Lakers’ Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom

Kobe may have stolen all the limelight in LA Lakers' NBA title, but Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom's on-court contributions have been invaluable too

Lakers' Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom

Kobe may have stolen all the limelight in LA Lakers' NBA title, but Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom's on-court contributions have been invaluable too

LA Lakers' coach Phil Jackson witnessed his 10th win as a coach and star guard Kobe Bryant bagged his first Most Valuable Player award at the NBA yesterday. But, as the Lakers sealed it 4-1 in the best-of-seven finals, two other players cemented their positions as legends in the making by playing crucial roles in the Lakers' first championship win since the compelling Shaquille O'Neill switched loyalties.

Spaniard Pau Gasol and power forward Lamar Odom did not hog as much adulation as their skipper Bryant or Derek Fisher in Sunday's thrilling fourth final which Lakers won in extra time (99-86). But pundits, who have followed Lakers' progress this year, will vouch for how magnanimous the duo's efforts have been in this well-deserved triumph.

Second fiddle
They not only played second fiddle to Bryant in terms of scoring to perfection, they also returned rebounds and assisted teammates scoring valuable field goal points. But what the duo did remarkably well was to impede the dangerous Magics power forward Dwight Howard. Gasol, in fact, got Howard to commit fouls and be withdrawn in the first two games, which Lakers won at the Staples Centre Arena in Los Angeles.

"If you let him (Howard) off the hook, he will dunk. So it was pretty important to keep him under check," Odom had said after the third final.

This win would be all the more satisfying especially for Odom and Gasol, because they were accused of being slow during the NBA finals against Boston Celtics last year. "Usually experience makes you better at whatever it is, whether it's on or off the court," Odom said in a statement provided by NBA to MiD DAY.

Early goal
"We set a goal early in the training camp and that was to win the NBA title. Every time we came in as a group, we left saying, 'one, two, three, ring.'u00a0 We set a goal and attained it," Odom added.

For Gasol, last year's experience of losing to Boston made the team tougher.

"We were very disappointed that we lost against Boston.u00a0 They showed that they were more ready than we were then.u00a0 But it really made us want it even more than we did last year, and it got us to this point.u00a0

"We worked so hard from the beginning as a team and as individuals, too, to be able to be successful in the play-offs at the top level.u00a0 It makes it all the more rewarding," Gasol concluded.