Bynum has a cracked bone spur atop his right foot, and it'll hurt for perhaps two weeks. The kid nicknamed "Big Baby" by special assistant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could've rested it to let it calm down, but with backup center Chris Mihm out because of a sprained ankle, Bynum played.

And he was money.

For your average NBA veteran, it's not that huge a deal to fight through this sort of thing. Bynum, though, is a young man who just hasn't had a lot of experience being a true professional.

And so it was tremendously encouraging for the Lakers to see Bynum go from wincing and favoring his foot in his pregame workout, unaccustomed to pain limitations when jumping or pushing off, to being so focused at game time that he did a series of little things right to get the Lakers a 20-10 lead before Lamar Odom replaced him. (Without Bynum, the Lakers immediately yielded a 9-0 run to Dallas.)

When he came back for the second quarter, Bynum's right foot banged into Dallas center DeSagana Diop in the opening seconds, and Bynum began limping around. His foot was barking, he stopped doing all those little things, and the Lakers slid into halftime down by six points.

That vague injury report on Thanksgiving about Bynum's foot and just how hurt it was left many fans wondering again about the true texture of Bynum's stuffing. Last season he was supposed to come back from his knee injury by late in the regular season, but he never did and he was ultimately missed. Playing in pain and toughing it out were intangibles Bynum had yet to measure.

That's why this game was so noteworthy, this game with one Jason Kidd on the other team. What, you forgot about Kidd being the guy Bryant wanted to get by shipping Bynum out?

Well, Kidd was two rebounds shy of a second triple-double in as many games against the Lakers this season. But Bynum was a big-time pro, too, as is implied in this simple summation provided by Lakers coach Phil Jackson: