You're my man, but there are all sorts of craziness in this last post, HAHA!
They said that all the time! "Because of Bynum going down with the knee, Pau and Odom blah blah blah. When he returns, they will shift back to blah blah blah." I can't believe you watched the Lakers last year and didn't hear that quote ad nauseum. I can literally hear Marv Albert's voice in my head right now.
I feel the same way about having Bynum back. His size and physicality will allow the Lakers to capitalize off of bigs helping out, and will free up Gasol on the perimeter or the glass.
When they lost the 24pt lead, they needed a STOP. That's the difference between your and my thinking. A couple of good stops will KILL a run, and might get you an easy bucket. Letting teams score and then having to create out of the half court offense is a very difficult way to stop runs, especially against a great defensive team.
Ariza has a ways to go, but if you put Shane on Pierce and Kobe on Allen I think you could sufficiently disrupt the Celtics offense, especially with Bynum as an anchor.
Not in the second round...
Absolutely ludicrous question, considering Pau and Kobe beat Utah without Tmac. So you're really asking do I think Tmac would take away from the Lakers SO MUCH that they would become a team that could NO LONGER beat Utah. Of course not. The question is absurd, and off target.