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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: NUGGETS v LAKERS

May 19, 2009

Lamar Odom

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game One

Lakers Â– 105
Nuggets - 103

THE MODERATOR: We have Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers coming in.
Questions for Lamar.

Q. Pau had a tough defensive game, tough first three quarters. What was the resiliency from him in the first half?
LAMAR ODOM: It was dribble penetration whether it was Anthony or Smith, and of course Billups of course goes to help, and Nene and Martin got some open looks.
But as far as being resilient, we expect the game to be hard. And we embraced that and that's what makes us a good team.

Q. Lamar, what did you think of Ariza's steal on the inbound play?
LAMAR ODOM: It was a great play. Once again it shows focus and resilience. Carmelo had a great day scoring on the ball and for him to stay in the game and of course looked like it was the game-winning play.
It shows character. And we were able to get some pressure on inbounds and they were close to a five-second call it looked like, and Trevor did a great job at anticipating the pass and making the steal.

Q. Lamar, this is a game that obviously the Nuggets could have come out on top, maybe with more free throws going down. How much does that change the complexion of the series preventing that from happening.
LAMAR ODOM: Again, we expect every game to be hard. This team is talented. Right now they're playing defense at a high level. Of course they're well coached and this is what we expect from them. I think, I don't know how many free throws they missed, but they usually shoot better from the free-throw line than they did tonight.
We have to do a lot better job at guarding the basket. And keeping Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith from hitting those big-time 3s. We'll be all right. We expect every game to be hard.

Q. Lamar, on the defensive boards it was pretty much a wash, but on the offensive glass you got them by 10, 17 to 7. How were you able to do that?
LAMAR ODOM: They come and they block shots. Especially Martin and Andersen. And I think that allows us to come in right behind those guys and what they don't block, clean it up.

Q. Lamar, how good was Kobe particularly down the stretch?
LAMAR ODOM: It's crazy that you start to get used to it. You get used to greatness. He was amazing. He wanted the ball. There was a couple times where the ball stalled a little bit and it hurt us. But Kobe is always going to help you or bail you out more than he hurts you. And he was able to make plays over and over again. Driving to the hole, put them in the bonus. That's why he's the best.

Q. Kind of following up on that, can you talk about his defensive work, particularly on Carmelo when he switched over to that?
LAMAR ODOM: It was really physical down there as well. He did a great job at front and trying to keep him off the boards. Carmelo has him by about three inches; I don't know how many pounds.
Carmelo did a great job in the first half throughout the whole game at getting his shots and hitting shots. And, of course, Kobe is one of the best one-on-one defenders in the game. And of course he was up for the challenge.

Q. You talked about Kobe and kind of what you expect from him but Fisher having really struggled how about how he played today hitting the two big 3s at the end of the half and at the end of the game?
LAMAR ODOM: Both I think were in the corners, right? Right corner and the left corner. Again, Derek is a player that has been in this position before, Western Conference Finals been in it before one of our leaders, one of the people we look to for leadership in those times. He always comes through for us and is not always with the shot-making.
But again, like I said, his character. And it feels good when Derek hits big shots, especially -- he said it coming to the locker room, too, that he needed it.

End of FastScripts

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