Old friend Kwame Brown has solid game in win over Lakers

Reporting from Charlotte, N.C

The smile was still there. The sense of humor and his lightheartedness were still evident.

Perhaps the only change was that Kwame Brown actually played with confidence and with a purpose.

Brown didn’t tear it up, but he was solid for the Charlotte Bobcats during their victory Monday night over one of his former teams, the Lakers.

He had only eight points and eight rebounds, but they came against a Lakers team he spent a little over three years with until he was traded.

“It was fun seeing the guys,” Brown said. “It was extra fun kicking their [butts].”

That the Bobcats did, beating the Lakers, 109-89.

Brown played a role in that.

He shot four for eight from the field. More important, he had six offensive rebounds.

“I just closed my eyes and threw up some shots,” Brown said, laughing. “I made some too.”

Brown, who has a sore right hand, still has his sense of humor.

It was what he used to get through some tough years with the Lakers, when he was often booed.

Before the third quarter started, Brown went over to the Lakers’ bench and shook hands with Coach Phil Jackson and assistants Frank Hamblen and Brian Shaw.

All of them had a laugh.

“Phil is a great coach, a Hall of Famer,” Brown said. “He gave me an opportunity and he thanked me for the things that I could do and never really harped on what I couldn’t do. He always had respect for my game and I had respect for him, so I have no bad blood against him.”

Even though Brown was part of a trade in February 2008 to the Memphis Grizzlies for Pau Gasol, he doesn’t hold any grudges.

In fact, Brown still follows the Lakers.

“I love watching them play,” Brown said. “I saw the game yesterday against Orlando. They got a lot of Dwight [Howard]. But everybody wants to see the Lake Show.”

Brown likes to say he tutored Andrew Bynum when the two of them played together.

During the game, Brown and Bynum exchanged friendly words.

“I just joked with him,” Brown said. ‘I told him he still owes me some of that contract because I used to beat [up on] him in practice and I got him ready to play. I told him if he can score on me, he can score on anybody.”

“I love playing against friends,” Bynum said. “I would have liked to have gotten more opportunities in the second half against Brown, but that wasn’t the case.”

broderick.turner@latimes.com

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