Empty the Bench

By: Christopher Thell

And then there were none. No more games to play. No more competitors to best.

No more questions to answer.

The Lake Show is the best from east to west. The biggest, baddest, toughest band of ballers in the world. And yet, while I’m happy, what I feel mostly is relief tinged with emptiness.

These seemingly dichotomous feelings are only appropriate perhaps in regards to a team with such a Jekyll and Hyde personality as your 2009 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Let’s break them down:

1.) I’m relieved that the Lakers played up to their potential and won the title – anything less would have been a choke job. Seriously, I feel like an albatross has been lifted from around my neck. Ever since April 19, when the Lakers commenced this playoff journey against the Utah Jazz, I’ve been worried that the Lakers would blow this golden opportunity. This was the Lakers year and if they had botched it the basketball gods were not going to shine on them again anytime soon.

2.) I’m happy that Kobe got his fourth title and Phil got his 10th championship ring. While I can understand their detractors cries of arrogance at times, I’ve always been a Kobe and Phil guy. I admire their respective approaches to the game. Kobe probably isn’t a nice guy, but he’s the best basketball player on the planet, an absolute assassin, and he works harder than anyone in the game. Phil just wins.

I’m also happy for Pau and Lamar, who shed their soft labels and performed brilliantly in the Finals. Odom notched 17 points and 10 rebounds in the decisive Game Five victory while Gasol recorded 14 points and 15 rebounds. If they can keep Odom and Ariza, and stay healthy, this team has a real chance of repeating.

3.) And I feel a bit empty, because when your team wins a championship you realize that, while it’s great and all, nothing changes. You’ve just exerted an exponential amount of emotional energy and spent countless hours before a TV set cheering them on in addition to reading about your team in newspapers, magazines, and online, and then, yes, you accomplish the ultimate, your team wins the title and you think to yourself, wow, I still have to get up and go to work tomorrow and the fact that my team won the title really doesn’t make the sound of the alarm clock going off any sweeter.

Hmmm. Maybe I should channel all of that time and energy into something more constructive? Don’t get me wrong, I mean, I am happy that this group of twenty-something millionaires blessed to win the genetic lottery accomplished their goal, I am. I’m just saying.

More Postcards From LA:
- Volume One
- Volume Two
- Volume Three
- Volume Four
- Volume Five
- Volume Six

The popular Postcards From LA series is back for a 2009 Lakers run at the NBA Championship. As long as the Los Angeles Lakers survive through the 2009 NBA playoffs, Empty the Bench’s West Coast correspondent Christopher Thell will be submitting a local fan’s take on his beloved Lakers’ postseason trials, tribulations and successes.

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4. Postcards From LA, Vol. 5: One Fan Tracks His Lakers Through the 2009 NBA Playoffs


5. Postcards From LA, Vol. 1: One Fan Tracks His Lakers Through the 2009 NBA Playoffs