Defending Yao Ming

It’s not often that Andrew Bynum has to look up when he squares off against an opponent. After all, he is a 7-footer. But when the plays against Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets, he has to raise the level of his eyesight as well as the level of his play. Bynum offered a few thoughts Saturday about matching up against Yao, the Rockets’ 7-foot-6, 310-pound center.

“Usually, I can outreach people, but that’s something I can’t do with him,” Bynum said a day before facing Yao and the Rockets at Staples Center. “It’s really, really different. It changes the game. You can play really good ‘D’ and he can still just turn around and shoot the ball.

“You have to get him out of his comfort zone and body him up a lot and outrun him. I think I can move him out. The biggest thing is I’ve got to attack him in transition and beat him down the court and get there first and get easy shots.”