Lakers' Bench Comes Up Big

Steve Blake might actually be worth keeping. He played how we expected him to play last season.

In last night's 99-82 victory over the New York Knicks, Blake scored 11 points – 9 coming off of three-pointers – with three assists. Fellow bench players Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) and Jason Kapono each racked up nine points.

In a big game against a good team, the bench had a good night. Kapono was exceptionally efficient, going 3-3 from the field with two of those field goals coming from beyond the arch.

Matt Barnes also did pretty good off the bench – going 3-6 for 7 points. Troy Murphy did not have that much off an impact, only scoring 4 points.

Next game is on Saturday Dec. 31 against the Denver Nuggets. It will be Andrew Bynum's first game back from the suspension. It will be a good game to see how he comes back.