"After Kobe Bryant is checked off as healthy from head to toe, it's the single most important body part for the Lakers' playoff hopes.

Andrew Bynum's right knee.

Whenever the 23-year-old center falls, conversation stops among the wealthy in the courtside chairs at Staples Center. The die-hards in the upper level sag in their seats. The players themselves wonder how long he'll be down . . . and if he'll get up.

Bynum has had three hold-your-breath moments in the last three weeks with his knee, the latest Friday night in Game 3 of a first-round playoff series against New Orleans.

He crashed to the court after bumping into Carl Landry and stepping on the foot of Marco Belinelli while moving down the lane on offense. He got up . . . again . . . without any issues . . . the Lakers were pleased to report . . . for now.

"It's a scary, scary moment because we know the history and we know how much he suffered and we know how important he is for the team," Pau Gasol said Saturday. "Every time he goes down and it takes a little while to get up, there's some tension."

Bynum is fine for Game 4 Sunday in New Orleans, but he's had serious knee injuries each of the previous three seasons, not to mention surgery on the left one in 2008 (briefly dislocated kneecap) and the right one last July (torn cartilage).

He missed the first 24 games this season while recovering from the procedure and began interrupting idle chatter earlier this month with his first tumble.

"At home it's worse," he said of Lakers fans. "It gets kind of silent."

He sustained a bone bruise in his right knee April 3 when Lamar Odom slammed into him after missing a shot, forcing Bynum to leave a game against Denver. He left another game a week later after stepping on the foot of San Antonio center DeJuan Blair, aggravating the bone bruise and sitting out the regular-season finale a day later.

On Friday, as the Lakers were on their way to taking a 2-1 series lead, Coach Phil Jackson motioned to two players on the bench to go help Bynum walk off the court. It wasn't needed.

Bynum popped back up after a minute and jogged off yet another aggravation to the bone bruise, among other things.

"I think it just happens because the MCL is kind of loose," Bynum said of his knee ligament. "But as long as I have the brace on it, hopefully I'll be all right every time."

Jackson understands the importance of Bynum. He's already seen these scenes too many times.

"He's had some situations in which they appear to be devastating. Down and not getting up," he said. "[Friday] night I sent the guys out for him because it didn't look like he was going to be able to get off the floor. He attempted one time to get off the floor and went back down on the floor. And then he stayed in the ballgame, so go figure.""