If Andrew Bynum is going to stand tall, now's the time

Mike Bresnahan covers the Lakers for The Times and ties up loose ends on the day of his self-designated "Lakers game of the week." The Lakers play tonight at Phoenix.

Wow, Andrew Bynum's going to need some kind of a holiday miracle to snap out of his funk. . . .

Hey, look, it's the Phoenix Suns!

The Lakers have already beaten the small-ball Suns by 19 and 20 points this season, Bynum averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds against their center-less frontcourt.

The 22-year-old center has had all sorts of problems lately, scoring seven points and shooting 21.4% in his last 62 minutes of action, but maybe the height-challenged Suns are the ones to help him turn things around.

If not, it's a long time till the Lakers see the Suns again. Like, so long I can't even say it. OK, I'll say it. March 12.

Q&A of the day

Q: It was a bad day for all the Laker fans all over the globe [on Christmas]. That was not Lakers basketball. Guys are just standing out there, they're not moving like they were used to, and on defense they're just watching a bunch of Cavs shooting at will and dunking on their faces. I can take losing 200 bucks to a friend, but watching my Lakers losing to LeBron James and his Cavs without putting up fight was unacceptable especially when anti-Lakers fan texting you after that bad game saying bad things about the Lakers.

-- Jo C. A: I'm not sure what's worse -- losing $200 or having anti-Lakers fan texting you after that bad game saying bad things about the Lakers. Sounds like a tie to me.

Final thought

Record in weekly picks: 7-2.

I got crushed last week, assuming the Lakers would breeze past Cleveland. Good call. Solid. (Yes, Cavs fans, I received all your snarky e-mails. . . . Happy holidays to you all!)

This week, I'll take the Lakers to win against the li'l Suns, and in a bonus prediction, Bynum will not post a single-single for the first time since Nov. 17.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

twitter.com/Mike_Bresnahan