The Los Angeles Lakers and Lamar Odom will be gunning for their fourth straight win tonight, taking on a team they've had some recent success against.

The Lakers have won four straight games against the New York Knicks and seven of the last ten. The games have typically been high-scoring romps, with the Lakers scoring over 116 points in their past three games.

The teams this year are almost polar opposites. The 10-3 Lakers are in second place in the Pacific Division while the 3-10 Knicks are second to last in the Atlantic.

In the Lakers four game win streak over Gotham, LO has averaged 13.5 points, 11 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

BEST BENCH
Everyone knew that once Pau Gasol returned the Lakers bench would improve. Randy Hill, with FOXSports.com, in ranking the best benches in the NBA, describes exactly how much better LO's return to the pine makes both him and the team:

"You may have noticed that while they were cruising to eight victories in their first 11 games, the Lakers were working without the considerable talents—and tender hamstring—of 7-foot post man Pau Gasol. But now that Gasol has returned, the Lakers' bench—which is ranked in the middle of the pack for offensive productivity—has been fortified by the job-description switch for Lamar Odom.

L.O., who had been starting at power forward, now returns to a sixth-man role that often requires him to initiate the triangle offense during the usual second-quarter idling of superstar Kobe Bryant. But even before Gasol checked in and Odom began subordinate duty, the Lakers were second-best in the league for winning the second quarter. While this period often is the province of respective benches colliding, Bryant was seeing enough second-quarter action to rank ninth in the league for second-quarter scoring average.

Theoretically, Gasol's return pushing Lamar to the bench allows the Lakers to get a little more rest for everybody because of the Package's versatility, as noted by Hill:

With Gasol back, Bryant's second-quarter minutes and productivity should decrease, making him fresher (in theory) for the fourth quarter, and leaving Round Two for Odom, freakishly athletic guard Shannon Brown and reliable big-man shooter Josh Powell. Team this trio with energetic guard Jordan Farmar, and the Lakers offer a bench that has enough specific skill to hold the fort while Kobe chills, with enough offensive humility to rely on the various options of the triangle to create scoring opportunities.

Despite the talents on the second unit, the Lakers' bench still ranks behind the Dallas Mavericks, Portland TrailBlazers and Denver Nuggets in terms of scoring.

PHILANTHROPIC POWER FORWARD
After practice yesterday, Lamar Odom and his wife Khloe visited the children's cancer ward at City of Hope in Duarte.

The benevolent couple passed out toys to the kids on the unit.

LO did the work through his charity, Cathy's Kids Foundation, which he founded after his mother, Cathy, passed away from cancer in 2004.

NEXT UP
Lamar and the Lakers square off against the New York Knicks tonight at the Staples Center. Tip off is at 7:30 and can be seen on Fox Sports West.

RELATED ARTICLES
Knicks-Lakers Preview (ESPN.com, Nov. 24, 2009)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/preview?gameId=291124013
Lakers' Odom gives back to the community (L.A. Times, Nov 23, 2009)
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/11/lakers-odom-gives-ba...
Reserve judgement: Who has the best benches? (FOXSports.com, Nov. 23, 2009)
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/10416916/Reserve-judgment:-Who-has-be...

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