Barnes was thoroughly baffled by what Link had just said. He had no idea what trick the kid was trying to pull, but he knew he couldn't let him get another easy dunk.
The Lakers went on offense, and the unquestioned offensive focal point of this second unit was Odom. As a strong contender for Sixth Man of the Year, Odom's 14.4 points per game were far beyond anything the rest of the Lakers' bench could match.
Odom was playing the five, matched up against the 7-foot-3 second overall pick, Thabeet.
If basketball were a game that depended solely on height, Odom would surely have been crushed. But unfortunately for Thabeet, after all these years of development, countless players had proven that ability on the court had nothing to do with height.
Thabeet had been hailed as "Mutombo II" when he entered the draft, but aside from also being from Africa, he bore no resemblance to Mutombo at all.
Odom caught the ball at mid-range and needed only a few steps to blow past the 7-foot-3 "Black Mountain."
"Too slow. Thabeet is simply too slow. This may be the biggest draft blunder in Grizzlies history. There were outstanding players like Harden, Curry, and DeRozan still available after Thabeet, yet they chose him. So far, Thabeet hasn't improved at all from last season. Even his supposedly greatest strength, his defense, doesn't look like much."
Amid the sighs of the local Los Angeles commentators, Odom easily got past Thabeet and finished with a layup.
Phil Jackson rarely used Odom at center. Usually, he kept either Gasol or Bynum at the five and played Odom at power forward. But today, precisely because they were facing Thabeet, the "Zen Master" dared to rest both of his championship twin towers.
After all, Thabeet was hardly