Lakers center Andrew Bynum played 16 minutes in Game 6 on Tuesday night before asking to be taken out of the game early in the third quarter.

Bynum, who had two points, four rebounds and one block, left with Los Angeles holding an 18-point lead over Boston.

"I just felt like I was hurting the team and we had a big lead [and there were] a couple of rebounds I couldn't get to," Bynum said. "I couldn't really pick my leg up, so, with the lead, the opportunity to rest and I felt a couple of little twinges, so I just asked off."

Bynum injured his knee in the team's first-round series against the Thunder and his status has been in question for a majority of the NBA Finals.

"He wasn't able to move very fluidly the second half," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "He had some tightness in the back of his leg. He just said, 'You've got to take me out, I can't run.' And it was obvious at that point that he couldn't. He had some swelling in the back of his leg, and we'll have to work on that and see if they can't ice it down and control that."

Bynum, who will require offseason surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, says he'll "gut it out" in Thursday's Game 7.