Most of the credit for the Los Angeles Lakers' 8-1 start to the 2010-11 season has gone to the core of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, but the most impressive part of the team may be the reserves, who are clearly superior to last season's bunch.
It's easy to overlook the play of the Lakers bench in lieu of the numbers that Bryant, Gasol and Odom have been posting, but the reserve core may be the biggest difference between this season's team and last year's, and it might just be the most important.
The nucleus of the bench consists of Shannon Brown, Steve Blake and Matt Barnes, but those three players have been posting higher numbers than most other team's benches combined.
Together Barnes, Brown and Blake average 25 points per game, and although the points are great, it's the other things each player does that makes them really stand out.
Blake has been a major improvement over the departed Jordan Farmar in the backcourt, and even though he lacks Farmar's athleticism, Blake more than compensates with his steady leadership and consistent outside shooting.
It's hard to tell if you look at Thursday night's game ag ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Hadarii Jones
L.A.’s Killer B’s: Are Barnes, Blake and Brown the Key To a Lakers Three-Peat?
November 13th, 2010 by Hadarii Jones Leave a reply »
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