Mike Brown taking Andrew Bynum’s latest ejection in stride

Andrew Bynum was ejected early in the fourth quarter of the Lakers loss to the Rockets on Friday, and by all accounts, it was a situation that should have been completely avoided. Bynum already had picked up one technical foul, and after scoring on a strong post move inside, he turned to the Houston bench and demonstratively let them know just how pleased he was with his accomplishment.

That was enough to get him tossed in the referees’ eyes. In the eyes of Lakers fans, Bynum’s act is growing tired, and the majority wish the team would step in and do something about his recent behavior, which seems to be lacking maturity and growing more defiant by the day.

Lakers head coach Mike Brown, however, in speaking before his team was set to face the Suns in Phoenix on Saturday, didn’t seem overly concerned.

“Obviously I talked to him about it, but you take it in stride,” he said. “We’ve had other guys, from Josh McRoberts to Matt Barnes to myself get kicked out. It’s part of the course of the season, in my opinion. You hope it doesn’t happen, because we need everybody to be there on the sidelines, and obviously we needed Andrew last night. But the NBA fines you for getting the first tech, the NBA fines you for getting the second tech, and then you go from there and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”

Bynum was ejected the last time L.A. played the Rockets too, and of course, there was the benching that took place after he launched an ill-advised three-pointer early in the shot clock. But there won’t be any type of internal suspension of the team’s All-Star center, an idea that Brown laughed off as being as ridiculous as it sounds.

“Then I should have suspended myself, and I should have suspended Josh McRoberts, and Matt Barnes, and my good buddy Gregg Popovich should be suspended 16 times a year because of his tirades, and I could go on down the line,” Brown said. “I think if it’s a problem or it gets out of hand, where a guy gets kicked out multiple times, then maybe. But (Bynum) doesn’t even lead our team in technicals. So, do I suspend him when he’s maybe fourth or fifth … I don’t know if that makes sense.”

As for his discussion with Bynum and what his big man’s reasons were for his actions, Brown declined to share those details. Bynum didn’t speak to reporters after the game on Friday, and it was the same in Phoenix before the game Saturday.

Brown did say that he stressed to Bynum the importance of not taking himself out of games like this in the future. And he believes, at least for now, that his message has been received.

“He gave his reasoning; you can ask him what his reasoning was,” Brown said. “He gave it, I said OK, and we moved on. Again, he knows that we need him on the floor. He knows that we needed him on the floor Friday night. For me to sit here and continue to beat a dead horse on it, it’s not going to do me any good or him any good once you get your message across.”