Our Inferior Bench

Before this series began, the national media couldn't throw enough superlatives at the Lakers. One of those superlatives was their depth. The Lakers bench was filled with impact players, while the Celtics had James Posey, and all Posey could do was play defense.

Two games later, Jon Barry was asked why the Celtics were up 2-0 over the purple.

"There's no way Leon Powe and P.J. Brown should be dominating Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Vladimir Radmonovich, and the rest of the Lakers frontcourt."

I'll let the first two games speak for themselves, and let those two games get punctuated by the next three.

Speaking of the next three games, Sam Cassell sprained his wrist. Having followed Sam when he paired up with KG in Minnesota, Cassell's injuries don't tend to be the kind he quickly recovers from.

No matter.

The Celtics have this guy named Eddie House.

Although one reader took exception with my repeated comparisons of House to Vinnie Johnson, House's numbers do compare favorably with the Microwave's championship seasons in Detroit. As you probably know, Vinnie was a highly-acclaimed contributor off the Pistons bench during their two championsip seasons in 1989 and 1990.

So here are the Boston Celtics with a third-string point guard who makes contributions not unlike the contributions made by one of the most famous bench players in NBA history. The Celtics also have this guy named Glen "Big Baby" Davis who has a habit of making his presence felt in the paint, someone exactly like the type of player the Lakers could use right now. Again, the Celtics have players on their deep bench who might be as valuable or more valuable than the players the Lakers now have in their regular rotation.

And yet somehow it was the Lakers bench that received all the attention.

Sometimes you have to wonder how the national media gets their credentials.