Lakers center Andrew Bynum is all smiles after posting a triple-double against Denver. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
There are different sides of Andrew Bynum. There’s the immature side in which he tends to act like an 8-year-old kid who pouts when scolded. Then there’s the mature side in which he looks like the most dominant big man in the basketball
The 24-year-old center scored just 10 points on five shots against the Denver Nuggets, but Lakers head coach Mike Brown said the biggest reason why the Lakers are up 1-0 in the seven-game series is the very large man wearing No. 17 in gold.
“He can control a game without shooting a single shot if he wanted to. That’s how good he is.” Brown said of Bynum, who joined Mark Eaton and Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players in NBA history to record 10 blocks in a playoff.
“He had 10 blocks, but I’m curious to see how many he probably changed,” Brown said. “He changed a gazillion shots in the paint, and that’s where Denver is good at. He was phenomenal. His impact on the game was absolutely monstrous. He was an absolute beast down there.”
Bynum also grabbed 13 rebounds to finish with a triple double in 35 minutes in a 103-88 win for the third-seeded Lakers.
“If he continues to play like he did, picking up the triple double, being the type of monster he was tonight patrolling the paint, we’ll be playing a long time,” said Brown.
Bynum’s game has been on an uptick ever since he has gotten his troublesome knees corrected. This season he posted career highs in points (18.7), rebounds (11.8) and minutes per game (35). Because he plays on a team with two popular All-Stars in Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, Bynum often gets overlooked by the casual fan. But his development and impact on the game is certainly not lost on his proud head coach.
“I look at Andrew’s game similar to a Willie Roaf or something like that. A great offensive lineman. You don’t know what they do down there in the trenches because it always doesn’t show up in the stats. And that’s where I go back to Andrew changing a lot of shots. He probably changed just as many as he blocked,” Brown said.
“Willie Roaf and Antony Munoz, even though they made it to the Hall of Fame, that’s not what the headlines are about after a big win.”
After the Lakers’ big win on Sunday, the headline should read: Bynum the Beast.
Nice post. I used to be checking continuously this weblog and I am inspired! Very useful information specially the remaining section 🙂 I care for such information a lot. I was looking for this certain information for a long time. Thank you and good luck.