LA Lakers Answer: Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, not Bynum, Were There All Along

Please forgive this blatant patronization of 21-year-old center Andrew Bynum, Los Angeles Lakers fans.

While every spin move, baseline dunk and energetic defensive play may get your imagination dancing about his possible future dominance, it makes me want to projectile vomit.

Never before has such an expensive, unproven youngster been given credit for doing so little.

When the Boston Celtics shellacked the Lakers by 39 points in a fateful Game Six, some wondered if Bynum's presence would have altered the lopsided final score.

Those incessant questions were misguided and fool-hearted.

One guy who has never performed in the pressure-packed playoffs cannot reverse the kind of six-game beatdown the Lakers endured last year.

Ask yourselves this, purple and gold fanatics, and feign objectivity: Do you look at the sometimes bollixed and listless manner in which the St. Joseph's High School product has played and think he would have changed the outcome of that Celtics series?

Do his 2009 playoff averages of six points and three rebounds merit his being called a "championship difference maker?"

His energy may be infectious, and his activity around the rim is useful against teams with traditional scoring centers. The Lakers have squared off against two such squads in these playoffs—Yao Ming's Houston Rockets and Dwight Howard's Orlando Magic.

GM Mitch Kupchak tendered Bynum a four-year, $58 million extension last year, signaling the franchise's trust in its riskiest, but most talented draft pick in years.

In spurts, such as the opening minutes of Game Seven against the Rockets, Bynum has fueled hot Lakers starts with early buckets and athletic blocks.

He possesses special talent. Even I cannot question that.

Two summers earlier, Kobe Bryant blasted the center in a YouTube video amid trade demands.

"You didn't want to [freaking] ship his [butt] out for Jason Kidd? What the [heck] is that?" Bryant yells in the video.

It's time to bury the notion that Bynum's injury was ever on par with the Spurs' loss of Manu Ginobili or the Celtics' loss of Kevin Garnett.

Bynum's absence as adversity for the Lakers? Are you a comedian now?

When a guy's best career performance comes against the defenseless, structureless Washington Wizards...

Yes, Lakers fans, the level of competition does count for something. It counts for a lot when you want to place the impact of his banged up knee alongside two Hall of Fame caliber contributors in Garnett and Ginobili.

This article's purpose, however, is not to demean Bynum or tear down his pro credentials. Instead, the piece asks the question no one did last year.

What if, under the assault of green and white confetti and the weight of a six-game knockout, Bryant already had the two players he needed to win his fourth ring?

What if one of those players was grossly underutilized in that Finals and the other just needed the wake up call of playing the way cow dung smells?

Did the Lakers ever need Bynum to recapture championship form or was his return an excuse disguised as false hope?

I'll print the following shocker of a statement, and you can react as you wish.

The Lakers would still be up 2-0 in the NBA Finals without Bynum. He may come in handy in a few years, but for now, call him an insurance policy.

The extra one you buy but rarely use.

Beyond the brilliance of Kobe Bryant, two Lakers big men stand tall and loom large for any opponent who dares confront them.

It's time we asked the real question. Where would the Lakers be without Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol?

These guys, plus the boundless energy of Trevor Ariza and Derek Fisher's big-game intelligence and guidance, are the real reasons LA fans are two victories away from another title celebration, not Bynum.

Analysts skewered Odom and Gasol for their uneven play in the 2008 Finals. Phil Jackson called Odom "clueless" and accused Gasol of taking "weenie" shots in the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

San Antonio Express-News columnist Buck Harvey dubbed Odom, "Not Scottie Pippen." Completed by Vlade "Space Cadet" Radmanovic, the Lakers unconventional front line was an easier target for one-liners and insults than Rosie O' Donnell in a jumpsuit, wearing this sign in flashing, neon lights: "my loud mouth likes bacon."

Much of the criticism was justified, given that both often appeared lost and too inexperienced for the big moments when the Lakers needed their wondrous talents to shine.

Thanks to the humiliation of that famous 131-92 score, and the season of redemption that followed, Lakers fans no longer wonder if Odom and Gasol are tough enough to wear championship rings.

Aside from Bryant, no two players took to heart the lessons from that loss more than the agile, post-passing Spaniard and the versatile reserve forward who chomps Snickers bars during halftime.

