a lot of them that will be at the game. Especially for my family, too, because they always came to the games at Rhode Island. So for them to be able to come to Boston and play against KG and Paul Pierce and Ray Allen on this type of stage, it's a special moment for me.

Q. (Inaudible).
LAMAR ODOM: Yeah, I'm pretty sure he'll be here. I'm pretty sure he'll be here. If not he'll definitely be at the games in LA. He comes to all my games now, and I always see him. The Rhody Rams is a team that I always root for and I always will.

Q. Now that you're here, the team is here and the media is kind of buzzing around, do you sense a little bit of a wow factor now that this thing is only a day and a half away?
LAMAR ODOM: I think we're comfortable because where we play at. We're the LA Lakers and we're coached by Phil Jackson and tradition is rich. We have two players on our team that have been here before, and I think that their poise and professionalism has rubbed off on us. This is a stage that we're ready for. We knew we could get here. I love this.

Q. You talked about URI. Can you just talk about how far you've come from the days at URI when you said you were going to go to Nevada and how things have progressed and now the situation that you're in?
LAMAR ODOM: I'm more of a man. I was 18 when I got to the University of Rhode Island. I didn't always do things the right way. You know, I'm comfortable in my skin, I'm prepared mentally and physically more than ever, and I'm just ready to go out here and to show everyone that I'm a man. So I'm looking forward to going out here and competing against this great team in the New England area and doing my best.

Q. What's different about playing with Kobe and what you kind of perceived that it would be before you arrived here?
LAMAR ODOM: Well, it's funny, because we had similar friends in high school. I've known him since I was 16. Of course he's from Philadelphia, I'm from New York, played a lot of AAU basketball against each other. We played at camps against each other, and I knew the type of person that he was and the type of basketball player that he was. Kobe is totally committed to the game of basketball. It's made me better. Some of that has rubbed off on me.
He's the captain of this team, and we follow his lead. Kobe is the first one in the gym, the last one to leave. He's the first one in the weight room, the last one to leave. So you try to compete against him and there's no competing against him. If we have a 10:00 practice, Kobe is there at 8:45 preparing to be the best. And some of that has rubbed off on me and my teammates, and that's the only reason why I'm sitting here talking to you today.

Q. Do you have a driver's license yet?
LAMAR ODOM: Yeah, I have it now (laughing). I got it like my third or fourth year in the league. I'm pretty decent on the road.

Q. Can you just talk about the challenges of guarding Kevin Garnett and what specifically he does on offense that you need to worry about?
LAMAR ODOM: Well, my favorite word in this series is going to be "help." A guy like that is -- you need as much help as possible. Of course you try to front him, try to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible. He's so tall, so strong, so athletic, he's going to catch the ball. Of course he can shoot the ball from 18, 19 feet. He dunks the basketball. So you have to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible. He runs like a gazelle. You have to just keep your body on him, move your feet, contest his shots. Kevin Garnett is going to take and make some shots that you can't help. You've got to be right in his face. I'm 6'10". When he jumps and turns over me, all I see is the number 5. (Laughter).
I'm just going to try to make him work on the defensive end, catch the ball on the perimeter, use my ball handling ability to attack the rim. They like to sink and close up the lane, I want to just get in there and kick it out to our shooters and try and make plays.

End of FastScripts

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