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Jun

4

2009 NBA Finals Preview: The Benches

Filed Under Analysis/Commentary, Previews & Reviews, NBA

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Have the days before the NBA Finals become as mundane as Super Bowl week?

Of course not.

But this week’s story about Lamar Odom’s sugar tooth and how it affects his play seems to be a bit of a stretch.

Odom has always been a versatile player whose talent has tantalized more often than satisfied.

Still, the Lakers just having Odom is huge in this series because it allows the team to throw in a 6′9” guy who can guard the perimeter and minimize Orlando’s strengths in spreading the floor and hitting the three.

Beyond Odom, the Lakers bench has been nothing special excluding Shannon Brown.

After being acquired as an afterthought in a mid-season trade with the Charlotte Bobcats, Brown has been a nice spark off the bench.

For a young player who has bounced around the league and never played much in the playoffs prior to this year, Brown has played with extreme confidence as an attacker of the rim, shooter of the three and a pesky defender at the point.

Besides Brown and Odom, who hasn’t been as effective in the 2009 NBA playoffs when compared to last season, the L.A. bench has come back to earth after being a surprise during the team’s run to the 2008 NBA Finals.

Jordan Farmar has had a few moments here and there, but just doesn’t look confident with his shot.

Nor does Sasha Vujacic. Known as “The Machine” for his quick-shooting and short memory, Vujacic has also struggled to be a consistent scorer.

Luke Walton doesn’t appear to be as healthy, but still gives solid minutes.

D.J. Mbenga has no game but is a big body to throw at Howard if desperate.

As for Orlando, its bench is not that deep but deeper with the addition of Nelson.

Frenchman Michael Pietrus has bust out in the playoffs, proving himself to be a gutsy three-point shooter with absolutely no conscience or fear.

Pietrus has scored in double figures in Orlando’s last eight playoff games.

Defensively, Pietrus made things tough for Lebron James in the Eastern Conference Finals.

He figures to draw a fair share to a lot of time on L.A.’s superstar shooting guard Kobe Bryant.

When compared to all bench players from both teams in this series, Pietrus has been the best player in the playoffs, definitely ahead of Odom.

Nelson’s return makes Orlando’s bench a little deeper and a lot more intriguing to watch beyond Pietrus.

While it’s not reasonable to expect that Nelson will perform like the All-Star he was prior to his torn right labrum injury in early February, he did create match-up problems for the Lakers in the team’s two meetings this year.

In both of Orlando’s victories against L.A., Nelson led the Magic in scoring.

Orlando does have journeyman Anthony Johnson to fall back on for some minutes at the point guard if Nelson can’t log many minutes or is just too rusty in this series.

While everyone will be watching how effective Nelson is if he plays (which is going to happen), a key player to remember is Marcin Gortat.

The seven-footer from Poland hasn’t played that many minutes in the playoffs, but when he has been in, he has been active and effective.

Gortat at least gives Orlando another big man to throw at L.A.’s big front line of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, as does veteran Tony Battie in emergency situations.

After starting the entire second round of the playoffs, J.J. Redick hardly played in the Eastern Conference Finals against Cleveland with Courtney Lee returning from a fractured sinus injury.

Cleveland’s guards weren’t a good matchup for Redick. With that said, the Lakers don’t throw out anything too special with their backup guards, so Redick could find himself getting some time this series.

While he’s deficient on defense, Redick’s ability to shoot the three still makes him dangerous, as long as he is looking for his shot and being aggressive and not tentative.

Edge: Orlando

As always, Odom is the X-factor for L.A. When he’s playing focused and doing things, this team goes to a whole new level.

As stated earlier, Odom’s mere presence on the court as a power forward minimizes Orlando’s perimeter attack. In other words, with Odom, the Lakers match up well with Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and the Magic.

Pietrus is Orlando’s X-factor. If he continues to shoot the ball and score as he has in the playoffs, the Magic will be tough to beat.

Pietrus’ most important contributions, though, may come from his defense.

Just as you’re not going to stop Dwight Howard if you’re the Lakers, the Magic aren’t going to stop Bryant.

Pietrus can at least make things more difficult for Bryant.

I loved how he showed no fear of James in the Eastern Conference Finals and expect the same against Bryant.

With Nelson returning, the Magic’s bench is simply more dangerous than that of the Lakers.

Even though the Lakers have Odom, you still don’t know what you’re going to get from the guy game to game.