Holland, 1945

In January I found myself listening to Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" almost daily. I am not exactly sure why; Maybe because it's my favorite album of the 90's. Maybe because the Anne Frank/Holocaust inspired album is perfect for the winter. Maybe because it has a calming effect on me, and that can always be appreciated. Or maybe because I was a little down that the Lakers would be without their center for the foreseeable future. Which seemed like it would take forever at the time. But here we are with less than a week left in the season, the Lakers are looking as if they are now just reaching there full potential and are now whole.

They have posted a 63-16 record, second only to the Cavaliers 63-15 record. They average 107 ppg as a team and hold their opponents to 99.3 ppg, good for a differential of 7.7 ppg. Yet 25 wins and 32 of their games came without their starting center Andrew Bynum. Who made his return last night in what shouldn't have been but was a surprising return, helping the Lakers proclaim that they are a force to be reckoned with. While Bynum didn't reemerge with the same explosiveness that he left with, he did have his way on offense with an over-matched Nene. In the second half, the mismatch was fairly obvious. Nene couldn't stop the young center from getting deep into the paint, allowing him to drop 16 points and grab 7 boards in only 21 minutes.

His return had an immediate impact on the Lakers as well. The constant need for the opposing defense to pay mind of the 7 footer opened up space for Pau Gasol, helping him grab a career high 19 rebounds and score 27 points. Not to mention the fact that Lamar Odom can now move back to the bench, where he gives the offensively sluggish second unit a much-needed shot of adrenaline. Lastly his return made the team complete, leaving the Lakers with only one injured component (Phil Jackson). The hall-of-fame coach is dealing with an ailing leg, that will keep him from traveling with the team to Portland for tonight's game. He will be ready for the playoffs, and thankfully for his sake the Lakers locked up home-court throughout the Western Conference finals months ago.

Oh and by the way, Kobe played pretty pretty pretty good last night. Scoring 33 points, making it seem effortless to eradicate all the championship hopes of the entire Western Conference in one fell swoop. Final score 116- 102, and that brings us to the title of the post which just happens to be my favorite song by Neutral Milk Hotel; Holland, 1945. As a Laker fan in January the lyrics seemed so relevant to my dark state. But now with the return of Bynum it's as if the tables have turned in the forum blue and gold's favor and the sun is now shining on the team. Now the song shall now become the battle cry for the rest of the west, in their inevitable retreat from Los Angeles.

....But now we must pack up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on....

So be on alert, Bynum's Back.