Lakers’ ‘Bench Mob’ Not Much of a Mob

The Lakers’ reserves, aka the ‘Bench Mob,’ gave up a big lead that almost allowed the Clippers to win on Sunday night. Although the Lakers won 88-85, the reserves didn’t do as good of job as they should have, with Lakers’ assistant coach Frank Hamblen telling FS West in a halftime interview that they weren’t much of a mob this season. During the fourth quarter the Lakers were up 19, but starters Trevor Ariza, Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher came back onto the court with 4:16 to play when the Clippers cut down the lead to 81-71 with a 9-0 run.

“It’s sometimes hard for starters to come back in and get it back after they’ve sat that long, so that’s some of the consequences that you pay,” said Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson after the game. On the bright side, Andrew Bynum will be returning at some point in the next five games and if Bynum starts Lamar Odom will likely return to his reserve status, which will hopefully reenergize the ‘Bench Mob.’ The Lakers (61-16) remained within a game of Cleveland (62-15) for the league’s best record.

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