Lakers big men come up small against Celtics
Reporting from Boston
Bad night for the Lakers’ post players, one and all.
Andrew Bynum was ailing and ineffective, but Pau Gasol one-upped him by being healthy and unproductive.
The Lakers were knocked around by the Boston Celtics for most of their 92-86 loss Sunday at TD Garden, much to the delight of Celtics fans who saw Gasol get his shot blocked three times and Bynum fail to score after the first quarter.
That Bynum played despite a sore and swollen right knee was a statement in itself, but Gasol was the one who had only 12 points on five-for-12 shooting in Game 5.
“We need to be more of a factor defensively and more productive offensively as well,” Gasol acknowledged. “Our length and strength are still important to our team.”
Gasol wasn’t very sturdy in Game 5 after being bothered continually by the Celtics’ big men, going four for 11 until a meaningless putback with 10.1 seconds left.
“He’s been consistent for us for a while now, so he can afford to have a bad game every once in a while,” Kobe Bryant said.
Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said he would reserve comment on Gasol’s game until reviewing video of it, offering that he didn’t know whether Gasol “was tentative or whether he had good defensive plays made against him.”
Bynum logged almost 32 minutes Sunday but more or less just took up space, finishing with six points and one rebound three days after having his swollen right knee drained for the second time in as many weeks.
“I was a little disappointed, but I’m going to be playing in Game 6,” he said. “We are going to attack. We have to force a Game 7.”
The Lakers hoped Bynum’s lack of impact had less to do with his knee and more to do with getting reacquainted after playing only 12 minutes in Game 4.
“More than anything else, Andrew was out of rhythm in the game,” Jackson said. “I think he’ll feel much more comfortable getting back [to Los Angeles] and playing. He’s really only played limited minutes since Tuesday night, so we anticipate that he’ll have some opportunity to … give us more than just a big body in the sixth game.”
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