LOS ANGELES — He is the world’s biggest shadow, and other than Red Auerbach and Michael Jordan, these finals’ biggest ghost. At this level, every losing team has a what-if? The Los Angeles Lakers have, at 7-feet and 280 pounds, a bigger what-if than most.
“I think we have a chance to be a very, very good team,” says Andrew Bynum. “We’re still a young team, and we could be really, really good.”
As the Lakers entered Game 4 at home Thursday night, they were down 2-1 to the Boston Celtics in the series in large part because their starting big men, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, had played soft and brainless basketball over much of the first three games. The two finesse towers have been out-competed, out-worked, and out-smarted by the Boston frontline. They had, in short, not played big enough.
Bynum, meanwhile, is seen as the missing piece in a towering and glorious future, with a front line that goes 7-foot, 7-foot, and 6-foot-10, with Kobe Bryant in the backcourt. Bynum may have gotten a little excited when he said earlier this week that next year’s Lakers would chase Chicago’s record 72-win season, but on paper, there is promise.
“I think it would look great,” says Bynum, a soft-spoken 20-year-old. “I mean, pretty intimidating. We’ll be able to play a lot better defence. And also on the offensive end, I think it should be hard for teams to guard all three of us at one time. Right now, I’m just really focusing on getting right. I’ve got to get back better before all that can come true.”
Indeed, Bynum has not played since a nasty knee injury on Jan. 13, when he briefly dislocated his left kneecap, and badly bruised the knee. His rehab went slower than expected - and he had surgery last month to remove cartilage debris on the underside of the knee - but he is walking now, fooling around with the ball on the sidelines, killing time.

nationalpost.com

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the defending champion San Antonio Spurs 100-92 Thursday, advancing to the National Basketball Association finals for the first time in four years.
Kobe Bryant scored 39 points for the Lakers who wrapped up the best-of-seven series in five games.
“The first half was tough for us because they caught us off guard,” Bryant said. “We just wanted to cut the deficit to manageable level by half time and we did that and then turned on the gas in the second half.”
The Lakers will meet the winner of the other semi-final between the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons.
Boston leads the best-of-seven series 3-2 with game six in Detroit on Friday. The Lakers and Celtics have not met in the finals since 1987.
Bryant scored 26 of his 39 points in the second half for the Lakers who reached the championship series for the first time since 2004, when they lost to the Detroit Pistons.
“This is dream come true,” Bryant said. “It is such a blessing to be able to share this with a group of guys who are like brothers.”
It was another comeback victory for the Lakers, who trailed by 17 points in the first half. Los Angeles erased a 20-point, third-quarter deficit in game one to secure a win.
Tim Duncan had 19 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for the Spurs, who have won four championships since 1999 but again failed to repeat the feat.

afp.google.com

There’s always been two schools of thought – those who say staying in an every other day kind of rhythm does a team best and those who believe that rest between rounds is the key to long term success. Me personally, I think it depends on the team. Today, the Lakers showed that they’re the kind of team that can not only dispatch a team quickly, but can benefit from it pretty dang well too.
I expected a bit of rough start in the 1st quarter but the Lakers did exactly the opposite, coming out with a focus that wasn’t too much unlike a team with a greater goal in mind. The biggest difference in the Laker game from the outset was the defense of Derek Fisher.
For a guy who’s had some serious trouble keeping up with the speedier guards in the League Derek did a fantastic job of staying in front of Williams. Of course being the guy who mentored Williams as he came into the league doesn’t hurt, but nonetheless, there were few times that Williams out and out beat Derek off the dribble. When Derek did have trouble keeping up with Williams (often on a lateral run) Derek did well in getting around traffic to at least have a presence or a hand in his face afterwards.
Offensively, Derek played like a point guard today. There were few times he settled for the jumper as a first resort which was beyond great to see. There were plenty of times Derek saw a small opening and got the ball moving further into the paint than he has in a long time. The best of these plays came when he worked a great screen and roll / a simple give and go game with Pau. Derek was in top form dishing and moving, bringing Williams with him off the ball allowing Pau quick and plenty of room to operate on Utah’s softening low post defense.

clublakers.com

Chick Hearn has been gone since Aug. 5, 2002, but he certainly isn’t forgotten. He was honored by the Lakers on Wednesday night right before Kobe Bryant got his MVP trophy. And Marge Hearn, a spry 90, was there to present the game ball to the referees.
“I didn’t just hand it to them, I threw it to them,” she said proudly the next day from her home in Fullerton.
Marge attends just about every Lakers game with granddaughter Shannon Pearce and husband Tim, who live about six miles away in Yorba Linda.
Asked what her late husband would have thought of this Lakers team, Marge said: “He would really like it. He would say these kids — he would call them kids — love each other. You can see it. He’d say, ‘They’re doing it together and I think it’s great.’
“And you know he always liked Kobe. He would have been so happy that he finally got an MVP award.”
Television commentator Stu Lantz, now in his 21st season, spent 15 of those alongside Hearn.
“I think about him all the time,” Lantz said Thursday before going with the team to Salt Lake City for tonight’s Game 3 of the playoff series with the Utah Jazz.
Echoing Marge Hearn’s sentiments, Lantz said, “He would be very excited about this team because they’re playing together.”
Lantz compared it to the championship teams of the 1980s with Magic Johnson.
“This team has many of the same elements as those teams — a superstar, a couple of really good players and a real nice bench,” Lantz said. “Everyone is getting involved.”
Tonight’s game will be televised at 6 on Channel 9, with Lantz and play-by-play partner Joel Meyers. It will also be televised on ESPN, with Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown announcing.

latimes.com