Gasol, previously reamed as soft and defenseless, has been anything but passive in these playoffs, and Odom's all-around play in the last two weeks has been sweet.

A quick refresher of Gasol's numbers in the Lakers' previous four contests:

• Game Five, Western Conference Finals—14 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks, four assists
• Game Six, Western Conference Finals—20 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three steals
• Game One, NBA Finals—16 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks
• Game Two, NBA Finals—24 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals

A look at Odom's previous four performances:

• Game Five, Western Conference Finals—19 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks, three assists
• Game Six, Western Conference Finals—20 points, eight rebounds
• Game One, NBA Finals—11 points, 14 rebounds
• Game Two, NBA Finals—19 points, eight rebounds, three blocks, two assists

I have never believed in quantifying a player's value on number's alone. Perhaps these snapshot plays better explain why Gasol and Odom are bonafide championship difference makers.

In the first quarter of Game Two of the Finals, Gasol displayed gorgeous footwork in twice spinning around Howard for a one-handed layin off the glass.

In the fourth quarter of Game Six of the conference finals, Gasol backed down Denver Nuggets' center Nene, faked as if he wanted to shoot his devastating hook and then dished a perfect, behind-the-back pass to a cutting Luke Walton, who converted an easy flush.

In the fourth quarter of Game Five of the conference finals, Bryant drove to the rack and threw up a runner that skipped off the rim. Like a stealth bomber filled with janitors and hotel maids, Odom swooped in to clean up the miss with a thunderous putback jam.

In the second quarter of Game Two of the Finals, Magic forward Rashard Lewis left Odom open at the top of the key on a switch. Odom, as he did for most of this game, drained the shot Orlando had dared him to take.

Both the 6' 10" Odom and 7' Gasol boast bothersome length, are gifted passers, can score reliably as far out as 15-20 feet (Odom's three-point shooting is spotty) and can capture any loose ball in a scrum or off a missed shot.

Those who creamed Gasol as stringier than chorizo con queso should reconsider their attacks of last year.

Did the Celtics stop Gasol or did the Lakers just fail to get him enough deep touches?

His 60 percent shooting in the 2008 Finals suggests the latter. For example, in Game Two, which the Lakers lost despite a furious rally, his teammates failed to dump him the ball in the third quarter after a 5-for-7 first half.

The bigger question: since his arrival to Los Angeles, has anyone stopped him?

A certain Golden State fan on this site questioned Gasol's manhood in an article after the Spanish forward dropped 30 points and 18 rebounds on his moribund Warriors in a Lakers win.

Yes, jealousy is a bitch.

Even in the Lakers most embarrassing loss of this postseason, a 99-87 thumping at the hands of the Yao Ming-less Rockets, Gasol glided to the rim for 18 fourth-quarter points and totaled 30 for the game.

For one endless summer and six months, some heralded Bynum as the Lakers' panacea.

Oh, how he could cure those defensive deficiencies.

Oh, this purple and gold saint will bring the Finals back to La La Land and right last year's wrong.

Not quite.

It was Gasol who scored the final nine points in the Lakers Christmas Day victory over the Celtics, including an emphatic plus-one jam.

It was Odom who heard Bryant puking in the locker room just before tipoff of a key Sunday tilt at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. He picked up Bryant's slack and helped knock off King James and his Cavaliers with 19 gargantuan rebounds.

Until the Eastern Conference Finals, that was the only time James' Cavs lost at home when he played.

The Lakers swept a six-game "Grammy" road trip in February without Bynum because Odom and Gasol, the big fellas who have earned critical acclaim, delivered as many Ali-like punches as then reigning MVP Bryant.

This Cassius Clay, even when he erupts for 40 points, still needs sidekicks to, in Mortal Kombat terms, "finish them."

If Bryant is the frame of the Lakers' Lamborghini, Odom and Gasol comprise its motor.

As the Finals head to Amway Arena in Orlando, with the Los Angeles up 2-0, the Magic are just trying to get the old, busted up El Camino out of the driveway.

Where would the Lakers be without Gasol and Odom?

They wouldn't be here, just two victories away from the peak of pro basketball's Kilimanjaro.

I would bet four years and $58 million on it.