Andrew Bynum benched during Lakers’ victory over Warriors

Posted on by

A sneak-peek at tomorrow’s story tonight …

After they led the Golden State Warriors for all but a few moments in the fourth quarter, after their best player wrestled the game away from their opponents, the Lakers should have been feeling good about themselves again.

Instead, they were talking about 7-foot center Andrew Bynum taking an unnecessary 3-pointer with the game still in doubt in the third quarter and spending most of the second bench on the bench Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.

“That’s something I felt could have taken us out of rhythm and that’s why I took him out of the game,” coach Mike Brown said after the Lakers took a 104-101 victory from the injury-depleted Warriors.

Bynum, who has taken eight 3-pointers during his seven-season career, played only 2 minutes, 27 seconds in the third quarter and only 5:17 in the second half. He scored 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting and had five rebounds in 23:14.

He was averaging 18.3 points in 36 minutes going into the game.

“I felt good about it,” Bynum said of launching a 3-pointer with the Lakers head of the Warriors by only 56-50 with 10:05 left in the third quarter. “I’m going to take more of them. Hopefully, I’ll make them.”

Bynum sat alone on the Lakers’ bench during timeouts after Brown substituted for him, explaining, “He took me out of the game and I sat where he put me.” Bynum said he hadn’t spoken to Brown about the ill advised 3-pointer or his benching.

“No, not yet,” he said. “I’m sure he wants to.”

Kobe Bryant defended Bynum.

“I think he was testing the limits of his game,” Bryant said.

Bryant also said he supports Bynum’s efforts to expand his game.

“I understand where he’s coming from,” Bryant said. “The first thing you want to do if you want to get the best out of somebody or get the best out of your players is you have understand what they’re feeling, you have to understand where they’re coming from and what they want to accomplish. That’s why it’s not that big of deal to me. You don’t see me sitting there tripping or sweating or anything like that. I’ve been there.”