Perhaps those 1980s throwback shorts the Los Angeles Lakers wore in the first half of Sunday night’s game against the Boston Celtics were a tad bit too tight for forward Lamar Odom. How else can you explain why with just a couple of minutes left in the game, a blowout win by the Celtics, Odom decided to tackle Ray Allen. It was a nice hit, though, if he were playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On Tuesday, the NBA suspended Odom for one game, meaning he will sit out Friday night’s game against Philadelphia. He will also be $120,441 lighter in the pocket come payday.

“I don’t know what Odom was thinking,” said Allen. “I got the rebound and he tackled me. I know this is Sunday, but this is the wrong field.”

Odom was apparantly upset over a no-call when he had his shot blocked by Kevin Garnett. So he went full steam ahead at Allen. Odom said he was going for the ball.

In other news, Orlando’s Dwight Howard and New Orleans guard Chris Paul were named Eastern Conference and Western Conference Players of the Month for December. Howard was nearly unstoppable, averaging 21.7 points, a league-best 16.1 rebounds, and 2.87 blocked shots a game, while shooting .598 from the floor. He had five games with 20 or more rebounds.

Howard beat out Eastern Conference foes Joe Johnson of Atlanta, Boston’s Paul Pierce, Detroit’s Richard Hamilton, Andre Miller of Philadelphia, Gerald Wallace of Charlotte, and Toronto’s Chris Bosh.

Meanwhile, Paul played some of the best basketball of his young career. He averaged 24.5 points, 10.4 assists and a league-high three steals a game. Paul tossed in a pair of 40-plus-point performances, and had three games with at least 15 assists. He is currently on pace to become the first player in league history to averaged 20 points, 10 assists and three steals for a season.

Paul edged out Portland’s Brandon Roy, Yao Ming of Houston, and Denver’s Allen Iverson for the monthy honor. Roy helped lead the Trail Blazers to a 13-game winning streak.