Lamar Odom and the Los Angeles Lakers will be gunning for their fourth straight victory tonight when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies at the Staples Center.

Last season the Lakers had ten separate streaks of four wins in a row. They also won all four games against Memphis in 08-09.

LO will be starting again, his sixth straight nod to kick off the season.

Lamar has started off this season on a roll (Getty Images).

According to the Los Angeles Times, though, it’s still unclear where exactly Lamar will be lining up:

“DJ Mbenga might start at center. Or if the Lakers go with a small lineup, Lamar Odom might get the call in the middle, with Josh Powell moving into the starting lineup at forward.

“Whatever it takes,’ Odom said. “We’ll probably play our small lineup, but we got guys who can come out there and help. Josh is prepared, and D.J. as well. We just go out and play our same game … everybody will step up. We’re used to it.”

No. 7 had success against the Grizzlies last season, averaging 8.8 points in the Lakers’ four wins. He added 4.3 assists and 7.5 rebounds in the series, including a monster game in which he grabbed 13 rebounds, 11 coming on the defensive glass.

TOUGH TASK
With Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol both expected to miss tonight’s game, the task of guarding the Grizzlies’ duo of Marc Gasol (Pau’s brother) and Zach Randolph will fall to LO. The pair has been off to a great start, Gasol is averging 17.6 points and 12.6 rebounds while Randolph is averaging 20.4 points and 7.8 rebounds.

Lakers’ head coach Phil Jackson told NBA.com that he isn’t worried about his team being stretched thin due to injury.

“We just have to patch it up and play as well as we can,” said Jackson. “We’ve been shorthanded really since Pau got injured a couple of weeks ago and it’s stretched our team a little bit, but we have guys that can play.”

BENCH MOB SUFFERING
One of the Lakers’ strongest assets last season, their self-dubbed “Bench Mob” has been struggling to start out this year.

The Los Angeles Times points to Lamar’s place in the starting lineup as part of the problem. With the Package starting, the bench has a lot less depth.

“Define deep as having a reliable and lengthy bench and it’s tougher for the Lakers to compete, at least as it stands this morning. No question, once Lamar Odom, as impactful a sixth man as any in the league, resumes that role it’ll solve a lot of problems. We saw last year how much his presence helps elevate the rest of the reserves, and behind him among the forward/centers, the red-hot Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga are more than adequate given their spots in the rotation.”

COMEDY CHOPS
Lamar Odom and wife Khloe Kardashian will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight on ABC at 12:06 PST

WEEK IN REVIEW
LO had a spectacular week as the Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday and the Houston Rockets on Thursday. Lamar averaged 12.7 points during the three game stretch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOThe Package turns 30 today, so send some birthday wishes to No. 7 at twitter.com/RealLamarOdom.

NEXT UP
No. 7 and the Lakers take on the Memphis Grizzlies tonight at 7:30 PST at the Staples Center. All the action can be seen live on FS West. 

RELATED ARTICLES
Lakers’ Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol are expected to miss Friday’s game (Los Angeles Times, Nov. 6, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers-fyi6-2009nov06,0,6891608.stor...
Lakers Practice Report (NBA.com, 11/5/09)
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/091105practicereport.html?rss=true
The Lakers and depth: Five guards to three (and a half) (Los Angeles Times, Nov. 6, 2009)
http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2009/11/lakers-shannon-brown-jo...

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