Lamar Odom has taken his lumps, but now carries Lakers on bad back

The lump at the base of his spine was so large, it protruded through his white towel as he staggered around the locker room.

"Yeah, it's big," said Lamar Odom. "Yeah, it hurts."

The protective girdle he wore under shorts was so complex, it protruded from his waist as he sprinted around the court.

"Sometimes I felt like I could barely breath," he said. "Sometimes I felt I couldn't leave the ground."

The weight carried by the Lakers against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night was so sizable, they bent, buckled and nearly broke.

Then the guy with the bad back took it for them.

The guy who supposedly doesn't care carried them.

The guy who some believe is just renting the uniform owned it -- the moment, the night, and the town, roaring as Lamar Odom roared during a 103-94 Lakers victory.

"Just gutting it out," he said.

Just throwing it down, he did, the basketball and the gantlet, with a late push that led to 19 points, 14 rebounds and a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals.

"I just tried to pick up my effort, energy, and I guess sometimes when you do that, sometimes it spreads," he said.

Yeah, it spreads, sometimes even from here to Orlando or Cleveland.

The Lakers are now one win from their second consecutive conference championship, and five wins from Odom's first NBA championship, and don't you think he knows it?

Walking slowly and painfully through the Staples Center tunnel to his car late Wednesday, he stopped suddenly when I asked whether he was close enough to feel it.

"I'm 29, I've been playing 10 years, I've been through so much," he said quietly. "I don't know if I'll ever get this close again."

Anybody still wondering how bad he wants this?

Anybody still wondering how much he needs this?

"All I know is that he's got a bump on the back that's not supposed to be there, and that can't be good," said teammate Luke Walton. "Tonight he really muscled through it."

The bump showed up after Odom badly twisted his back in the previous series against Houston. It is a painful collection of blood that Lakers trainer Gary Vitti has furiously attempted to reduce.

When it didn't disappear quick enough, Vitti concocted an elaborate brace to support the back and protect the bump. Odom now plays with what feels like a constraining, cumbersome fanny pack.

Oh, and he also has played with the burden of being a fall guy with a 7.5 scoring average in a series in which the Lakers have been hammered inside.