Andrew Bynum’s aggressiveness pays off for Lakers

Reporting from Boston — 

It was the “early touches” that got Andrew Bynum going, that got him involved in the basketball game, that had him playing at such a high level.

And yet if Bynum had one complaint, it was that the Lakers didn’t continue to feed him down low, that they went away from him when he was so effective against the Boston Celtics on Sunday at TD Garden.

To be sure, Bynum has a point.

He scored 12 of his 19 points in the first quarter of the Lakers’ 90-89 victory over the Celtics.

“Tonight, the early touches helped me a lot and it helped the team,” Bynum said. “I gained more confidence the more I touched the ball during the course of the game on the block.”

Bynum also had 11 rebounds, five of them offensive. He blocked two shots and had one assist in a little over 33 minutes.

Bynum ran the court, something the Lakers’ coaches have encouraged their young center to do more of.

Bynum chased after offensive rebounds, something the Lakers’ coaches have insisted he do more often.

“It’s an effort of mine to kind of get out there and do those things,” Bynum said. “But at the end of the day, we got up by 12, 11 by me and Pau [Gasol] really kicking their [butts] on the inside. So to go away from it was kind of crazy.

“Especially Pau, because he’ll drop dimes [passes]. He passes a lot more than I do out of the block. So I don’t know why sometimes we go away from that.”

Bynum was four for seven from the field in the first quarter.

He attacked the Celtics inside. He was aggressive from the start.

And the Lakers did take a big lead, going up by 13 points in the first, shooting 61.1% from the field in the first, because they softened up the Celtics’ interior defense because Bynum was so dominating inside.

“I thought he performed exceptionally well,” Kobe Bryant said about Bynum. “He was aggressive, wasn’t passive at all and didn’t back down from the contact. I felt like this was a steppingstone for him.”

Bynum had two offensive rebounds in the first quarter, one that he turned into a dunk over Kendrick Perkins.

Bynum even blocked a shot by Perkins when they were matched up one on one.

Bynum controlled the inside for long stretches, doing his part on the backboards.

“I was boarding because I was sticking my nose in there,” Bynum said. “I love playing against traditional centers, especially ones that stay close to the basket. That allows me to get more rebounds.”

broderick.turner@latimes.com

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