Is Andrew Bynum the greatest thing since sliced bread? No. He’s always injured, and when he’s not injured, he’s been inconsistent. Is Andrew Bynum a skilled seven-footer who can score in the paint and effect shots with his length? Yes… and players like that certainly have value. He played 17 minutes and didn’t shoot well in his first game back, but he appeared to be moving ok and he didn’t hurt himself. The Lakers will play 10 home games and just five road games in January. Andrew Bynum will be his usual self by then, and LA will probably run off a lot of victories.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Dwight Howard swats the crap out of Ty Lawson. Take it easy, Dwight, he’s like 5’2. Marcin Gortat does not swat the crap out of Ty Lawson. Kobe looking young as he catches an oop from DFish. Andre Iguodala drives and throws down a huge reverse dunk. Courtney Lee gives it up and gets it back for a dunk. Monta Ellis and1 over Darko. Monta Ellis spins between two defenders and scores over a third.
- Back to Andrew Bynum: he scored seven points, grabbed four boards, blocked two shots, and went 1-5 from the floor in a little more than 17 minutes of playing time. Lamar Odom kept his starting spot for now and continued to beast (18/10 on 6-8). Phil Jackson has made it clear that Bynum will be a starter again soon, so LO’s numbers are about to dip. Anyway, the Lakers beat the Wizards by 14. John Wall missed yet another game… this time it was a flare up of tendinitis in his right knee. Kobe Bryant scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the third quarter. He scored 12 straight for the Lakers at one point during a 17-2 run. Nick Young had 21 off the bench for the Wiz. Washington’s frontcourt, which is already missing Andray Blatche, will now be missing Yi Jianlian. He sprained his right knee a few minutes into the game.
- Kevin Love only managed to put 13/14 on the Warriors, but Darko Milicic came ready to collect some numbers. The Serbian Gangster dropped a season high 25 points and grabbed 11 boards, but his T-Wolves still couldn’t overcome 34 points from the Moped and 26 more from Reggie Williams, who started for Steph Curry and has been on a tear lately. GS took it by nine for their first win in the month of December. Martell Webster suited up for the first time this season and dropped 17 on 6-8 off the T-Wolves bench. Jonny Flynn also made his 2010/11 debut, but did so more quietly: three points and four assists on just two shot attempts.
- Talks of Melo to the Nets have heated up once again, but he’s a Nugget for now, and last night that presented a problem for Dwight Howard and the Magic. Melo lit Orlando up with 35 points on 14-21, and made it a double-double by grabbing 11 boards. Ty Lawson started the game in place of Mr. Brick Shot and dropped 16 points while also dishing six dimes. Denver won by 17, but this was a close game until the final half of the 4th period. With about 11 minutes left and Denver up four, JR Smith tried his best to send George Karl to this hospital with a heart attack. JR stupidly fouled JJ Redick on a three, then complained about his obvious foul, which resulted in a technical. JJ Redick got a five-point play out of it. The game remained close until the six minute mark. Orlando trailed by just one point, but they were only able to muster three points the rest of the way, while Denver put in 19. The Magic have dropped five of their last six. Consolation prize: JJ Redick scored a career-high of 29.
- About 217 of the most hardcore Pistons fans showed up at the Palace to watch their boys get a 23-point win over the Atlanta Hawks. Just a few days after throwing down a windmill dunk, T-Mac made four threes in a row in the fourth quarter. Twelve in 6:38 isn’t exactly 13 in :35, but it’s almost equally surprising considering the way T-Mac’s career has gone over the past five years or so. Charlie Villanueva finally got some minutes (about 28 of them) and took advantage. He made 10 of 17 shots (including three threes) on his way to 23/11. Josh Smith, Al Horford, and Mike Bibby accounted for all but 23 of ATL’s 80 points. Jamal Crawford went 1-6 and had just two points.
- The Charlotte Bobcats rebounded from an embarassing loss to the Celtics by edging the Craptors by six. Michael Jordan was inducted into the North Carolina sports HOF during halftime. He told his team, “You better not lose on my night.” Damn, that’s a postgame-lockerroom meltdown I would’ve paid to be a fly on the wall for. There was no meltdown, though, because Kwame Brown stepped up and scored 10 points on 5-8. Only against Andrea Bargnani and the Charmin-soft frontcourt of the Craptors could something like that happen. Actually, check that… he did score 12 earlier this season against Spencer Hawes and the Sixers. Congratulations Bargs, apparently there’s a starting center out there more useless than you are defensively. Unlike Bargnani, Hawes can’t really score either… rendering him completely useless. Maybe that’s why his teammates are always putting popcorn in his ‘Scalade.
- The other games: Speaking of Spencer Hawes, the guy actually had a good game last night (18 points and five boards). If Brook Lopez wasn’t ashamed before, he should be now… the starting C who has ONE double-double all season was out-scored by two and equalled on the glass. The Suxers beat the Brooklyn New Yorkers by five. The Tyreke Evans-less Kings were beaten pretty badly–118 to 105–by Luis Scola (23/10) and his Rockets. Houston’s bench, led by Chase Budinger and his 18 points, dropped 55.
Quote of the Day: Mike Bibby on getting crushed by the Pistons…
“We hung in there…”
He continued, but I cut him off. You hung in there? You were playing the Detroit Pistons, hanging in there isn’t going to cut it. Just tell the reporter you guys sucked and move along.
Photo of the Day: Pictured below: 49 games started, two double-doubles…
