After coming off arguably his best season in the NBA thus far, All-Star center Andrew Bynum of the Los Angeles Lakers put on a historic performance in Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets were thought to be a team that might be able to give the Lakers a run for their money in the first round, but that doesn’t appear to be the case so far with the Lakeshow dominating George Karl’s squad right out of the gate.

Game 1 was by no means a one-man show for the Lakers with Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant and the bench having an impact, but Bynum’s triple-double was the only thing that made headlines with the up-and-comer putting up 13 rebounds, 10 points and 10 blocks. Not only was this one of Bynum’s best performances of his career, but it also made history.

With the triple-double, Bynum put himself in the Lakers’ record books alongside Magic Johnson. Magic was the last and only other Laker to record a triple-double in the team’s history when the NBA legend accomplished the feat back in 1991. Along with that distinction, Bynum also broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record of nine blocks and tied an NBA playoff record.

Needless to say, Andrew Bynum continues to prove his doubters wrong in Los Angeles as he is quickly becoming one of the most dominant centers in the league and could potentially turn into the face of the franchise in Los Angeles after Kobe decides to call it a career.

Bynum’s performance didn’t come without a fair share of criticism from Nuggets Coach George Karl though as he believed that the Lakers got away with a lot of illegal defense calls. Whether that changes the refs’ decision-making moving forward in this series remains to be seen, but the Nuggets may have dug a fairly big whole as the Lakers will be as confident as ever in the games to come.

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