PHOENIX - In the interest of not getting too high or too low, playing it real NBA veteran-like, we're going to approach this one from the popular it-is-what-it-is perspective.

In Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, the Lakers were what they weren't.

More significantly, Lamar Odom wasn't what he was. And he can't keep being what he wasn't or this series soon could be what it wasn't supposed to be — a series.

Got all that?

Let's hope Odom does because if Andrew Bynum can't give the Lakers more than he gave them Sunday, the level of Odom's production becomes that much more important.

And we all know how maddening it can be relying on Odom to supply a predictable degree of anything.

After two bullish games at Staples Center — the result, not coincidentally, being consecutive impressive Lakers victories — Odom produced bull in this 118-109 Lakers loss.

"Just one of those games," he said, his nonchalance in the usual All-Star form that he never has been able to duplicate consistently on the court. "It happens, you know? It's just a game."

And it's just a loss, a loss that will end up being forgotten as soon as the Lakers are done with these desert devils.

But this team's continued pursuit of oneness and a successful defense of its NBA title both become infinitely more reachable if Odom plays up to his potential, not down to his reputation.

That was true even before Bynum's knee injury reached a point where Coach Phil Jackson suggested the Lakers' center might have to sit out a game. Bynum, hobbled and hampered by foul trouble, played only 7:31 Sunday.

Now, perhaps Jackson merely was attempting to get Bynum's attention. But, still, every bit that Bynum can't provide for whatever reason becomes something the Lakers really could use from Odom.

Plus, if the Lakers think beating the Suns while equipped with only a percentage of Bynum is difficult, there's another good reason they shouldn't be looking ahead to Boston.

"It happens, it happens," Odom repeated in his soft monotone. "The greatest players in the world sometimes play bad games in every sport."

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Well, this one certainly was bad.

Odom missed 10 of 14 field-goal attempts and all four of his 3-point tries on a night when the Suns sat in a zone and dared the Lakers to make shots.

"The point of the zone is to force you to take stand-still jumpers," Odom said. "We didn't execute. We have to shoot better."

Asked what happened to his accuracy — he was 16 of 25 in Games 1 and 2 — Odom explained, "I just missed."

He finished with 10 points and only six rebounds. Remember, he had seven offensive rebounds alone and 19 total in Game 1.

During the weekend, an ESPN-generated,Twitter-based report had Odom flying to New York to go clubbing deep into early Saturday morning. He denied it and the report later was withdrawn. But now we're thinking, man, he did look tired out there Sunday.

Odom also managed to foul out, his final infraction looking like an intentional foul on Suns' center Robin Lopez some 15 feet from the basket.

It came only seconds after Odom had missed an open jumper, suggesting he was plenty frustrated by that point.

And that's how you know Odom was having "one of those games." There he was, the most unselfish of the Lakers, unselfish to the point where it, too, can be maddening, ending his night with an act that appeared quite selfish.

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Asked what happened to Odom on Sunday, Jackson said, "I don't know." Then he added, "He had really a game he doesn't want to remember about," Odom's performance so uneven that it apparently scrambled Jackson's syntax.

You just saw what can happen to the Lakers when their so-important center goes soft, right? When their celebrated height and length shrink to something much more manageable?

Amar'e Stoudemire goes for 42 points and 11 rebounds. Lopez — Robin freaking Lopez?! — goes for 20 points. Small forward Grant Hill grabs nine rebounds, as many as any Laker had.

The Suns finished within one rebound (41-40) of the Lakers and had only four fewer points in the paint (44-40). As barometers goes, these numbers forecast doom.

Now, project ahead, because that's what everyone is doing already, and the Celtics will win more than just a game if Odom and the Lakers play like this.

"I saw this coming," said Kobe Bryant, whose near triple-double (36 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds) wasn't enough to overcome his teammates. "It happens. You win some, you lose some."

In other words, it is what it is.

In a game when the Lakers really needed an engaged Odom, he instead appeared to be adrift. His chance to reconnect comes Tuesday.

After his stirring 19-point, 19-rebound effort in the opener of this series, Odom was called "lucky" by Stoudemire.

The Suns certainly could have called him something else after this one. But that's Odom's usual way, his performances as shifting as the impressions he leaves.

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