Newest Mavs Odom, Carter ready to help defend title

DALLAS (AP) -- Lamar Odom knows what it takes to repeat as an NBA champion.

The Dallas Mavericks are hoping a little of both -- Odom's experience and Carter's hunger -- can go a long way to help their title defense.

Vince Carter wants to know what it feels like to become an NBA champion.

The two newcomers were the stars of Mavs media day on Tuesday because of what they represent. They're the proof that team owner Mark Cuban is serious about winning it all again, which is something fans were questioning just a few days ago when the billionaire was letting the core of last year's team dissolve with the departure of free agents Tyson Chandler, Caron Butler and J.J. Barea.

Sure, adding two more players in their 30s keeps Dallas among the league's older teams. But they also should keep the Mavs among the best teams in this lockout-shortened season, especially with the other newcomers joining the mix, such as Delonte West and Rudy Fernandez.

"Having depth and having good guys that can play is part and parcel to being effective," coach Rick Carlisle said. "The deepest team that can stay healthy and stay together is the team that's going to have the best chance to come out of the West."

Late last week, things were looking bleak for Dallas' chances of coming out of the West when the Lakers were poised to get Chris Paul from New Orleans, with Odom part of the bait. Then the league blocked that deal.

The Lakers were still willing to get rid of Odom and the Mavericks were eager to get him. The deal was struck quickly, using a trade exception Dallas acquired from New York as part of another move that helped pave the way for Chandler to join the Knicks.

Odom was stunned the Lakers didn't want him around. He was glad the commissioner rejected the deal to New Orleans because he wanted to contend for a championship, not start over with a young team. He said he told the Lakers that if they had to deal him, Dallas topped his wish list.

"It's definitely surreal," he said. "It happened like that," he said, snapping his fingers.

Odom also felt disrespected because he never saw this coming. Over seven years, he won two titles and last season was named the league's Sixth Man of the Year.

"If somebody is telling you, `You can't be here, there's no more room for you,' you've got to understand that," he said. "I think it's because of how they did it that I took it so personally."

He wouldn't describe his initial thoughts about the deal to New Orleans, because, "I can't cuss." He appreciated Kobe Bryant speaking out against the trade, and found it curious that Los Angeles not only would send him to a conference rival, but to the team that swept the Lakers from the playoffs last season, ending their two-year reign as champs.

"Any time you make a sudden switch, it gets a little emotional," Odom said. "But I'm here now. I'm a Maverick. It's time to put the past behind me."

Since Odom left, there's been chatter about his reality show being a distraction to last year's team. He seems to believe that is revisionist history.

"It's something you've got to take with a grain of salt," he said. "I just wish that, if it was, somebody would've told me a little earlier. If it was, then I would've done something about it."

Odom also proudly noted that he had a great season while the cameras were rolling.

"You never know what's going to make you concentrate just a little harder, and I think it did," he said.

He's not sure whether the show will continue. He plans to discuss it with his teammates, coach and Cuban - not that he thinks it will be a tough sell with Cuban, himself a past and present reality show star. Heck, if anything, Cuban might want the show moved to the cable network he owns, HDNet.

"He seems like he's the kind of guy who'll like it," Odom said, laughing.

Carter -- a former All-Star and dunk champion -- became a free agent after the Phoenix Suns bought out his contract. He chose to sign with Dallas because he's at the point in his career where all that matters to him is "winning, and playing on a team that wants to win and knows how to win."

"I think they've shown all of that," he said. "My goal is to fit in with what they've accomplished and who they are. ... If we can continue like they've done before - just leave the egos outside, it's not about how many points you're going to score, it's how productive you're going to be for your team to win - with the firepower we have, we'll be fine."

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NBA rejects Paul-to-Lakers blockbuster trade

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The NBA's decision to reject a proposed trade involving All-Star guard Chris Paul set the stage for an awkward opening to training camps on Friday in New Orleans, Los Angeles and Houston.

The NBA-owned Hornets thought they had worked out a three-team deal to send Paul to Los Angeles in a deal that also would have sent Lamar Odom to New Orleans and four-time All-Star Pau Gasol to Houston.

The league, however, declined to approve the trade, meaning Paul was expected to report to Hornets camp, while Odom and Gasol were expected to show up when the Lakers opened practice under new head coach Mike Brown.

After deal fell through, Paul simply wrote, "WoW," on his Twitter page.

Odom, too, took to Twitter to share his feelings: "When a team trades u and it doesn't go down? Now what?"

The fallout from the trade that never was caused the NBA to deny reports that deal was nixed because a number of team owners complained about it to NBA commissioner David Stern.

