Lemon Face/Lion Face 11.13.09: Divergent Edition
Look, I could talk about Wade cacking on Flopsy (again), but he “only” scored 36 on 21 shots and didn’t have great numbers across the board. Same with LeBron’s 34. It looked very much like these two wanted very badly to make this into a classic, but their shots were off and their teammates were too busy doing what it takes to win the game, obviously unaware of the relevance of these two playing in front of MJ.
I could talk about Suns-Lakers, but really, what did you expect? Nash pretty much said before the season started that the Suns probably don’t have the guns to run with the Lakers. The Lakers are the best team in the league and don’t even have their second best player back, yet. Bryant didn’t detonate the Suns, he just did his thing, let his teammates take them down, and when they needed something to push the Suns closer to oblivion, he calmly walked over and kicked them in the eye. 29 points in 32 minutes, scoring on 11 of 21 possessions.
So since the first game was “meh” and the second game was simply a reinforcement of what we already know (I like to call this syndrome, “The Dwyers,” a condition where absolutely nothing surprises you.), I’m going to talk about something that ties into last night’s game and deserves to be mentioned so that I get this out front. We’ve got two lion faces, no lemons. It is Friday, after all.
Lion Face: Andrew Bynum this season
People always confused what it is I’ve said about Bynum. I’ve complained that he has poor work ethic and is immature. I’ve stated that he’s not the center everyone says he already is. Not that he can’t get there, but that he wasn’t there already. This sounds like some sort of revisionist history, but I assure you, not even I, in my seething hatred of everything Laker, could look at Bynum’s size, length, and touch and not say “there’s something there.” But versus the talented players on other teams I tend to tout, Bynum was already given the attention, the hype, the standing. He was ranked at #24 by Ziller before he’d done anything. He was talked about as an All-Star simply based on projections. And I hated that. Because there were a lot of other centers who were working harder, playing better, doing more for their team than Bynum. And that speaks to the folly that is my unwavering support of the idea of fairness.
Well, guess what. It’s totally fair to say the kid’s an All-Star now. With every game I’ve seen more and more out of Bynum, and not just what he’s been putting in the last few seasons. A guy with his size can drop 30 on a team without a legitimate center if he absorbs enough possessions. I could go down this road into “he’s still in the top 10% of the NBA which is in the top 1% of all basketball players in the world” but that’s a given. But this season it’s different. You can still see him on defense, straining not to go for that weak-side block into the fourth row, but he’s trying. He’s not trying to show Phil he can play defense by blocking a layup into the fourth row when Odom has him covered, giving the ball back to the offense to reset with 12 on the shot clock. He’s intimidating folks, don’t get me wrong, but also unlike last year, he’s not throwing himself at penetrators risking things like nearly decapitating Gerald Wallace. He’s controlled, he’s in-flow, he’s working within the system. And God, the drop-hook. Watching a kid with this size with those post-moves makes you cry for Dwight Howard, who is still, and will continue to be, the best center in the league. But Bynum’s ability to create on his own is stirring. When faced with a smaller defender who can put his weight into Bynum’s legs, AKA The De-Howarder, he calmly turns, raises the ball up, and drops the ball down like it’s a NERF basket. Just a punk off the back iron and down. He’s a true post-presence and he doesn’t need the wild left spin that Howard does to get separation. Creating shot separation from pivot is incredibly hard and incredibly valuable, and Bynum has that. The guy’s an absolute joy to watch right now. Don’t get complacent, Andrew. Keep it up. I may hate watching you win, but I love to see you work.
Lion Face: Greg Oden
The OTHER center I’ve long since claimed could be great, but that people needed to simmer down on. And for the first four games, we were right back where we have been. Tremendous preseason push (“Oh, no, you have to see Oden, he’s GOT IT THIS YEAR!”), and then pffft. He had no sense of offensive rhythm, was okay on defense. Then he had no sense of offensive rhythm, and was pretty good on defense. Now? He’s getting there offensively and his defense is getting just insane. He’s able to make big plays and body up anybody. He’s committed to being a top notch defender and it shows. He’s not getting fooled on drives, he’s keeping a leg on his man to track him, and all that size is simply too much to deal with. Oden’s not going to make a leap where he suddenly just starts being the most dominant player in the game. It’s going to take time, it already has taken time, but now, finally, we’re starting to see why the Blazers drafted him. And if they get all those pieces to mesh with Oden, it could be a New Order in the West. Well, outside of the Lakers being number one, and all.
Oster-Tags: lionface, lionfacelemonface
