Names carry weight, and conjure up images. Muffy means money, Samson means strength, Jethro means country and Moon, Chastity and Cherokee mean your parents came out of the ’60s.
The Bench is another name that presents a portrait as well and it is as simplistic as those pictures created by connecting the dots. Small guys replace small guys, big guys replace big guys and they all do this as part of a set rotation.
But in these Eastern Conference finals, the portrait accurately reflects only The Bench of the Indiana Pacers. The Bulls’ bench, in stark contrast, is a kaleidoscope that coach Phil Jackson incessantly twists.
“Their bench plays all the time,” Wennington said. “Except for Steve (Kerr) and Toni (Kukoc, normally a sub), ours plays sporadic minutes. We go in spots.”
The Bulls’ bench was embarrassed in the first half of Game 2 Tuesday night, outscored 19-2. But with Wennington hitting three jumpers and scoring six points in the second half, it made a more meaningful contribution.
Bulls sub Jud Buechler believes the Pacers’ bench is the best.
“Not to take anything away from us,” Buechler said, “but man for man, they bring in some quality veterans off the bench. (Forward Derrick) McKey, Antonio Davis . . . Jalen Rose is having a great year.
“In the past, our team has been like that. But this yearn it really hasn’t been like that. Phil really has gone with different matchups. For a guy like Steve Kerr, maybe one series he plays a lot, the next series Randy Brown plays a lot. (Opponents) go with the same thing the whole way through regardless of what we do. Phil matches up against them.”
Kerr acknowledges most of the best are in regular, set rotations.
“Look at the two best benches in the league, Indiana and Utah,” he said. “Both are used in regular rotations, and the reason those teams are able to do that is their guys are very talented.
“We used to do that here, but frankly, we’re not as talented (as in the past). Phil can’t afford to do that.”
Those players, of course, are Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. They, as a trio, are averaging 41 minutes per playoff game and their heavy load naturally cuts down on the minutes available to their relief.
Their load is also far heavier than that carried by Reggie Miller, Mark Jackson and Dale Davis, the Pacers’ busiest post-season workers. They, as a trio, are averaging 34.1 minutes per playoff game and their moderate load naturally makes more minutes available to their relief.
This is why McKey is averaging 15 minutes in the playoffs and Wennington 7.4. Why Travis Best is averaging 15.7 in the playoffs and Scott Burrell 13. Why only Kukoc (26.5) and Kerr (22.1) are averaging minutes comparable to their Pacer counterparts, Antonio Davis (28.8) and Rose (19.9).
All this makes it foolish to compare the roles these benches play, or their productions. The Pacers count on theirs to win games; the Bulls, to maintain.
