Andrew Bumknee could be benched

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Jackson considers sitting Bynum

PHOENIX -- Andrew Bynum played his worst game of the playoffs since suffering a slight tear of the meniscus in his right knee in Game 6 of the Los Angeles Lakers first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the performance left Lakers coach Phil Jackson wondering if he was going to use his young center moving forward.

Bynum had two points, two rebounds and four fouls in just seven and a half minutes in the Lakers 118-109 loss to the Phoenix Suns in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals Sunday.

"I'll talk to him to see what his suggestion is about it and how he feels about it," Jackson said. "I think he was ineffective. There were some things that got by him. He had one nice move in the post. Defensively I thought he was a little bit late."

Bynum concurred with Jackson's assessment of his play on Sunday.

"I was ineffective, that's obvious," Bynum said after Suns forward Amare Stoudemire attacked Bynum and the rest of the Lakers frontline to the tune of 42 points, 11 rebounds and 18 foul-shot attempts, racking up fouls on the L.A. big men.

But the 7-foot, 285-pound Bynum did not agree with Jackson's potential plan to have him sit out.

"That's not going to do anything," said Bynum who had three full days of rest between Game 2 and 3, using the time for off-court therapy rather than on-court practice.

"The surgery is going to do something," Bynum added, who decided to push off any surgical procedure on the knee until the offseason.

Bynum was not threatened by Jackson's consideration.

"I don't believe that's going to happen," Bynum said. "That's probably more so to motivate me and try to get me to play.

"[My knee is] alright. I'm doing OK. I'm dealing with it so I can play basketball ... I got to be out here. I got to go play."

Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com.