Andrew Bynum continues to garner league-wide attention for his vastly improved play to open up the season, highlighted by his dominating 20 point, 11 rebound, 5 block game versus the Warriors on Sunday.
Although there’s not much difference between this season’s start for the Lakers, compared to a year ago, Coach Phil Jackson’s current team has been turning heads around the league because of the play of center Andrew Bynum.
For Bynum, 20, the more he’s able to show Jackson that he can play against a variety of lineups is a plus with the increased number of NBA teams showing quick lineups like Golden State.
Lakers Coach Phil Jackson and San Antonio Spurs Coach Greg Popovich will wear microphones during TNT’s Thursday night broadcast of the Lakers v. Spurs game as part of a new league-mandated policy requiring coaches to wear microphones for nationally televised games.
San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich recently told reporters: “I’m willing to bet it would give pause to Commissioner [David] Stern and his group if all of a sudden in their next important meeting there was a camera and microphone [in the room],” Popovich said.
“It would make them, as it will make us, act differently. It will be a much more cautious, untrusting atmosphere.”
After his second solid performance in a little over a week’s time — including strong games against Minnesota, Denver and Golden State — it looks like Trevor Ariza is finally carving his niche with this Lakers team, even if he admits his development is still a work in progress.
Sure, it’s only been three games, but Trevor Ariza appears to have found his niche, finally. He doesn’t look as lost on the floor as he did in the days and nights immediately after the Lakers acquired him Nov. 20 from the Orlando Magic.
“With our offense, it’s going to take a while for me to really understand what’s going on,” said Ariza, a standout at UCLA and Westchester High School. “A lot of homework, a lot of homework. It definitely was a good game for me because of the way (the Warriors) play (their up-tempo style).”
With no games scheduled until this Thursday’s match-up with the Spurs, injured players Kwame Brown and Luke Walton are taking full advantage of the break to get back into playing form by the end of this week. Walton said he hopes to play Thursday and Brown is aiming for a Sunday return versus the Clippers.
“We hope Luke gets back on the floor and we get all our guys out there practicing,” Jackson said. “We have the opportunity to look at some of the first game that we had against San Antonio and some of the things that we can do against them to be more effective on the offensive end. I thought they played real good defense against us.”
