L.A.’s new two-man combo of Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum were in rare form tonight in the Lakers 110-105 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Kobe led the way with 37 points despite playing with an upper respiratory infection and Andrew Bynum had 25 points to go along with a career high 17 rebounds. After the game, Coach Jackson said, “Kobe and Andrew had outstanding games tonight. Both of them played exceptional ball.”
Although Andrew had one of the best nights of his young career, he still sees plenty of room for improvement. “I’m dying for a 20 and 20 game,” said Bynum. “I’ve been so close like that two, three times. Philly, this game, and I think another game I got like 10 boards in the first quarter and finished with 11.”
After eclipsing his previous career high of 16 rebounds (against the Suns on Christmas Day), Jackson praised Bynum’s growth as a rebounding force for the Lakers this year. “By far he’s much stronger,” Jackson said. “We told him to go to the ball. Last year a lot of them got knocked out of his hands when he was bringing it down, but this year he is controlling it.”
While Kobe scored 16 of his points in the fourth quarter alone, he was not his usual self in the first half. “I got as couple reports before the game, where he’s at,” said Jackson. “He had some nausea and I don’t think there was anything else going on, some nausea and some headaches and dizziness. But he said he’d be ready to play and he was.”
Kobe’s performance evoked memories of Michael Jordan’s “flu game” against the Jazz in the NBA Finals, but the stage was obviously much larger for MJ. “…Michael did a lot of throwing up and we did a few IVs for him to get on the floor, so he spent the night up,” said Jackson. “But Kobe had a situation like that in Sacramento too, once we made the playoffs…He’s played through this type of thing before.”
With the win, the Lakers improved their overall record to 24-11 and sit just a half game behind the conference leading Suns and Dallas Mavericks.
