ShareThisAndrew Bynum or Tim Duncan?
If the question were once a laughable premise, no more. The gap has seriously narrowed between the Los Angeles Lakers' emerging young monster and San Antonio's superstar since, oh, around the time of the Alamo. As if there wasn't enough bad news coming out of LA lately for the Spurs -- and, for that matter, the rest of the Western Conference.
Just check the box score of the Lakers' easy 99-85 victory over the Spurs on Sunday at Staples Center.
Bynum, 21 and just getting started, essentially played Duncan, 32 and a two-time Most Valuable Player, to a draw. Afterward the Lakers' youngest player shrugged it off with a casual nonchalance that used to be a defense mechanism.
Now it's just casual nonchalance.
"That's the way I'm supposed to play," Bynum said after scoring 15 points (7-of-8 from the foul line), grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds and blocking four shots in just 24 minutes. "If you put the work in, that's what's supposed to happen. That's why the Lakers drafted me and that's why they pay me."
Duncan played three minutes more than Bynum in the Spurs' mostly uninspired performance. Or maybe the Lakers just methodically squeezed the life out of them.
Duncan scored 15 points and had eight rebounds and, like Bynum, didn't play the fourth quarter. He answered questions about Bynum after the game, but wasn't exactly in a gushy mood.
"He's a big body," Duncan said. "He used it to get to the free throw line. He got some fouls on our bigs."
He also was able to play Duncan effectively one-on-one, preventing the Spurs from getting a lot of open shots on the perimeter.
He also drew enough attention when he got the ball on the low post to kick-start the Lakers' inside-out game.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson said Bynum is "learning to be a pro. He's learning how to work hard and improve. Sometimes young players take that as an insult. But he knows the job has to be done and if it's not done, we have to go in another direction."
The signs are there. Over the past three games, Bynum has scored 42, 23 and 15 points. He has 15, 14 and 11 rebounds, along with three, one and four blocked shots.
If that's the way he's going to be most of the time, the Lakers have separated themselves from the West also-rans even more than the records would suggest. With the Lakers at 35-8, second-place San Antonio at 29-14, and the second half of the season under way, it's simply about Kobe Bryant and Co. staying interested enough to challenge Eastern Conference powers Cleveland, Boston and Orlando for the best overall record.
The Lakers will play 24 of their final 39 games away from home, but the road shouldn't bother them. They are 12-5 so far, and four of those losses were by a total of seven points.
For the rest of the NBA, the Lakers are scary like the economy. Teams can figure it will get worse before it gets better. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich unsmilingly critiqued the Lakers afterward.
"They're young, athletic, long, deep -- they've got an inside game, an outside game, and they're going to be a (heck) of a team for a long time to come," Popovich said before retreating to his office, which Sunday doubled as a bunker against unpleasant reality.
The Lakers are good, and with Bynum rising, getting even better.
(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
