Lamar Odom Suspended

Lamar Odom was suspended today for 1 game for leaving the bench during the heated scrum in the Lakers 111-94 loss at Portland. Odom left the bench when pushing and shoving broke out after Trevor Ariza's horrible flagrant foul on Rudy Fernandez. Odom will miss tonight''s game in Houston against the Rockets.

The Next Great One

Move over Kobe, Lebron, CP3. Make room for Kevin Durant. I was watching the NBA's rookies vs sophomores game and one thing that stood out to me was the play of Kevin Durant. Durant was draining 3's from way behind the 3 point line on his way to scoring 46 points. He also won the NBA's HORSE competition and that ugly looking trophy. Durant is only 20 years old but it is obvious that he is the NBA's next young superstar. He is 5th in the NBA and scoring at 25.5 per night. This goes unnoticed because he plays for such a bad team. Durant is the bright spot on a terrible Oklahoma City Thunder team.

Based on the first two years of their career K.D. looks like the winner in the 2007 NBA draft. While Greg Oden has been injured and put up average numbers, Durant has played up to the level of a NBA All Star. I think that Greg Oden will turn out to be a solid pro and even make a few All Star teams. He reminds me of an Emeka Okafor, Dikembe Mutombo, Marcus Camby type center. A solid player but not a superstar. Durant has the scoring ability of a Dominique Wilkins but with the shooting ability of a Ray Allen. Durant still needs to gain some weight and add more muscle to his frame. This weekend was probably just the beginning of a string of All Star appearances for Kevin Durant.

Six and O

6 Wins 0 Losses....Incredible. The Lakers finished their six game road trip undefeated after a 101-91 win at Cleveland. The Lakers gave the Cavs their first loss in 24 home games this season. L.A. roared back from a 10 point halftime deficit led by Lamar Odom with 28 points and 17 rebounds. This was Odom's second straight game with 20+ points this season. An ailing Kobe Bryant kicked in 19 points, Pau Gasol had 18 and Derek Fisher added 13. Kobe was suffering from the flu all game long. The Lakers played outstanding team defense on LeBron James holding him to 16 points on 5-20 shooting. The Lakers did a great job of turning James into more of a passer than a scorer. They consistently double teamed to get the ball out of James' hands. Zydrunas Ilgauskas led Cleveland with 22 points and Mo Williams had 19.

L.A. beat the Eastern Conference's two best teams on the road at Boston and Cleveland in back to back games. They broke the Celtics 12 game winning streak and the Cavs 23 game home winning streak. L.A. has the best record in the league at 41-9. The Lakers are now an impressive 18-5 on the road this season.

L.A.'s next game is at home Tuesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.