Interesting article from ESPN on Andrew Bynum.
ESPN: Momentum. It’s something everyone likes to talk about: “They have the momentum now,” media types and fans often proclaim. And it’s certainly something the Los Angeles Lakers would like to think they have as they head to Houston for Game 6 on Thursday.
But Lakers co-captain Derek Fisher, a veteran of 163 playoff games and three championship teams, says game-to-game momentum doesn’t exist, just as the Lakers’ 118-78 blowout of the Rockets in Game 5 wasn’t the “statement game” all of Los Angeles had been waiting for.
“Every game is different,” Fisher said. “To say we recaptured the magic [in Game 5] means Thursday we’ll play the same way. That’s just not how this works. Thursday, we might shoot 39 percent, and you just got to play defense and rebound and hustle and take charges and figure out a way to win the game. It’s going to be different than it was [Tuesday].”
And that could include the play of their on-again, off-again man in the middle, Andrew Bynum, who started in place of the ailing Lamar Odom in Game 5 and came up with more points than fouls in the first few minutes of the game, unlike in the first few games of the series.
“I got into a little rhythm,” he said after a 90-minute practice Wednesday before boarding a flight to Houston.
Bynum, who finished with 16 points in 20 minutes of play, has been called everything from soft to lazy to, perhaps worst of all, nonchalant. He has been crucified for admitting that most of his problems have been mental, rather than physical, in returning after tearing the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. And he’s a key part of a Lakers mystery: Since his absence seemed to be a key reason L.A. lost to Boston in the NBA Finals last June, why hasn’t his return helped the team this season?
“You’ve got to remember he’s a 21-year-old kid coming off sitting out 32 games with injury,” Fisher said.
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