Who Stopped Andrew Bynum?

Andrew Bynum has played the Boston Celtics twice this year, and on both occassions he was a no show.

I mean he did show up. Andrew Bynum was in the building and on the floor both times the two teams played. But, given his performance in the two games, he might as well have stayed at home.

So the question is what happened?

The rest of the NBA is pretty much ready to coronate Andrew Bynum as the Second Coming of Kareem. I'm not impressed, but, if you are, then it is logical to ask why Jabbar Junior failed to dominate the Celtics like he has "dominated" the rest of the league (I put "dominated" in quotes because, again, I'm just playing along with the puffed up love that is given to this guy)?

One answer might be Kendrick Perkins. Clearly, the Beast played a role in humbling Andrew. The Patriot Ledger supports this thesis.

I don't.

I say it was KG.

If you want to talk beasts, then let's talk Ticket.

The guy blocked three shots, and altered as many as seven others. The second the purple realized that KG had prevented another Laker attempt from even getting to the rim, all you had to do was look at the Bynum and Odom and their reaction said it all.

Heads down, dejected, rejected.

This is why I called the Laker thumping KG's first Russelesque performance.

The year after Russell retired a Boston Globe reporter asked several Lakers what the biggest difference was in the Celtics.

"We can shoot layups this year," was the answer.

Bingo.

Celtic opponents understand if they bring it inside, there is a very good chance KG will be sending it back out faster than it came in.

Oh, and then there is the matter of intimidation.

As one viewer observed, every time KG rejected a shot in the Lakers game, he suggested to the purple that they might want to "get that sh*t outta here."

I'm not a big fan of trash talk, unless it is effective, the kind of trash talk that gets in opponents' heads and impacts their performance.

This is exactly what KG did last Sunday.

He demoralized the purple, and God bless him for that.