As quickly as Lamar Odom was able to get his game going against New Orleans, the Hornets were able to nutrelize him.

With Game 3 getting tighter in the fourth quarter and Odom starting to dominate, the Heat's key forward was forced from the court with a bloodied and swolen eye after being the recipient of an inadvertant elbow from star Hornet Baron Davis.  Odom would miss five minutes of action and receive six stitches for his trouble before returning, but would be relatively unaffective with his limited vision.

''I was feeling great, and to go out with that type of injury [after] I had just hit a shot and gotten my team back in the game,'' Odom said, shaking his head.

``I was ready to stay out there.''

''I was mad,'' said Odom. ``. . . I was frustrated because I started to feel myself getting in a rhythm, my team was starting to feel it, Caron Butler was playing awesome, then I have to come in here and get stitches in my face. I wasn't too pleased about that. But it's part of the game. It happens.''