I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that in the NBA playoffs teams can no no longer win on the road. This is something out of the X-Files. Scully and Mulder need to be set loose on the David Stern conspiracy theorists.

I heard Phil Jackson's post-game comments and he believes the inability of teams to win on the road comes down to parity. I do believe there is an element of truth to that, since we have seen very few players coming off the bench to contribute. Sorry, Manu Ginobili does not count as coming off the bench.

Can someone name me an instance where someone had a huge game coming off the bench in this year's playoffs? Teams now rely on their top players to carry them, which I guess, would fall under parity. Where are the teams with great benches?

I'm convinced the lack of a potent bench is a huge factor in the dominance we're seeing from home teams. It's not as if teams on the road are staying at a Days Inn and there is a coke crazed swinger party rockin' next door. Okay, the Hawks might have had too much too drink before Game 7 in Boston, but there was no chance the Hawks were going to win that one.

I love the folks who were outraged the Hawks were out at their hotel bar the night before Game 7. Most guys on the Hawks are in their twenties and do you think Al Horford should have invited the guys to his suite to watch Saturday Night Live? Hell No! If you're in the NBA, it's your God given right to meet some ladies on the road.

Where are the unexpected heroes in today's NBA? Most teams fill thier rosters with young kids or aging veterans. No offense to Sam Cassell, but today's Sam Cassell couldn't run with the Sam Cassell of only three years ago. Is Boston's Big Baby Davis or New Orleans' Hilton Armstrong making a real difference? Most teams have rotations that demonstrate a significant drop in talent after the seventh man.

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I decided to pull up a few championship teams from databaseBasketball.com and examine their rosters in comparison to today's squads:

1982-1983 Philadelphia 76'ers

Name G Min Pts PPG FGM FGA FGP FTM FTA FTP 3PM 3PA 3PP REB RPG AST APG STL BLK TO
Moses Malone 78 2922 1908 24.5 654 1305 .501 600 788 .761 0 1 .000 1194 15.3 101 1.3 89 157 264
Julius Erving 72 2421 1542 21.4 605 1170 .517 330 435 .759 2 7 .286 491 6.8 263 3.7 112 131 196
Andrew Toney 81 2474 1598 19.7 626 1250 .501 324 411 .788 22 76 .289 225 2.8 365 4.5 80 17 271
Maurice Cheeks 79 2465 990 12.5 404 745 .542 181 240 .754 1 6 .167 209 2.6 543 6.9 184 31 179
Bobby Jones 74 1749 665 9.0 250 460 .543 165 208 .793 0 1 .000 344 4.6 142 1.9 85 91 109
Clint Richardson 77 1755 589 7.6 259 559 .463 71 111 .640 0 6 .000 247 3.2 168 2.2 71 18 99
Clemon Johnson 32 698 216 6.8 91 182 .500 34 58 .586 0 0 .000 205 6.4 24 0.8 16 29 36
Franklin Edwards 81 1266 542 6.7 228 483 .472 86 113 .761 0 8 .000 85 1.0 221 2.7 81 6 110
Reggie Johnson 29 549 160 5.5 69 154 .448 22 30 .733 0 0 .000 90 3.1 23 0.8 8 17 35
Marc Iavaroni 80 1612 404 5.1 163 353 .462 78 113 .690 0 2 .000 329 4.1 83 1.0 32 44 133
Russ Schoene 46 702 233 5.1 106 207 .512 21 28 .750 0 1 .000 154 3.3 32 0.7 13 9 46
Earl Cureton 73 987 249 3.4 108 258 .419 33 67 .493 0 0 .000 269 3.7 43 0.6 37 24 76
Mark Mcnamara 36 182 78 2.2 29 64 .453 20 45 .444 0 0 .000 76 2.1 7 0.2 3 3 36
Mitchell Anderson 13 48 17 1.3 8 22 .364 1 3 .333 0 1 .000 12 0.9 1 0.1 1 0 5

1987-1988 Los Angeles Lakers

Name G Min Pts PPG FGM FGA FGP FTM FTA FTP 3PM 3PA 3PP REB RPG AST APG STL BLK TO
Byron Scott 81 3048 1754 21.7 710 1348 .527 272 317 .858 62 179 .346 333 4.1 335 4.1 155 27 161
James Worthy 75 2655 1478 19.7 617 1161 .531 242 304 .796 2 16 .125 374 5.0 289 3.9 72 55 155
Magic Johnson 72 2637 1408 19.6 490 996 .492 417 489 .853 11 56 .196 449 6.2 858 11.9 114 13 269
Kareem Abdul-jabbar 80 2308 1165 14.6 480 903 .532 205 269 .762 0 1 .000 478 6.0 135 1.7 48 92 159
Mychal Thompson 80 2007 925 11.6 370 722 .512 185 292 .634 0 3 .000 489 6.1 66 0.8 38 79 113
A.c. Green 82 2636 937 11.4 322 640 .503 293 379 .773 0 2 .000 710 8.7 93 1.1 87 45 120
Tony Campbell 13 242 143 11.0 57 101 .564 28 39 .718 1 3 .333 27 2.1 15 1.2 11 2 26
Michael Cooper 61 1793 532 8.7 189 482 .392 97 113 .858 57 178 .320 228 3.7 289 4.7 66 26 101
Wes Matthews 51 706 289 5.7 114 248 .460 54 65 .831 7 30 .233 66 1.3 138 2.7 25 3 69
Kurt Rambis 70 845 277 4.0 102 186 .548 73 93 .785 0 0 .000 268 3.8 54 0.8 39 13 59
Milt Wagner 40 380 152 3.8 62 147 .422 26 29 .897 2 10 .200 28 0.7 61 1.5 6 4 22
Ray Tolbert 14 82 42 3.0 16 28 .571 10 13 .769 0 0 .000 20 1.4 5 0.4 3 3 11
Mike Smrek 48 421 132 2.8 44 103 .427 44 66 .667 0 0 .000 85 1.8 8 0.2 7 42 30
Billy Thompson 9 38 14 1.6 3 13 .231 8 10 .800 0 0 .000 9 1.0 1 0.1 1 0 6
Jeff Lamp 3 7 2 0.7 0 0 .000 2 2 1.000 0 0 .000 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 0

