Déjà vu….

[Note: this was written prior to Kobe's 61 pt, 3 ast, 0 rebound performance in the Garden on Monday night]

It happened again. Andrew Bynum goes on an absolute tear for about two weeks, averaging 26 and 13 over that stretch & then the Lakers play the Grizzlies. Bynum starts the game strong and then out of nowhere, down he goes. Grabbing his knee. Looking as if Tonya Harding just called in a hit. Screaming in pain. And the look on Kobe’s face says it all. Stunned. Angry. He can’t believe he rolled up Bynum’s knee. He can’t believe this team had this happen to them. This was going to be his first post-Shaq championship. This team had filled the holes last year’s team had. Bynum was the cog in the middle. Bynum was learning how to defend the rim, averaging over 3 blocks per game in that same two week stretch. Bynum was going to be there waiting every time Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo drove the lane against the Lakers in the Finals in June.

And like POOOOF, he’s gone. After seeing this, I immediately freaked out. Not again. Not Bynum’s knee. He’s 21. And is now going to have had major surgery on BOTH knees. A torn MCL. At least it wasn’t the Tom Brady Ligament cocktail, right?

8-12 weeks? we’ve all heard that before. Right around this time last year. And after 8 weeks, the news was an additional 4-6… as the fourth week was approaching in that timeline, the Lakers spilled it, Bynum was done for the year.

The Lakers can only hope Bynum has a recovery similar to Jordan Farmar’s. That his youth will allow him to heal closer to the 8 than the 12 weeks required. If it’s a full 12 weeks, the Lakers will get Bynum back the first week of May. They’ll be lucky if he’s game ready by the time the Western Conference Finals start.

The only silver lining you can draw on this if you’re a fan of the Purple and Gold right now is that this is essentially the same exact team that carried them last year, trading Ronny Turiaf and an injured Trevor Ariza for Josh Powell and a healthy Trevor Ariza. Another year of experience for Jordan Farmar and Sasha and Pau…. Coupled with another year of wear and tear on the bodies of D-Fish and Kobe….

And the X-Factors are Trevor Ariza & Josh Powell if Bynum cannot come back. I still have nightmares of Paul Pierce torching the Lakers and KG, Leon Powe and Kendric Perkins punking the Lakers big men. Trevor will have to be the guy who defends the other team’s best player when Kobe needs a breath. Powell will have to be the enforcer in the middle that Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom aren’t.

Fortunately, the Lakers have lost only 9 games over halfway through the season… and they have essentially the same roster that they had last year when they came from behind to earn the best record in the Western Conference… they currently sit six games atop the San Antonio Spurs. Home Court throughout the Western Conference playoffs is still very much expected. But now, the Lakers will most likely struggle to compete with the likes of the Cavs, Magic and Celtics for home-court in the Finals. Cleveland is 20-0 at home. The Lakers get their first taste of Lebron City on Sunday… two days after meeting up with KG & Co. in Boston.

This is the week for the Lakers to prove that they learned from last year. To prove that while Bynum is a key part of the team, the Lakers can still be great without him. That said, championships are won in June, not February. And Kobe, more so than anyone else, hopes it’s closer to 8 weeks than 12 weeks… because he knows, the Lakers best shot at a Title, and his best shot at another ring & a Finals MVP Trophy comes with a healthy Andrew Bynum manning the middle.