Bynum-less Lakers reduced to one dimension

With Andrew Bynum sidelined by a knee injury, the Lakers returned to old form Monday night in Seattle.

They won in overtime, but how they did it had to send Phil Jackson looking for the nearest equipment closet in which to meditate. Just like last year, it was all Kobe, all the time.

Bryant scored 48 points on 44 shots, and getting his teammates involved was hardly a consideration. Use Kobe's two assists or the rest of the box score -- the next highest-scoring Laker was Ronny Turiaf with 14 points -- as evidence that without Bynum, Los Angeles is a one-man show.

Bynum had emerged as a strong inside presence, perhaps more valuable for his rebounding (11th in the NBA at 10.2 per game) than for his scoring (13.1). But that was improving, too; over the past five games prior to the one in which he was injured, Bynum averaged 18.8 points.

All that to say that Kobe and the Lakers are back to square one. For the moment, they are tied for first in the Western Conference, and it would be absurd to pick them not to make the playoffs. But eight weeks is a long time, and there's no guarantee that Bynum will return at full strength even then.

So, once again, it's Kobe's team and everyone knows it. Can he shoulder the load for the next two-plus months, or will he crumple under the weight of carrying the team and start to look for a way out again? If the latter, he'd better start campaigning hard; the trade deadline (February 22) is just over a month away!

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Let's play two: NBA schedules Heat/Hawks redux

In the NBA, this is about as close as you can get to a double header.

Upholding an appeal by the Miami Heat, the NBA has scheduled Miami and Atlanta to play a "do-over" of the final 51.9 seconds of their December 19 game.

The Hawks led 114-111, when Shaq fouled out with less than a minute remaining in overtime. Except for one thing: it was O'Neal's fifth foul, and in the NBA you get six. Oops!

So while Atlanta went on to win the game, it will be as if the game never happened -- for now. The Heat protested the outcome of the game, and for the first time since 1982, the league upheld their protest. Even though he can't shoot free throws well, the big man tends to have a big outcome on the outcome of basketball games.

The game will be replayed to its conclusion March 8 from the point when O'Neal was unduly ejected, and then, after some sort of short break, the two teams will go at it again. As we said, a double header!

My only question is this: what about the folks who thought they watched a real game the first time around? Are they admitted to watch the Choose Your Own Adventure ending, then shuttled out unceremoniously before the start of the feature presentation? Or do they have to sit at home and watch on TV, pointing out to their friends, Hey I was at this game?

Separated at Birth: Wally Szczerbiak & Ben Stiller

Opening Eyes to the Blind Side

If you haven't read the book, you've probably never heard of him.

Michael Oher is an offensive lineman for Mississippi, one of the most underachieving programs in college football. The Rebels have posted three straight losing seasons in the SEC, including an abysmal 3-9 this year.

But Oher -- a 6'5", 325 lb. left tackle -- still has NFL scouts excited, and he's projected to be taken anywhere from the mid-first round to early-second in the 2008 draft.

The Blind Side, by Michael Lewis, tells the story of how Oher arrived at Ole Miss. Without a real family or any significant football background, Oher mysteriously materialized at Briarcrest Christian School, an affluent, nearly all-white high school in suburban Memphis. He was truly a fish out of water.

But Oher was recognized as a young man in need by Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy, who, after a series of events, more or less adopted the young behemoth. After a highlight video of Oher's junior football season reached Tom Lemming, the person responsible for choosing the high school All-American team, Oher's life would never be the same.

Between studying to get his grades up and fending off would-be suitors from just about every Division I football program in the nation, Oher had an extremely busy -- and rather unusual -- senior year at Briarcrest. But in the end he selected Ole Miss, which is his adopted parents' alma mater.

If you haven't read it yet, pick up the book. It's an excellent read, and Lewis does a great job of stepping back and pointing out the bigger picture. The left offensive tackle has evolved from a position that no one recognizes as special, to a spot at which NFL executives are willing to draft high and pay well.

