Lamar Odom, Angry Maverick (Getty Images)

Lamar Odom was a Dallas Maverick during the 2011-12 season. In a move that should have worked out perfectly for a team that could have used Odom’s all-around gifts and ability to play several positions, the Mavericks traded absolutely nothing in order to acquire one of the better players on a Lakers team they had swept the postseason before on their way to the 2011 NBA championship. The idea of Odom flinging passes and smarts on a team with Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion and Vince Carter fell just short of a ‘Portlandia’ episode in terms of keeping the dream of the 1990s alive, but it also should have resulted in a confluence of savvy and skill that could have made the Mavericks contenders.

[Also: Lakers' Metta World Peace has lateral meniscus tear in his knee]

Instead, Odom and Nowitzki showed up to camp out of shape following that year’s lockout. Nowitzki recovered, to much acclaim, while Odom remained sluggish. Lamar shot 35 percent on the season, barely made an effort on either end of the floor, disappeared from the team following the All-Star break, and was asked to leave the squad before the playoffs even started. On Tuesday, Odom and his Los Angeles Clippers visited Dallas for the first time since the Mavericks dealt Odom to the Clippers. And because he’s still refusing to own up to what a waste of a year 2011-12 was, these are the things that Lamar Odom said to Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas:

"Guilty? No, no, no," Odom said when asked if he felt guilt about the way his season in Dallas unfolded. "It happens."

You know how some NBA players, like Oklahoma City Thunder star and league scoring leader Kevin Durant, don't like to take long-range quarter-ending shots because they don't want hucked-up heaves that miss to lower their field-goal and 3-point percentages? Well, you're not going to believe this, but New York Knicks sixth man J.R. Smith is not quite so concerned with his shooting efficiency ... and in the final seconds of the third quarter of Tuesday night's game against the Boston Celtics, fortune favored the always-bold Mr. Smith:

OK, so taking what the official play-by-play lists as a period-ending 29-foot jumper isn't really the same as chucking up a three-quarter-court prayer — I'll grant you that. Still, whether you're talking about 50-plus-footers or merely sprinting pull-up 3-pointers taken from two steps over mid-court, J.R.'s your man. There's no low-chance-of-success shot he won't take, in large part because perhaps no player in the league is more confident in his ability to make said shot. (The fact that he's missed right around two-thirds of his shots from beyond 25 feet this year hasn't served as much of a deterrent.)

[Also: Lakers' Metta World Peace has lateral meniscus tear in his knee]

But what's most noteworthy about the 3-ball — outside of the fact that it extended New York's lead to 15 points heading into the fourth quarter, a margin the Knicks would maintain for a 100-85 win over the C's — is that it was only his third long-range try in 25-plus minutes of floor time. Considering J.R.'s averaged six 3-point attempts per 36 minutes this season, the cutback's interesting ... and continues a recent trend.

Metta World Peace (Rocky Widner/ Getty)It seems as if everything that can go wrong has for the Los Angeles Lakers this season. After coming into the campaign with lofty expectations, they've struggled with coaching issues, injuries, supposed chemistry problems, more injuries, mismatched players, and the fact that even an 82-game season requires teams to figure things out in a matter of months. It's as if the franchise had avoided Murphy's law for years only to see a rush of problems all at once.

With only 11 games left in the regular season, one more thing has turned bad for the Lakers. As announced on the team's website on Tuesday night, starting forward Metta World Peace has a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee: