Andrew Bynum Became 5th Laker in NBA History to Grab 30 Rebounds

Andrew Bynum led the way last night for the Kobe-less Lakers, as he joined elite company by ripping down an incredible 30 rebounds over the San Antonio Spurs (Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, George Mikan and Elgin Baylor are the other Lakers who have ever pulled a similar statistical feat.) From the LA Times: “Andrew Bynum became the first Laker to do it in 34 years, pushing and shoving the San Antonio Spurs out of the way as the Lakers stunned them without Kobe Bryant, 98-84, Wednesday at AT&T Center. ‘They beat us to death,’ was how Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich described it, and you could suddenly sense the rest of the Western Conference slowly turning toward the Lakers. In a little more than two hours, big-picture expectations of the Lakers rose meteorically. They led by 26 against a team that was drafting comfortably off Oklahoma City a game out of first in the West. It made no sense. Bryant skipped a third consecutive game because of a sore left shin and the Spurs allegedly were rested after sitting Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in their previous game. But Bynum was three rebounds short of the entire San Antonio team, becoming only the fifth player in Lakers history to hit the 30-rebound mark. True to his nature, he cursed and said he didn’t like the way he shot the ball when asked on live TV about his rebounding prowess immediately after the game. He was still miffed at his seven-for-20 shooting effort half an hour later. ‘It’s great to have 30 boards, but my shot’s not working and I’m kind of a little upset about that. For me, I’ll remember me shooting poorly,’ said Bynum, who had 16 points and joined Wilt Chamberlain, George Mikan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Elgin Baylor in the Lakers’ 30-rebound club. Nobody had done it for the Lakers since Abdul-Jabbar took 30 in 1978 against Milwaukee. Bynum’s total was the highest in the NBA this season.”