Basketball Championships

The string of memorable games for Lamar Odom finally came to an end. The Lakers' reserve forward had 11 points and only two rebounds and one assist in 32 minutes of Game 3 of the NBA Finals. He was a main factor as the Lakers took the first two games against Orlando, but he didn't have much of an impact Tuesday in the Lakers' 108-104 loss.

When his teammates needed him most, point guard Rafer Alston reminded the Orlando Magic why it acquired him in the first place. Alston, whose horrid shooting and erratic playmaking in Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals hamstrung the Magic offense, rediscovered his game Tuesday night, keying the Magic to a 108-104 win over the Lakers in Game 3. Alston scored 20 points on eight-for-12 shooting -- a stark contrast to his performance earlier in the series.

As Pau Gasol lay sprawled on his belly in a cramped and jeering gym late Tuesday, gasping, sweating, needing a hand, a teammate walked past. Kobe Bryant never even slowed down. He wouldn't pick him up. He couldn't pick him up. He couldn't pick any of them up. The Laker who can run through walls has suddenly hit one, hard, and an entire team has been left with a bloody nose and splitting headache.

I'll get to the magic that eluded Kobe & the Lakers, and my shouting match with Manny, who laughed hysterically Tuesday night every time I called him the Drug Man -- one of those silly side effects, I guess, that come with enhancing one's female fertility.

Staff writer Mike Bresnahan ties up some loose ends on days of Lakers playoff games. Killer instinct? Why can't the Lakers ever get that commanding 3-0 lead on a playoff opponent? They used to do it all the time. Ankur Desai, a reader from New York City, sent an e-mail summing up all the times the Lakers have had home-court advantage, taken a 2-0 series lead, and won Game 3 on the road. "Current Lakers (2008 and '09): One out of five times (20%).

It's an unusual selection, truly, but Coach Phil Jackson has settled on a theme to hammer home the importance of winning the Lakers' 15th NBA championship. Jackson is interspersing clips of "Hellboy 2" into video sessions, his message something along the lines of the Lakers reclaiming what is rightfully theirs after losing in the Finals last season to Boston.

Charles Barkley spotted an ABC/ESPN staffer and announced, loudly, what was on his mind, in the form of a question. "How much stuff did you have to use on Jeff Van Gundy's head?" he asked. "Like a whole bucket of powder? Tons. His whole head is bigger than Ernie's. At least Ernie's got a big forehead." Ernie would be Ernie Johnson, and not surprisingly, this run from Charles, unplugged, included a discourse on Barkley's fellow announcers Johnson and Kenny Smith.

Jameer Nelson essentially is using the largest event in the NBA as his mini-camp. The controversial Nelson experiment in the Finals hasn't gone the way the Orlando Magic had hoped. The team hasn't caught lightning in a bottle, much less a firefly. He'll remain Rafer Alston's backup at point guard for Game 4 tonight against the Lakers, although Anthony Johnson might want to begin light stretching in the bullpen, just in case.

No, no, no! The Lakers wanted a Finals with characters, like Mickey Mouse, Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy, not character, although they were getting more than they bargained for, at least for three games plus 47 minutes and 56 seconds. At that point, Derek Fisher buried a three-pointer to send Game 4 into overtime, where the Lakers proceeded to beat the Orlando Magic, 99-91, on Thursday night, taking a 3-1 lead in the series that seemed about to be tied.

Popular TV analyst and former NBA star Kenny Smith is now working for NBA TV during the NBA Finals and serving as a guest columnist for the Los Angeles Times and Orlando Sentinel: -- The Lakers stayed composed. They never panicked. They never got overly excited until that last dunk. I just think the Magic's inexperience showed. The great thing that Derek Fisher did was stay in good shots. He really wasn't shooting the ball great throughout the series -- he was shooting just OK.