Lakers’ Andrew Bynum faces big challenge

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Now we’ll really get to see what Andrew Bynum is made of and how much he has developed.

Bynum scored a season-high 24 points against the Miami Heat on Sunday night. But the Heat’s undersized centers -- none is over 6-10 -- were hard-pressed to defend against Bynum.

Bynum scored 20 points against the Indiana Pacers, but most of his points came against against a rookie and another small Pacers center.

He dropped 18 points on Golden State, but, you guessed it, none of the Warriors’ centers is taller than 6-10.

Tonight Bynum goes up against Houston’s 7-4 Yao Ming, a tall order for Bynum. No one is expecting a 20-point outburst against Yao, but Bynum can’t risk being dominated.

On Wednesday night, Bynum will face another big test -- San Antonio’s Tim Duncan.

And when the Lakers return home Friday night to play the Orlando Magic, Bynum will face Dwight Howard, perhaps the NBA’s best center.

It’ll be interesting to see how Bynum fares against that center threesome.

-- Broderick Turner