"It's not true that the owners killed the deal, the deal was never discussed at the Board of Governors meeting and the league office declined to make the trade for basketball reasons," league spokesman Mike Bass said.

Yahoo Sports reported that Stern killed the trade after several owners complained. Citing anonymous sources, Yahoo reported Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was one of the most outspoken owners upset about the deal, done the same day as the end of the lockout, which was supposed to restore competitive balance in the league.

Owners and players ratified a new collective bargaining agreement Thursday, the final step to ending the five-month lockout and allowing training camps and free agency to open Friday.

There was hope in small markets like New Orleans that after the lockout it would be easier for teams to hold on to their stars. Had the deal had been approved, one of pro basketball's biggest stars from the league-owned, small-market Hornets would have moved to one of the NBA's largest, richest markets.

The Hornets have been owned by the NBA since last December, when the league bought the club from founder George Shinn.

A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that the framework for a deal had been in place earlier Thursday. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were supposed to remain confidential.

As part of the trade, the Rockets also had agreed to send forward Luis Scola, shooting guard Kevin Martin, point guard Goran Dragic and a first-round draft choice to New Orleans.

Odom, whose marriage to Khloe Kardashian and E! network reality show put him at the center of Hollywood's love affair with the Lakers, sounded devastated to be leaving his adopted hometown in an interview on 710 ESPN radio earlier Thursday. Odom was the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year last season, and has spent all but one season of his NBA career with the Clippers or Lakers.

The NBA's move also quashed an attempt by the Lakers to retool their roster after their back-to-back title reign ended last spring with Dallas' second-round playoff sweep.

There is, however, still the question of Orlando's Dwight Howard.

The Lakers are widely reported to be interested in acquiring the Magic center, another All-Star expected to move before signing a long-term deal. Unlike Paul, Howard has made no secret of his affection for Los Angeles.

If the Hornets are unable to figure out a trade for Paul, he would be able to opt out of his current contract after the upcoming season.

Speaking earlier Thursday, Hornets president Hugh Weber said the franchise has been preparing for months for the possibility that Paul would resist signing an extension in New Orleans, a move that would leave the Hornets with the choice of trading him or simply letting him walk in free agency at the end of the season.

"We've been preparing for this moment for over a year, and it's not like we were surprised or caught flat-footed," Weber said. "This is not a surprise. This is not something where we've been sitting around waiting to see what would happen. We've been managing this and taking control of the situation as best we can and we're going to have a team that we believe achieves that objective of making this community proud."

Paul, 26, averaged 15.8 points and 9.8 assists last season.

Despite the lockout and uncertainty over Paul's future, fan support has been building in New Orleans, where the team has advertised its season-ticket drive as an effort to lure a permanent local buyer who is committed to keeping the team in Louisiana.

The Hornets have increased their season ticket base from a little more than 6,000 last season to 10,019 as of Thursday afternoon.

Paul was drafted by the Hornets fourth overall out of Wake Forest in 2005.

He has been selected to the Western Conference All-Star squad the past four seasons and also was a member of the United States' Olympic gold medal-winning team in Beijing in 2008.

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Lakers and Spurs even series 1-1, Thunder up 2-0

(Reuters) - The Los Angeles Lakers came alive following their disappointing playoff opener to grind out an 87-78 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday and level their best-of-seven series 1-1.

The San Antonio Spurs also tied up their first round series 1-1 with the Memphis Grizzlies while the Oklahoma Thunder went 2-0 up over Denver.

The defending champion Lakers were shocked in their series opening loss on Sunday when New Orleans point guard Chris Paul ran riot, but they returned with a strong defensive effort and now head to New Orleans for Game Three on Friday.

Andrew Bynum led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds and Lamar Odom added 16 to offset poor performances from Kobe Bryant (11 points) and Pau Gasol (eight).

"I was just trying to be aggressive defensively," Bynum told reporters. "If I play hard defensively, sometimes we get some stops, some good luck and get transition baskets."

Los Angeles established a six-point halftime lead and were up seven after three quarters before stretching their lead to 15 in the fourth where they held off the Hornets.

New Orleans was limited to just 39 percent shooting. Trevor Ariza scored 22 and Paul had 20 for the visitors.

The Spurs, top-seed in the Western Conference, had to once again fight to earn their 93-87 triumph.

They trailed by three points at half-time but were inspired by Argentine shooting guard Manu Ginobli who missed the opening game of the series through injury but returned with 17 points.

But San Antonio kept their cool and George Hill made sure of the win with four points with free throws.

Sam Young top scored for the Grizzlies with 17 points.

