BYNUM'S PLAN
Bynum sat on the bench with his teammates and shared lots of laughs with them, which is what he plans to do on the upcoming trip to Sacramento and Portland: “I'm just going to bond with my teammates,” he said.
Bryant sat next to Bynum and talked through the opening minutes of the fourth quarter — when Odom was leading a strong charge with Gasol also resting. Something Bynum and Jackson emphasized in comments before the game is that Bynum's on-court bonding with teammates is more likely to happen during what is likely to be three days off before the playoffs start.
“We're not anticipating Andrew has to play in a regular-season game,” Jackson said. “The actual experience of playing together is probably best formed and best learned and coached on the court during a practice session, where we have the ability to play and work things out together.”
Bynum said he hopes to have a “tuneup” in the final two regular-season games but will not play before then. In any case, he is looking forward to those off days before the postseason “to get a bunch of hard practices in.”
One of the things the Lakers will practice then and have already, Jackson revealed, is Gasol making way for Bynum at center by moving to power forward — which is a more complicated spot in the triangle offense to learn. Jackson is also wary of how Gasol and Bynum can defend together given their lack of footspeed and tendencies to hunt for blocks.
Jackson's dream sequence would be to clinch the Western Conference's top seed early and be able to use the regular-season finale against Sacramento to let Bynum get acclimated again. They are 1 1/2 games behind New Orleans and play host to the Hornets on Friday. After the game Jackson mentioned seeking home-court advantage through the playoffs in addressing his team, saying: “Congrats, but that's not good enough.”
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