Pow(e)! What a Bench!

June 2008

Pow(e)! What a Bench!

LOS ANGELES - Leon Powe.

There was something about the way Phil Jackson pronounced the Celtics forward's name that dripped with incredulity.

LEON POWE.

The Lakers coach didn't even pronounce the name right. He pronounced it as ``Pow.''

That, in and of itself, says a lot about the regard - or especially the lack of the same - that many had for the Celtics bench heading into the NBA Finals.

The Lakers reserves logged big performances against San Antonio and Utah. Sasha Vujacic, the sub known as ``The Machine,'' had earned a lot of cred by running at a physically broken down Manu Ginobili.



Two games into the Finals, it now looks like the results of that matchup probably had a lot more to do with Ginobili's condition than The Machine's power.

And the Celtics, deemed nationally to have an inferior bench, now have Powe's 21-point Game 2 performance to hold up against what, to this point, has been some particularly mediocre work by the Lakers reserves.

``Well, they've heard how bad they were, and they have pride, too,'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers about his non-starters. ``I just think that overall they've been aggressive, and that's what we've stressed. But to me they're just playing within themselves, and they're keeping the game simple. I thought in some ways our bench played better just because of that. They didn't try to do anything fancy. They just tried to make the extra pass and play simple basketball.

``The ball found open guys, and that's how we have to play overall. I thought our bench set the tone in that.''

It should be pointed out that when the Celtics nearly punted away all of their good work Sunday, allowing a 24-point lead with just less than eight minutes remaining to drop to two, the starters were the culprits.

Powe, P.J. Brown, James Posey and the hot-and-cold Sam Cassell were responsible for extending the Celts' lead.

Perhaps it's because, beyond the occasional big offensive display, the Celtics reserves have their greatest impact defensively that respect is a tough commodity to acquire.

``I don't think our bench wants any credit,'' Kevin Garnett said. ``Obviously it would be nice, but for the most part our team is about going out and doing what we talk about, night in and night out. We've just got to be consistent with it.

``Our bench is deep. We have a lot of experience on our bench. Obviously in the playoffs your rotation gets shortened. But from P.J. to Pose to Leon to Sam, even Eddie House, we have experience on our bench.

``I think with the players we have on the floor - myself, Paul (Pierce), Ray (Allen) and (Rajon) Rondo being playmakers - we can put someone out there and make plays with those guys,'' Garnett said. ``Leon is a scrappy guy, P.J. is a scrappy guy, and they can also be aggressive in the times when we need them to. Leon was really aggressive to begin with, and like Paul said, we really flowed off him.''

And if the rest of the basketball world has been slow to appreciate this group, then so be it.

Then again, the secret may finally be out.

``Our bench has been overlooked all year - nobody really talks about our bench,'' Pierce said. ``Nobody has really talked about them in the playoffs. We know what the Laker bench can bring, but we feel like we have the best bench in this series.''

Right now, with Game 3 tonight at Staples Center, that's all that matters.

``I don't really think about it,'' Brown said when asked about getting respect. ``You heard it all across the news and the media saying they had a better bench, but you've got to go out there and play the game. People are going to make predictions and stuff like that, but I didn't hear Leon say much about it, and I didn't say much about it.

``We're just going to go out there and do what we know we can do.'