Reporting from Charlotte, N.C. — Andrew Bynum leaned forward as he sat in the Lakers' ultra-quiet locker room Monday night, looking up at reporters, his eyes wide.
When questions were presented to the 7-foot center about the Lakers' porous defense and about losing to the Charlotte Bobcats for the eighth time in the last 10 meetings, Bynum offered a slew of complaints.
He complained about his lack of playing time, his lack of touches and the Lakers' lack of effort.
"I was out there playing hard, man," Bynum said. "In the second half, I didn't really get in the game."
Bynum played only 23 minutes 8 seconds. He scored nine points, shooting only six times, making three.
In the second half, Bynum played 8:07, and not at all in the fourth quarter. He scored one point after halftime, and got only one shot.
"I felt like I went out in the first half and played well," Bynum said. "In the second half, I got just about six minutes and no touches and no opportunities."
The Bobcats won, 109-89, making it back-to-back games the Lakers have lost by double-digits; they lost by 14 Sunday in Orlando.
"I don't know, man, but our defense looks bad out there," Bynum said. "We looked bad. That's all you can say about the game. It was no good. You know how ya'll normally ask, 'Can you take anything out of this?' No, we can't take anything out of this one. This was a [butt] kicking."
Bynum was asked how the Lakers planned to snap out of this two-game funk.
"Win a game," he said.
How do the Lakers do that?
"Go hard."
Is it an effort thing?
"Seems to be," Bynum said. "If I was looking at the game, that's what it looks like to me."
twitter.com/BA_Turner
