Mihm out for almost a month; Turiaf in for Odom on Friday

The Lakers are in a bit of predicament, but fans shouldn’t fear: even though Chris Mihm has just discovered he’ll be sitting out for three to four weeks due to a sore Achilles heel and despite the fact that Lamar Odom was handed down a one-game suspension and will miss this Friday’s game against the 76ers, Coach Phil Jackson is still keeping a positive attitude, the Los Angeles Times reported in an article published Wednesday, Jan. 3, on its official Web site.

Mihm, who has been averaging 4.1 points and 3.7 rebounds and recently signed a $5 million, two-year contract to remain with the Lakers, appears to be remaining calm about the situation, as well, but said the injury has been looming over his head for a considerable amount of time.
“It’s been something I’ve been trying to avoid,” Mihm said of the layoff. “We’ve pretty much exhausted every avenue to try and be able to speed the recovery on my Achilles while still playing. With Kwame being out the last four or five weeks, I wanted to stay active. Now with Kwame back and healthy, timing-wise it was a good opportunity here to try and do this.”

Jackson agreed, stating that sitting out might be just the right medicine for Mihm.
“We’re hopeful,” Jackson said. “It looked like he was struggling a little bit to play, so they felt there was something medically they could do to help him out.”

When it comes to Odom’s suspension, the Lakers aren’t taking things a little less light-heartedly - although his teammates joked with him about the foul-instigated suspension at Wednesday’s practice, according to the LA Times report.
“It wasn’t my ruling or my judgment, but if that’s what the league says, that’s what goes,” he said. “I didn’t think it was that excessive. I wasn’t trying to hurt him. I was just trying to make a play on the ball. If I would have cheap-shotted him, he would have known I would have cheap-shotted him.”

While it may or may not still come out of this tight spot unscathed, the Lakers team is still focused on taking it one day at a time. Fans should do the same, and what better time than now to check out Stubhub.com and book a pair of Lakers tickets for the next game?

Permalink - Posted in General on January 3, 2008 - Post a comment

Lakers Odom suspended Dec. 30 for flagrant foul against Celtics

Lakers forward Lamar Odom was suspended  Dec. 30 after he threw himself into Celtics’ guard Ray Allen and knocked him to the floor during the fourth period of the Sunday night match up at the Staples Center in LA, according to an article published Tuesday, Jan. 2, on the Los Angeles Times’ official Web site.

“We’re disappointed,” Lakers spokesman John Black said. “We don’t think he would do anything to ever intentionally harm another player. We’re going to be missing one of our best players for Friday’s game, but the league made its decision and we will accept it, even if we disagree with it.”

The Lakers, who fell to the Celtics 110-91, did not practice Monday or Tuesday and have yet to announce who will play for Odom during this Friday’s game, when LA will face off against the Philadelphia 76ers, according to the article. Odom’s suspension, though just for one game, will also lose out on $120,441 in pay for the game, the Times reported. For now, with Odom sitting out, the Lakers game plan is simply to keep focused on defense  - something Lakers  star and team captain Kobe Bryant openly admired about the Celtics after LA’s loss to Boston on Sunday.

“For us, we kind of talked about it,” Bryant said. “To get to that next level, that next tier of teams — San Antonio, the Celtics and so forth — we have to work twice as hard. We’re not there yet, but I’m confident we will get there.”

With that type of determination, the Lakers will undoubtedly continue to do great things this season, and you shouldn’t miss out on any of the action  - get a pair of Lakers tickets right now at Stubhub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 2, 2008 - Post a comment


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