And Albrecht, Burke's backup, played poised, unafraid.
C. J. Watson, who recently signed with the Nets to be Williams's backup, played behind him in Greece as well.
Christie averaged 12.4 points, 4.4 assists and 31 minutes a game while Bogues, as his backup, played 21.6 minutes.
Sherman Douglas, Marbury's backup, played so well in the fourth quarter that Scott once called back Marbury from the scorer's table.
Steve Valiquette, Lundqvist's backup, played poorly and was demoted to the minors Dec. 2, and the farmhand goalies Chad Johnson and Matt Zaba are unproven.
But the 49ers and quarterback Trent Dilfer, the 35-year-old backup playing for the sore-shouldered Alex Smith, gave the Giants the ball on consecutive plays — first a fumble on a botched handoff, then an interception.
College, spent his entire career as a backup, playing an average of 69 games a season and finishing with a.233 batting average, 28 home runs and 210 runs batted in.
Even in blowouts, coaches often do not let the backups play.
The Mets' push for the playoffs would certainly get a boost if Delgado's backups play well.
"O.K., so their backups played better than ours," Giants defensive tackle Keith Hamilton said.
