Lamar Odom Says Fan Launched Small Vodka Bottle Onto Court

The capacity crowd on hand for the Celtics' Game 5 victory over the Lakers was as good a crowd as the city of Boston can produce — except for at least one fan with some suspect decision-making.

With Kobe Bryant shooting free throws in the closing minutes of the game, a fan threw an object onto the court at the players. Bryant hit his shot, but the referee walked to the scorer's table and made the public address announcer ask the fans to not throw anything onto the court. ABC commentator Jeff Van Gundy pointed out that it was a fairly ridiculous thing to have to tell people, but it was apparently necessary.

Though original reports said that a bouncy ball had been thrown, Lamar Odom said it was something much more dangerous. The forward told The Orange County Register that the item thrown on the court looked to be a small bottle of vodka.

Granted, an empty nip can't cause devastating damage from close range, but if it had been thrown from the balcony (where a person who sneaks vodka into the game would probably be sitting), it could have seriously harmed anyone who could have been hit, including fans and officials.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt, and the bottle came within inches of changing the headlines on Friday morning from the celebration of a gutsy Celtics victory to an embarrassing stain on the city of Boston.