Despite having his knee drained only three days ago, Andrew Bynum will start tonight’s Game 1 for the Los Angeles Lakers. (Mike Bresnahan, LA Times)

In regards to Bynum, Phil Jackson told reporters, “He said it felt pretty good today and he’s ready to go.”

It remains to be seen how well Bynum will play. He looked slowed during the Phoenix series and, just yesterday, was quoted as saying the fluid drainage had given him little relief.

Bynum’s health is one of the keys to the series, mostly because the Lakers have an extraordinarily thin frontcourt.

Another nugget from the Lakers: the NBA has asked Phil Jackson to stop paying his players $50 for every charge they take. Jackson joked with reporters that he will now reward his players for charges with a gold star.

The Phoenix Suns bench, led by Slovenian point guard Goran Dragic, secured a Game 4 victory for the Suns, evening the series at 2-2. The Suns bench combined to score 54 points, culminating with this spin move on–who else–Derek Fisher by Dragic, who scored the lay-up to give the Suns their biggest lead of the night, 103-90, with four minutes left in the game. Phoenix won 115-106.

The Boston Celtics- Los Angeles Lakers game ultimately came down to the one player who didn’t play: Kobe Bryant. With under a minute left, down one point , multiple Lakers possessions resulted in zero points. Boston won 87-86.

Boston scored only 11 fourth-quarter points, but stole the road win with tenacious, vintage defense, surrendering only 39 second-half points. Early on, the referees allowed physical play and the game was played with playoff-like intensity throughout the fourth quarter. Boston desperately needed a quality win, so they bullied their way to a victory. Los Angeles, leaderless, had no response.

The win, however, hardly heals the Boston Celtics. Los Angeles had their chances to win without Kobe, and would have won had he played. The Lakers frontline out-rebounded the Celtics and had little trouble scoring: Pao Gasol (22), Ron Artest (15), Andrew Bynum (14), and Lamar Odom (13) all reached double figures in points.

Still, Boston moves to 2-0 on the all-important four-game West Coast road trip. Kendrick Perkins (13 pts, 14 rebs) and Rajon Rondo (14 pts, 11 asts) both had double-doubles. Ray Allen broke out of a prolonged shooting slump to make four three-pointers on his way to 24 points. Amazing, what a little  job stability will do for a man’s jump shot.

Boston’s next opponent is the Portland Trailblazers Friday 10:30 ET, on a quick turnaround. Newly acquired Nate Robinson will likely be unavailable to play until Sunday, but hopes to spark some energy into our aging offense when he arrives.