It’s no secret around the NBA that the LA Lakers enigmatic center Andrew Bynum, although still only 23 years old, has some gimpy knees. After all, during the course of his now 6 year career, the one-time prep to pro player, has missed the equivalent of almost 2 full seasons of games. To make an observation that he is injury prone would be an understatement.
Just last week, during a Lakers win over the slumping San Antonio Spurs, Bynum once again went down with what was originally deemed a hyper-extended knee, but later revealed to be a bone bruise. Since virtually everyone knows that having Bynum on the floor playing valuable minutes during the post-season may be the X-factor in Los Angeles winning a 3rd consecutive title, I guessing that most fans out West were holding their breath, wondering just how much time Andrew would miss.
But to everyone’s amazement, the 7 footer only missed the regular season finale against Sacramento and contributed 13 points, 9 boards, and 2 blocks in 25 minutes in the surprising Game 1 loss to the Hornets. While the favored Lakers are down 0-1 heading into Game 2 on Wednesday night, mostly because of the lackluster play of Pau Gasol (8 pts, 6 rebs), the oft injured Bynum isn’t to blame, as he was the dominating big man Lakers fans had hoped for.
There’s no doubting that if Andrew was out for an extended period of time, some fanatical Lakers fans would have blamed some members of the Spurs or specifically Coach Popovich, especially since the two teams finished 1 and 2 in the Western Conference final standings.
While in no way am I implying that Spurs coach Popovich would intentionally command a player to injure another, there’s no reason why some creative YouTube makers can’t have some fun with the notion, right?
I thought I’d share with you a rather hilarious video mash-up I stumbled on where the video’s creator would have you believe that he found some hidden video proof of Popovich setting up a makeshift hit on Bynum by telling DeJuan Blair to “Sweep the Leg” on the Lakers big man. It’s pretty funny, even if it is in bad taste. My favorite part is after Blair carries out the dastardly deed, “Pops” can be seen giving his trademark double thumbs up to the cameras. Watch and enjoy.
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
