Bynum Injury the Difference

The Lakers and Celtics series has played out relatively how I thought it would to this point with a split of the first two games in Los Angeles followed by the Celtics winning two of three in Boston (although I would have guessed a different order in which it happened). I picked the Celtics before the series to win game six in L.A. and take home yet another title in their storied history, but I did so with the understanding that anything could happen when the series returned to Los Angeles. After a very entertaining but very unpredictable series so far, you could make the argument that is even truer now that we actually head into game six back in Los Angeles with the Celtics up 3-2.

However, it’s my belief that this series took a dramatic shift when Andrew Bynum aggravated his knee injury in game three. The Lakers dominated the boards in game one and their length with Pau Gasol and Bynum looked like it would be too much for the Celtics. In game two, an unconscious shooting performance by Ray Allen and a slightly more aggressive Celtics team managed to get out of L.A. with a split, despite 13 blocks combined by Gasol and Bynum. Game three, one in which you would have thought Boston would have a distinct advantage heading home with short rest, was once again owned by the Lakers big men as they won the battle on the boards and supported by Kobe Bryant, blocked another seven of Boston’s shots. It was here that the series made a dramatic shift after Andrew Bynum came down wincing after a dunk.

After playing 28, 39, and 29 minutes in the first three games, respectively, Bynum was only able to play 12 minutes in game four and a very lackluster 32 minutes in game five (6 points, 1 rebound). The Celtics took advantage of the Lakers’ diminished size advantage, winning the rebounding battle in both games and getting great production from their undersized bench, namely Glen “Big Baby” Davis, who became much more of a factor when they were not dealing with the length of Bynum in the middle. It has also allowed the Celtics to focus all of their non-Kobe defensive efforts towards Gasol (who shot under 50% in both games four and five), especially with how poorly Lamar Odom is performing in the series and how badly Derek Fisher and Ron Artest have shot.

So with the series heading back to Lakerland for games six and seven, and Bynum dealing with short rest and a six hour flight back to the west coast, I do not expect a significant improvement in his performance. That gives me great confidence that the Celtics should have the upperhand tonight in game six, and in game seven as well shall it get to that. If I were a Boston fan, which I am not, I would be feeling pretty giddy right now that my team was about to take home its second championship in three years. Let’s see if Kobe Bryant has anything to say on the contrary.