Lamar Odom's Lakers performance: Should fans blame 'Khloe and Lamar'?

Khloe Kardashian's hubby is off his game, but is their reality show to blame?

Lamar Odom has been under the microscope ever since his whirlwind romance with Kardashian began. Now, with "Khloe and Lamar" becoming a huge success on E! and a less than stellar performance on the court, Lakers fans are expressing their concern over Odom's priorities.

After a crushing loss to the Dallas Mavericks, ending the Lakers' run in the playoffs, Odom was specifically criticized for his uncharacteristic foul against the Mavericks' Dirk Nowitski. Odom previously told the LA Times that the reality show demands were extremely tough, but that his life was too boring in the off season to warrant a camera crew. Is the pressure finally getting to be too much?

Much like Jessica Simpson was blamed for Tony Romo's lackluster performance on the Dallas Cowboys during their relationship, it seems as though Kardashian and the E! family will be targeted for any slip-ups by the NBA star. Odom's performance only seemed to get better after his April 2009 nuptials, so it would hardly be fair to blame his beloved -- the show, however, could be a different story. 

"Its funny that when peps(Lakers) r @ their best so r their 'fans,'" Kardashian tweeted after the Sunday (May 8) loss. "Reading my timeline, the so called 'fans' seem2b only 'fans' when on top."

In a not so subtle dig, comedian Dane Cook posted "#Lakers lost. Well at least now they can focus on their day jobs. Reality television stars."

"By the third or fourth day, I realized how tough and demanding it was going to be," Odom admitted of the show last week. "I was like, 'I don't think I could do this,' but we worked through it."

"The Lakers, of course, had their concerns when I went into this," he added. "But I made the promise to them that I would remain the same player, if not try to get better."

On their way to three consecutive championships, the Lakers have fallen surprisingly short this year. While there's bound to be distractions on the home front, is it fair to blame Odom and the camera crews?

[Update: A previous version of this article stated that the LA Lakers had won three consecutive championships.]