What could have been a matchup for the ages!
“These NBA Finals feel like a missed opportunity to witness a titanic individual matchup. No, not the ones the puppets prophesied; a good old-fashioned center showdown, the kind Wilt and Russell used to give us.”
“It would have been a nice parallel, the two young centers (Howard’s 23, Bynum is 21) taken a year apart in the draft, both competing in their first NBA Finals. Only it’s pretty hard to compare a guy whose defining moment of the spring was putting the Magic on his back in the conference championship-clinching game to a guy whose defining moment of the spring was putting a Playmate on his shoulders at a pajama party.”
“Bynum wanted more minutes. He’s been in and out of the starting lineup, has played more than half the game only twice in the playoffs and saw as little as seven minutes of action in back-to-back games against Utah in the opening round. He’s been visibly upset, and after Jackson suggested that Bynum was limited to short stretches on the court because his conditioning wasn’t back yet, Bynum told Jack Ramsay in an ESPN Radio interview, “I think that’s just his excuse for not wanting to play me.”"
“We’ve seen Trevor Ariza become a hero by stealing inbounds passes. That’s how huge the details become in the playoffs. That’s the new model for Bynum. They’ve advanced to this stage practically without him. If he gives the Lakers even half of what Howard gives the Magic it will be a minor victory for Los Angeles. Bynum seemed energized by the Western Conference finals victory, a reminder that winning erases frustrations. Dressed in conference championship gear, he was drenched in team spirit.”
via ESPN
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