[Juan]

Lamar:

"I put this one on myself," Lamar Odom announces. "I take the blame, totally, for this game." The Lakers had just lost Sunday to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, a 103-84 whipping that doubled as a three-hour embarrassment for their powerless power forward. Who calmly wipes the sweat from his bald head and keeps the heat on. "There is no way I can play like that," he says. "I've got to play better than that." A TV network asks him for a live interview, and he says sure. "You were two for 11," the interviewer says. "I also had five turnovers," he says. A writer asks him whether he can describe what happened, and he says of course. "I got to the free-throw line and didn't make free throws. . . . [I] turned the ball over," he says. "That's not good enough. Especially on the road with this type of atmosphere, this type of intensity." Another writer asks whether he can talk about what happens next, and he says certainly. "I don't sleep tonight," Odom says. "I keep the TV off. I don't read the newspaper. I get out to practice tomorrow and get my butt to the free-throw line."

I'm glad he's motivated for game 4 now and all, but I don't think he deserves all the blame for that loss.