LOS ANGELES -- Lamar Odom was in a foul mood, something that wouldn't make sense if you saw only the final score of the Lakers' 104-99 victory over the Jazz, but seemed perfectly logical if you saw the manner in which they got it.

This game shouldn't have required a fourth-quarter comeback, shouldn't have needed Kobe Bryant to be in closer mode, shouldn't have had Odom feeling so grumpy despite making the most important play of the day.

Especially when so many other things are going the Lakers' way. Bryant is looking more like the MVP runner-up of a year ago and less like this season's third-place finisher. He says his knee feels better and called it "encouraging" that he could move so well only 40 hours after finishing the Oklahoma City series. Bryant scored 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting and has made 33 of his past 63 shots (52 percent). The cartilage tear in Andrew Bynum's knee didn't keep him from starting and scoring eight points to go with 10 rebounds. Pau Gasol had a huge game with 25 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots, living up to the "Gladiator"-themed "Spaniard" video of him that played on the Staples Center scoreboard.

But just when the Lakers looked ready to accelerate into the fast lane and not exit until the NBA Finals, they went into a skid. That's because their second unit scored only one point in more than four minutes at the beginning of the fourth quarter and the Jazz cut an eight-point lead down to one.

"The second unit has got to play better," Bryant said. "Simple as that."

Odom was a co-conspirator, sharing the court with Shannon Brown, Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar and starter Bynum in a stretch that included five missed shots and two turnovers. Not even the return of the starters could stem the Jazz momentum initially, as Utah took a four-point lead before Bryant scored 11 points in the final four minutes to boost the Lakers to the W in the opener of the second-round series.

The Jazz have trouble scoring inside over the taller Lakers frontline. Until Andrei Kirilenko feels healthy enough to play, they have no one to keep Bryant from doing whatever he wants on the court. But Jerry Sloan can send Paul Millsap down to the scorer's table to check in, and Millsap could very well produce a double-double. It's happened three times already this postseason and he almost did it again Sunday with 16 points and nine rebounds.

The Lakers are still waiting for the first double-double of the 2010 playoffs from Odom, who averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds in the Lakers' five-game elimination of the Jazz in the first round last year. Last season Odom got to start because of Bynum's ineffectiveness coming back from a different injury, and Jackson said Odom would have to adjust to playing as a reserve this season. But Odom seems reluctant to let the starting days go. He still plays better when he's with Gasol, as evidenced by a nice interior pass he threw to Gasol for a layup Sunday.

Odom gave the impressions that he didn't like the second-unit vibe Sunday. They sure didn't bring out his best, as Odom scored three of his four field goals when he was the only Lakers bench player in the game.

"We play hard, we play together, it's tough to beat us," Odom said. "When we separate and kind of do our own thing mentally, then we can be beat. We'll be all right, as long as we do everything together."

So were they separate Sunday afternoon?

Odom paused.

"We've been closer," he said. "Mostly I'm talking about our second unit, giving up leads, letting teams get back into it, letting their bench outplay us."

Sometimes it's Brown rushing things or Farmar trying to take matters into his own hands. And sometimes it's Odom not taking enough control, not becoming the offensive leader the coaches want him to be when the starters are resting.

Odom was supposed to be the solution to the Lakers' bench problems when the return of Bynum from an Achilles tendon injury at the start of the playoffs shifted Odom back into his sixth-man role. But the reserves had a collective plus/minus of minus-24 in the two losses to Oklahoma City and were minus-8 against Utah on Sunday.

Odom could be absolved of some of the blame in Game 1. He finished in positive plus/minus territory after being allowed to stay on the court with the starters (minus Bynum) in the fourth. He did grab 12 rebounds, including a missed jumper by Bryant that Odom converted into a layup for a three-point Lakers lead with 49 seconds remaining -- "the key rebound of the game," Bynum called it.

But his scoring average of 10.8 points this season was the lowest of his career, and his 46.3 percent shooting was the lowest in his six years with the Lakers.

Odom has this endearing quality that makes it hard to stay mad at him. Once, early in Phil Jackson's time coaching him, Jackson even offered to give Odom a hug when he seemed down.

On Sunday, Odom was 3-for-9 from the field, then he delivered the big putback. He also had a critical blocked shot and rebound in the final minute of the Lakers' escape from the noise cauldron in Oklahoma City in Game 6 of the first round.

It's a reminder that even though the Lakers' bench problems aren't all of his doing, he can do something about it.

Dimes past: April 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | May 1