Bynum is picking up momentum

MINNEAPOLIS —  The All-Star teams have already been selected, but nobody seems to have told Andrew Bynum.

Getting an early start on consideration for 2010, Bynum continued his string of dominance with 27 points and 15 rebounds in the Lakers’ 132-119 victory Friday over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.

It was the fifth consecutive double-double for Bynum, the longest streak of his career, and pushed the Lakers to the start they wanted on a six-game trip that eventually runs through Boston and Cleveland.

And, yes, he’s aware that the Western Conference All-Stars have already been determined.

“I started a little bit late, but it’s good,” he said, smiling. “I had to get back after an eight-month layoff, you know what I mean?”

Bynum is averaging 26.2 points, 14 rebounds and 3.2 blocked shots over his last five games, stats of significance for at least one Laker.

“He’s playing extremely well,” Kobe Bryant said. “We’re starting to expect it from him. He’s being aggressive, he’s being assertive, he’s finding his niche of where he can operate in the offense. I like it. I like it a lot.”

Bynum’s effort came against Timberwolves center Al Jefferson, the subject of many stories out of Minnesota because he was overlooked for an All-Star spot.

Jefferson had more points (34) than Bynum, though he played almost 12 more minutes and made only 13 of 27 shots. Bynum made 10 of 15 shots.

It has been a long process for Bynum, whose last season was cut short after he sustained a brief dislocation of his left kneecap in mid-January. He underwent surgery in May and, in an understatement, started slowly this season.

He wasn’t slow against the Timberwolves, displaying speed, touch and power.

In one third-quarter sequence, he took a rebound, pushed it upcourt to Bryant and, in a departure from past games until recently, ran down with him and converted an easy layup.

Another time, he snared an entry lob over Mark Madsen and Jefferson, stepped back and made a 10-footer.

His alley-oop dunk off Lamar Odom’s pass with 1:09 to play was the lasting image of the game.

Bryant was solid as well, finishing with 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists, but the postgame chatter was all about Bynum.

“He looks very confident in there right now,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “I think this is a stepping-out point for him. He’s a better player now than he was when he got hurt last year, but it’s taken him [until] this month, January, to get back and feel like, ‘OK, I’m over my injury, it was a year ago, and I’m prepared to go forth and put this effort into it,’ and he’s done a great job.”

Bynum began to show signs of recovery earlier this month in San Antonio, making nine of 15 shots and scoring 18 points against Tim Duncan.

On the bus ride to the airport after the game, a 112-111 Lakers loss, Bryant yelled out encouragement to him.

Bryant recounted the moment after Friday’s victory, saying he told Bynum, “You know Tim Duncan’s one of the greatest defensive players of all time. Ever. If you can do that to him, you can do that to anybody else.”

Fast forward to Tuesday, and Bryant and the Lakers weren’t so enthralled after a double-overtime loss to Charlotte.

Jackson said ahead of time he hoped the team had taken the loss and “flushed it down the toilet and let it go.”

The Lakers were never seriously threatened by Minnesota, but they didn’t show much defense, particularly in the first half, going into the locker room with a 64-60 lead, as Bynum had 17 points and nine rebounds.

“This is a young [Minnesota] club that wants to score and we’re a team that likes to score,” Jackson said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of defense out there.”

The Lakers were, however, lucky in another sense. There was a lot of Bynum out there.

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com