1992-1993 Chicago Bulls

Name G Min Pts PPG FGM FGA FGP FTM FTA FTP 3PM 3PA 3PP REB RPG AST APG STL BLK TO
Michael Jordan 78 3067 2541 32.6 992 2003 .495 476 569 .837 81 230 .352 522 6.7 428 5.5 221 61 207
Scottie Pippen 81 3123 1510 18.6 628 1327 .473 232 350 .663 22 93 .237 621 7.7 507 6.3 173 73 246
Horace Grant 77 2745 1017 13.2 421 829 .508 174 281 .619 1 5 .200 729 9.5 201 2.6 89 96 110
B.j. Armstrong 82 2492 1009 12.3 408 818 .499 130 151 .861 63 139 .453 149 1.8 330 4.0 66 6 83
Scott Williams 71 1369 422 5.9 166 356 .466 90 126 .714 0 7 .000 451 6.4 68 1.0 55 66 73
Bill Cartwright 63 1253 354 5.6 141 343 .411 72 98 .735 0 0 .000 233 3.7 83 1.3 20 10 62
Stacey King 76 1059 408 5.4 160 340 .471 86 122 .705 2 6 .333 207 2.7 71 0.9 26 20 70
Trent Tucker 69 909 356 5.2 143 295 .485 18 22 .818 52 131 .397 71 1.0 82 1.2 24 6 18
Will Perdue 72 998 341 4.7 137 246 .557 67 111 .604 0 1 .000 287 4.0 74 1.0 22 47 74
John Paxson 59 1030 246 4.2 105 233 .451 17 20 .850 19 41 .463 48 0.8 136 2.3 38 2 31
Rodney Mccray 64 1019 222 3.5 92 204 .451 36 52 .692 2 5 .400 158 2.5 81 1.3 12 15 53
Ricky Blanton 2 13 6 3.0 3 7 .429 0 0 .000 0 0 .000 3 1.5 1 0.5 2 0 1
Darrell Walker 28 367 72 2.6 31 77 .403 10 20 .500 0 0 .000 39 1.4 44 1.6 23 2 12
Corey Williams 35 242 81 2.3 31 85 .365 18 22 .818 1 3 .333 31 0.9 23 0.7 4 2 11
Joe Courtney 5 34 11 2.2 4 9 .444 3 4 .750 0 0 .000 2 0.4 1 0.2 2 1 3
Ed Nealy 11 79 23 2.1 10 23 .435 2 2 1.000 1 5 .200 16 1.5 2 0.2 3 1 2
Jojo English 6 31 6 1.0 3 10 .300 0 2 .000 0 3 .000 6 1.0 1 0.2 3 2 4

1997-1998 Chicago Bulls

Name G Min Pts PPG FGM FGA FGP FTM FTA FTP 3PM 3PA 3PP REB RPG AST APG STL BLK TO
Michael Jordan 82 3181 2357 28.7 881 1893 .465 565 721 .784 30 126 .238 475 5.8 283 3.5 141 45 185
Scottie Pippen 44 1652 841 19.1 315 704 .447 150 193 .777 61 192 .318 227 5.2 254 5.8 79 43 109
Toni Kukoc 74 2236 984 13.3 383 841 .455 155 219 .708 63 174 .362 327 4.4 314 4.2 76 37 154
Luc Longley 58 1703 663 11.4 277 609 .455 109 148 .736 0 0 .000 341 5.9 161 2.8 34 62 130
Ron Harper 82 2284 764 9.3 293 665 .441 162 216 .750 16 84 .190 290 3.5 241 2.9 108 48 91
Steve Kerr 50 1119 376 7.5 137 302 .454 45 49 .918 57 130 .438 77 1.5 96 1.9 26 5 27
Jason Caffey 51 710 268 5.3 100 199 .503 68 103 .660 0 1 .000 173 3.4 36 0.7 13 17 48
Scott Burrell 80 1096 416 5.2 159 375 .424 47 64 .734 51 144 .354 198 2.5 65 0.8 64 38 50
Dennis Rodman 80 2856 375 4.7 155 360 .431 61 111 .550 4 23 .174 1201 15.0 230 2.9 47 18 147
Randy Brown 71 1147 288 4.1 116 302 .384 56 78 .718 0 5 .000 94 1.3 151 2.1 71 12 63
Dickey Simpkins 21 237 78 3.7 26 41 .634 26 44 .591 0 1 .000 31 1.5 17 0.8 4 3 13