Phil Jackson, an hour before Game 4, seemed to put the Lakers’ fate in the hands of Lamar Odom.

Who has been, charitably, a bust in this series.

Uncharitably, he’s been a choking dog of a bust.

Jackson said part of Odom’s issues here are Kendrick Perkins “plowing him under the basket.”

“He’s got to get back and get rebounds because from there springs our transition game where he’s so effective. That’s where the assists and his scoring comes and his rebounds … because he usually generates somewhere between eight to 10 rebounds a game, and a lot of those are power-out sequences that change the game up dramatically. A guy 6-10, 6-11 taking the ball down the court and opening up the floor with the speed he has makes a big difference. That’s been a little bit tough for him.”

Added Phil:

“He’s got to find a way to hold off those offensive-board guys and execute what we do at the other end of the floor the way we like to see it happen. They match him up, obviously, with (Kevin) Garnett, and Garnett is playing mostly what we call a ‘spy’ game, defensively; he’s just going wherever needed.

“Lamar has to either find that outside shot that’s comfortable or find an operating place where he can use Garnett’s inattentiveness to our advantage.”

Odom scored four points in Game 3.