The Thunder comfortably took a 2-0 lead in their series against the Denver Nuggets with Kevin Durant scoring 23 points and Russell Westbrook scoring 21 in the 106-89 win.

The Thunder took charge from the outset and had a 26-point lead early in the second quarter as they secured their second win before the series moves to Denver on Saturday for Game Three.

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Lakers' Lamar Odom voted league's best bench player

(Reuters) - Lamar Odom, who became the first Los Angeles Laker to win the NBA award for best player in a reserve role on Tuesday, hopes the recognition will make people think twice before considering him an underachiever.

Odom, who joined the Lakers in 2004 as part of the trade that sent Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat, won the Sixth Man Award after a season where he shot 53 percent from the field, the highest shooting mark of his 12-year career.

"There was a point in my career where people were ready to call me an underachiever, so winning an award like this is kind've right at those people that were ready to call me an underachiever," Odom, the fourth overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft, said at a news conference.

Odom, who came off the bench in 47 games and started 35, averaged 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and three assists per game for the Lakers, who finished second in the Western Conference.

To be eligible for the award, a player must come off the bench as a reserve in more games than he starts.

"At the end of the day I am just a player trying to fill a certain role and the role at this point in my career is to play at a high level all the time and try to change the momentum of the game," said Odom.

The Lakers are trailing their best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the New Orleans Hornets 1-0. The series resumes Wednesday in Los Angeles.

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Lakers rally past Blazers late for 12th win in 13

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Kobe Bryant scored 10 of his 22 points in a dynamic fourth quarter, and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from behind in the final three minutes for their 12th win in 13 games, 84-80 over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night.

Derek Fisher made back-to-back steals to put the Lakers ahead with 1:56 to play before hitting a clinching jumper with 10 seconds left. Bryant did the rest despite his sprained ankle and sore jaw, highlighted by a picture-perfect fallaway jumper with 32 seconds to play.

The Lakers managed a late surge despite playing without starting center Andrew Bynum, who was suspended two games by the NBA on Sunday for his flagrant foul on Minnesota's Michael Beasley two days earlier.

Nicolas Batum scored 22 of his 25 points in the first three quarters for the Blazers, whose three-game winning streak ended with a fourth-quarter flop, scoring just 14 points on 5-for-18 shooting.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points in Bynum's absence down low, while Marcus Camby had 10 rebounds before hobbling off the court with an undisclosed injury in the final minutes. With three straight losses to the Lakers, Portland lost the season series with Los Angeles for the first time since 2004-05.

Although their last two wins haven't exactly been works of art, the Lakers formally clinched a playoff berth earlier Sunday when the Utah Jazz lost to Houston, and this victory wrapped up their fourth consecutive Pacific Division title and 50-victory season.

In Bynum's absence, Portland outrebounded the Lakers 45-35 and nursed a steady lead throughout the second half after making a 15-0 run spanning halftime, holding the Lakers without a field goal for 6 1/2 minutes.

But Bryant's acrobatic layup pulled Los Angeles to 74-72, and Bryant dunked after a steal by Fisher to even it at 76 with 2:20 to play.

Fisher made another steal on the next possession and drove for a layup to put the Lakers ahead. After Bryant's jumper with 1:11 left put the Lakers up by four points, Ron Artest got a technical foul from referee Dan Crawford after exchanging shoves down low with Gerald Wallace.

Lamar Odom had 16 points and 11 rebounds while starting in Bynum's place, and Pau Gasol added 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson was disappointed by the league's decision on a two-game suspension for Bynum, who was ejected after turning his shoulder and sending Beasley crashing to the court during the Lakers' win last Friday. Jackson said he doesn't understand the NBA's logic in its decisions.

Bryant showed no ill effects early from his sprained ankle and a sore jaw resulting from a head-to-head collision with Minnesota's Martell Webster. The All-Star game MVP scored 10 points in the first half, but the Lakers missed Bynum's defensive presence and even his scoring in the first half, getting just eight points apiece from Gasol and Odom.

Portland took its first lead on Aldridge's layup 53 seconds before halftime. Batum went 8 for 10 for 19 points in the first half, hitting a 3-pointer in the final minute to stake the Blazers to a 48-44 lead.

Matt Barnes banked in a 3-pointer from a step inside the half-court line at the third-quarter buzzer, trimming the Blazers' lead to 66-62.

NOTES: Odom has started 33 games for the Lakers this season, while Bynum has started 37. Bynum missed the first 28 games while recovering from offseason knee surgery. ... The Lakers have reached the playoffs in 33 of the last 35 seasons, missing the postseason only in 1993-94 and 2004-05. ... Fans near courtside included Bruce Willis, Will Ferrell, David Arquette and Andy Garcia

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