Bynum Has it Tough

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">INDIANAPOLIS - For the second time in as many nights, the Lakers found themselves in a 20-point game after three quarters with a chance to get rookie center Andrew Bynum some minutes.

This time, though, the Lakers were trailing the Indiana Pacers 82-62, instead of leading the New York Knicks 97-72, as they did Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

And Bynum had a rougher go of it than he did in scoring 16 points against the Knicks. He finished with two points in 8 minutes Wednesday, hitting 1 of 4 shots and missing all four of his free throws.

"I made good moves, I just didn't finish," Bynum said. "It wasn't going our way tonight."

Bynum was matched up against Indiana's Jeff Foster and missed a hook shot almost identical to the one he made the night before against Eddy Curry. He did finish an alley-oop dunk in the final minute that saved the Lakers from their worst shooting night in franchise history.

Before the game, Lakers coach Phil Jackson was asked about the possibility of giving Bynum more minutes after his showing at the Garden. Jackson said the opportunities would come but that the 18-year-old would spend most of this season watching and learning.

"He's come along, we're really pleased with him," Jackson said. "He had a great fourth quarter (Tuesday) night. It was fun for him to do that in front of his fans."

Jackson added that Bynum, who was not selected to play in the NBA's rookie/sophomore game as part of All-Star weekend, still is trying to get stronger and build what Jackson has referred to several times this season as his base.

"You saw once (Tuesday) night when they really kind of shoved him out, he ended up by the 3-point line on a post-up situation," Jackson said. "That's the indication of how strong Andrew is. He's not quite strong enough to hold that block, he's learning that process."

Bynum still has some work to do on his foul shooting. He has hit just 7 of 23 this season after Wednesday's game. When he was drafted in June, Bynum compared himself to Shaquille O'Neal except for making his free throws. </div>

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He could be a strong bench player next year, evolving into a strong starter maybe midway through the year. In 3-4 years, look for him to start putting his stamp on the Laker franchise.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting vcwannabe15:</div><div class="quote_post">I might sound crazy but he should start or atleast averge around 20-30 minutes per game. He scored 16 points in like 20 minutes or something like that.</div>

I don't think he should start, but he should definitely be the first sub in the game when Mihm gets into foul trouble.