Lakers' Bynum to return Thursday Andrew Bynum joined his teammates for Tuesday's practice, suffered no immediate setbacks and pronounced himself ready to play Thursday against the resurgent Phoenix Suns. A strained right elbow no longer was an issue for him. Bynum sat out the past two games, a pair of ho-hum victories over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday and the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday. He was injured in the closing seconds of the Lakers' overtime win over the Houston Rockets on Nov. 4. "It's time for me to go out there and try it out," Bynum said. "No, I'm not going to be cautious. I went out there and banged with DJ (Mbenga) a little bit and nothing bad happened. No swelling came back, so I should be all right." Even with Bynum back on the floor, the Lakers (6-1) won't be at full strength w who improved their record to an impressive 7-1 with a victory Monday over the 76 ers in Philadelphia. The Lakers will be without Pau Gasol (strained right hamstring) again. "I saw him upright today," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said, cracking a wry smile to indicate he was having fun at Gasol's expense. "He was on the (exercise machine). I don't have any hopes for him for Thursday, that's for sure." The Lakers aren't the least bit worried about Gasol's extended absence. They would rather he be right for the long haul than constantly have to monitor his hamstring, which he injured last month in training camp. Gasol never has suffered a hamstring injury, and it's possible he hurt himself camp after spending the summer working out and playing with the Spanish national team in the European Championships. In fact, this is Gasol's first lengthy break from the court in almost two years. He helped lead the Lakers to the NBA Finals the past two seasons, which were sandwiched around Spain's silver medal in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Then there were the 2009 European Championships, which Spain won. Bynum's elbow injury could not be blamed on over-use. He was hurt when Houston's Chuck Hayes swatted him on the arm in an attempt to stop him from making an easy basket in the closing seconds of the Lakers' overtime win over the Rockets. "He didn't show any signs of his injury," Jackson said after Tuesday's practice when asked about Bynum, who averaged 20 points on 54.9 percent shooting and 10.6 rebounds in five games before he was injured. Said Bynum: "We need a full roster for these upcoming games against Phoenix and Denver. We (win) these upcoming games and we'll be at the top of the West, so we've got to get out there and be focused." Scouting the Suns Asked for his impressions of the Suns, Jackson said: "They went back to the (fast-breaking) style they were running four years ago, five years ago. (Amare) Stoudemire is back to playing a center role rather than a forward role, although they have Channing Frye listed as their center. Channing's more like a small forward in a 6-foot-10 body. It's an outside (shooting), speed team again." http://0rz.tw/nUaR9 重點字已標出來了 --

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