Most fans remain unable to recognize the value of an offensive lineman, which often supersedes that of a good running back or a decent quarterback. But because of the book, perhaps we can start to wrap our minds around the concept of a star offensive lineman. One day, an offensive tackle will be famous, and not just for signing a big contract.

It could be Michael Oher.

Choosing sides: Do you believe Roger Clemens or Brian McNamee?

For anyone who missed Roger Clemens' interview on 60 Minutes last night, here's a one-word summary: robotic.

Clemens, unsurprisingly, took the deny, deny, deny approach, explaining multiple times in his Texas accent that "it never happened."

He was also critical of those who've assumed the worst about him, arguing that his 20-plus years of Major League service should give him the benefit of the doubt.

"It's hogwash for people to even assume this," Clemens said. "Twenty-four, 25 years, Mike. You'd think I'd get an inch of respect. An inch."

While he's right that citizens are innocent until proven guilty in the court of law, things tend to operate a little differently in the court of public opinion. Especially when it comes to steroid usage.

One of two people here is lying: either Brian McNamee is fabricating this whole thing and Clemens is just trying to clear his name, or McNamee is telling the truth and Clemens is attempting to orchestrate a massive cover-up.

The one factor in Clemens' favor is there may never be physical evidence to substantiate McNamee's claims. Just because you said you did something, doesn't necessarily mean you did. If you can't provide tangible proof, this may become a word versus word situation.

But let's take a closer look at McNamee. Here is a guy who has worked with Clemens for 10 years, befriended him, staked his entire reputation as a physical trainer on the Rocket's success. What does McNamee stand to gain by lying about injecting Clemens with steroids? And after denying involvement in steroids after the Grimsley report was leaked, why would McNamee change course when testifying to Senator Mitchell?

If he was telling the truth the first time, wouldn't he stick with his story?

Furthermore, if Andy Pettite -- who is among Clemens' closest friends and trained with McNamee alongside Clemens -- admits to having used Human Growth Hormone, what does that say for Clemens? I don't know about you, but I find it hard to believe when Clemens says he "had no idea about" what Pettite was doing.

I could go on, but what's the point? All of this and much, much more will come out in Clemens' newly-filed defamation suit against McNamee, and when the two men testify before Congress on January 16.

A Reilly-shaped hole at the back of SI

Even after Rick Reilly's departure, my ritual is the same: when I get my weekly copy of Sports Illustrated in the mail, I flip straight to the back page.

But instead of Reilly, smiling at me with that cheesy smile as if he had just told a joke or was about to, I find these Wall Street Journal-esque caricatures of guys like S.L. Price, Jack McCallum, and Chris Ballard. And instead of the Life of Reilly, it's the Point After.

These men are all great writers in their own right, no doubt about it, but they are not Reilly. They know it, their editors know it, and we, the readers know it. They do not anchor the magazine the way Reilly did, like the last runner on a relay team: lying in wait for the home stretch, ready to grab the baton and carry the team to victory.

Now having said all this, I believe Reilly has lost a step or two in the last few years. His laugh out loud pieces and his tear-jerker columns had become fewer and farther between. I might even say that at $2 million per, Reilly is a bigger loss to SI than he is a gain to ESPN.

But that's neither here nor there.

The point is that there is a vacuum near the end of each new issue of Sports Illustrated, and someone needs to fill it permanently. Selena Roberts (formerly of the New York Times) and Dan Patrick are probably the leading candidates, but it's tough to know if either can fill Reilly's shoes.

Well, it's better than finding out posthumously

I'd like to introduce you to Evonne Goolagong, a tennis player from the 1970s.

You don't hear much about her these days, but boy, she went on a tear in 1976, winning six tournaments, including the Australian Open.

But she never quite summited the top of the WTA rankings -- until now.

Some stathead for the WTA plugged all the numbers into a computer (rumor has it they relied heavily on the abacus until the early 1990s), and determined that Goolagong rightfully deserved the #1 ranking for a two-week period.

Two weeks. Thirty years ago. And they sent her a trophy for it. I'm glad credit has been given where credit was due, but I'm plagued by a burning question on the subject.

Who was the geek digging around in 30-year-old stats that found this?