Bynum shows he can be Duncan 'on steroids'
Kevin Ding: His personal trainer says Andrew Bynum "can be Tim Duncan on steroids," and the Lakers' victory over San Antonio on Sunday helped make that case.
Kevin Ding
The Orange County Register
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LOS ANGELES How much better are the Lakers than the Spurs?
This much.
The Lakers' dominance of San Antonio on Sunday was no one-day "Lost"-style time-travel trick. Andrew Bynum, 21, can play his childhood idol, Tim Duncan, 32, to a standstill now, and given that's the case, the Spurs have no chance of unseating the Lakers as Western Conference champions this season.
Not that anyone else in the West is going to beat the Lakers, either.
Lakers co-captains Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher showed proper respect for San Antonio as an ongoing threat, even though a proper burial would have been more appropriate after Sunday's 99-84 Lakers victory. Bryant noted San Antonio's "great players and great coaching and class organization." He also said: "They've always been a measuring stick."
The tale of the tape now tells a different story. On Sunday, Bynum looked every bit 25 pounds bigger and stronger than Duncan, after whom he has modeled much of his game.
It has taken a little time and experience for the words of Bynum's personal trainer, Sean Zarzana, to take hold: "You can be Duncan … on steroids."
Obviously not real steroids, but you can see a slight shift in the Lakers' flow toward Bynum's muscle flexing at both ends recently.
The shift makes the game incredibly easy for the Lakers, because if Bynum merits double-teaming, it becomes clear the Lakers' supporting cast can run circles around San Antonio's.
The Spurs won the NBA title in 2003, '05 and '07, but the odd trend is going to end this season, even though they're respectably second in the West, six games behind the Lakers.
Duncan looks a lot like the overburdened Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal of 2003, when the Lakers failed in a fourth consecutive title quest by falling to the Spurs in the second round … with Slava Medvedenko, Jannero Pargo and a soon-to-retire Brian Shaw out there with Bryant and O'Neal down the stretch.
The normal tranquility in Duncan, whose numbers are up to the levels of five years ago because he has to do more now, was replaced by anger in the middle of a third-quarter play Sunday when Matt Bonner (Medvedenko) botched the alignment on an offensive set that ended in a Tony Parker forced and missed jumper.
Moments before, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was unable to contain his anger after Michael Finley (Shaw) couldn't get free from Bynum's pick to rotate over and defend Fisher's 3-pointer.
On the previous play, Roger Mason (Pargo) doubled down to Bynum and didn't bother to go back to contest Bryant, who made his open 3-pointer.
"The game was over at that point," Popovich said later.
He can't be as honest about San Antonio's season being over, but he did say this about the Lakers: "It's a hell of a team, and it's going to be a hell of a team for a long time. They're young, athletic, long and deep. Inside game, outside game. It's a hell of a squad."
What we saw Sunday was San Antonio at full strength, and it wasn't even as good as San Antonio with a gimpy Manu Ginobili in the Lakers' five-game Western Conference finals victory last spring. Bynum was injured and absent then.
Now, he is healthy and present. And although fighting a head cold Sunday, he showed he can at the very least be Duncan … on nasal decongestants.
Bynum realized at halftime he had no free-throw attempts, so he redoubled his efforts in that department and got to the line eight times, making seven.
The results showed how Bynum has focused personal workouts on exploding to the rim while wearing resistance bands and on free-throw shooting. (He is 22 of 27 from the line in three games since he made 87 of 100 in an extra practice session.) When he starts getting consistent in passing out of double teams, it'll be all over.
Because it was a blowout, neither Bynum (24 minutes) nor Duncan (27) played much, but the other numbers loomed large: Bynum had 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Duncan had 15 points, eight rebounds and no blocks. Duncan drew his fourth foul with 3:27 left in the third quarter by going over Bynum's back, clearly frustrated that Bynum had blocked his shot on the previous play.
"When he plays that way," Fisher said of Bynum, "it makes us almost impossible to beat."
The thing is Bynum playing that way is no flash-forward to 2011. It is who he is becoming — and who he expects to be — now.
"It's the way I'm supposed to play," Bynum said.
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