Lamar Odom calls boos 'hurtful'
DALLAS -- His infamous one-point, one-rebound, one-assist game against the
Los Angeles Lakers last week earned him boos from the home crowd and drastically diminished playing time since, but
Lamar Odom said Monday that
Dallas Mavericks fans are misreading him if they believe he doesn't want to play for their team.
He said that getting booed last Wednesday was "a little confusing and little hurtful," and that he's been up front about his situation since the day he arrived in Dallas from the Lakers in a surprising December trade that amounted to a salary dump for Los Angeles.
"Well, I've never been booed in my life, so if it's to the point that I'm playing a basketball game at home and I'm getting booed then I would say, no disrespect, but maybe I think people took things the wrong way," Odom said after Monday's practice at the American Airlines Center.
"I admitted I was out of shape for different reasons when I came into camp. I admitted what I had been through; I was honest about how my summer went, how I almost left the game with everything I went through, and I think people just took it the wrong way, like I had a reason not to be here or if I didn't want to be here.
"I think people took that the wrong way and the next thing I know I'm trying to come out of a slump and I check into a game and I'm getting booed. I'm not really used to that."
Odom will be back in front of the home crowd for the first time since the Lakers game Tuesday night when the Mavs play the
Houston Rockets.
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http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story...-lamar-odom-calls-fans-boos-confusing-hurtful