Phil Jackson Benches the Lakers' Bench

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Things have gone from bad to worse for the Lakers Bench Mob.  Just how bad are things? Things are so bad that Phil Jackson benched the bench last night in their game with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It was the first night of back-to-back road games.  Normally you would expect the reserves to see a good number minutes in that first game to give the starters a breather.

But would you believe it if I told you that four of the five Lakers starters put in 43 minutes or more?

The facts are Kobe Bryant played 46 minutes, Lamar Odom 43 minutes, Ron Artest 47 minutes and Andrew Bynum 49 minutes.

The only Laker starter not to log in more than 49 minutes was 35-year-old point guard Derek Fisher.  He was on the court for 35 minutes. 

That’s a lot of basketball!

The entire bench put in only six points, four by Josh Powell and two by Sasha Vujacic, and a total of five rebounds.

As far as stops are concerned, forget it.  The Bench Mob has no idea what the word means.  The other night against the Atlanta Hawks, the Lakers had a 22-point lead going into the final quarter.  

Phil Jackson put the reserves in, hoping to rest up his starters before the Lakers head out on the road.  But before the quarter was even half over, the starters were back in there.

It’s not just a matter of the Lakers bench being unable to score, they can’t come up with the stops on the other end either.  And that will be a huge concern for the Lakers’ hopes of repeating as NBA champions.

Although the situation will improve somewhat as Pau Gasol has been cleared to play and will rejoin the starting lineup this weekend.  When Gasol returns, Lamar Odom will rejoin the Bench Mob and hopefully that will spark the rest of the reserves.

But it’s not clear sailing by any means.  What happens if another starter should go down for any length of time?  It will be necessary for Odom to return to the starting lineup and leave the reserves to fend for themselves.

At this point, that isn’t a very bright prospect.

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