KG owns Gasol when they play head to head ( statistical evidence to prove it )

[oneofthesedays]

Celtic fans still don't really understand the playoffs.  It's understandable considering their team hasn't done anything for the past two decades. 

The reality is the regular season has little bearing on the playoffs, and this is especially true of teams with good coaching staffs.  You give Phil a full week to gameplan against a team in the NBA Finals and you're going to end up with drastically different games than what we saw in the regular season. 

Do you guys have such short memories to forget what ATL and CLE did to you in the post season?  Clearly your regular season dominance over both of those teams had little bearing on the playoff outcome.  The bottom line is Doc Rivers is a poor coach, the Celtics are winning in spite of his coaching.  His in game adjustments often make little sense and his rotations have differed a lot from what they were in the regular season.  All these little things throw a team off and I think it's a huge reason why the Celtics struggled early on in the post season.  Phil Jackson, OTOH, never once changed his rotations from what they were in the regular season.  He uses the entire regular season to prepare his teams for the playoffs and it clearly showed as the Lakers have gotten better as the playoffs have progressed.

[Lakers6]

Big Ticket-
     I think "p*wned" has passed into the vernacular and is appropriate as I used it. Certainly others got the humorous subtext. KG has played better than Pau over the years, he has the warrior's mentality that Pau doesn't (or hasn't seen fit to demomstrate). There are only two of those players on the floor for this series, Kobe and KG. I like Kobe's age and consistency better.
     I really thought the Celtics were a lock to win this whole thing until I saw how vulnerable they have looked in the playoffs. And KG is a big part of that new "mortality."

Good luck!

[Bahku]

Gasol can't even stop KG in his dreams, though that's obviously the reference these LA fans are making, (dream land). I suppose fooling themselves is what gives them a little hope in their purple-and-gold hearts, that and the sadly misguided and biased media, (their "Golden Boy" is finally doomed!). I'd normally say "good luck", but luck isn't going to help, and it wouldn't be sincere anyway.

[BballTim]

Celtic fans still don't really understand the playoffs.  It's understandable considering their team hasn't done anything for the past two decades. 

The reality is the regular season has little bearing on the playoffs, and this is especially true of teams with good coaching staffs.  You give Phil a full week to gameplan against a team in the NBA Finals and you're going to end up with drastically different games than what we saw in the regular season. 

Do you guys have such short memories to forget what ATL and CLE did to you in the post season?  Clearly your regular season dominance over both of those teams had little bearing on the playoff outcome.  The bottom line is Doc Rivers is a poor coach, the Celtics are winning in spite of his coaching.  His in game adjustments often make little sense and his rotations have differed a lot from what they were in the regular season.  All these little things throw a team off and I think it's a huge reason why the Celtics struggled early on in the post season.  Phil Jackson, OTOH, never once changed his rotations from what they were in the regular season.  He uses the entire regular season to prepare his teams for the playoffs and it clearly showed as the Lakers have gotten better as the playoffs have progressed.

  The Celts have clearly gotten better as the playoffs progressed. The main reason they struggled earlier in the playoffs is that they've never been to the playoffs together. I haven't seen as much progress through the playoffs from the Lakers.

[chibi]

Celtic fans still don't really understand the playoffs.  It's understandable considering their team hasn't done anything for the past two decades. 

The reality is the regular season has little bearing on the playoffs, and this is especially true of teams with good coaching staffs.  You give Phil a full week to gameplan against a team in the NBA Finals and you're going to end up with drastically different games than what we saw in the regular season. 

Do you guys have such short memories to forget what ATL and CLE did to you in the post season?  Clearly your regular season dominance over both of those teams had little bearing on the playoff outcome.  The bottom line is Doc Rivers is a poor coach, the Celtics are winning in spite of his coaching.  His in game adjustments often make little sense and his rotations have differed a lot from what they were in the regular season.  All these little things throw a team off and I think it's a huge reason why the Celtics struggled early on in the post season.  Phil Jackson, OTOH, never once changed his rotations from what they were in the regular season.  He uses the entire regular season to prepare his teams for the playoffs and it clearly showed as the Lakers have gotten better as the playoffs have progressed.

  The Celts have clearly gotten better as the playoffs progressed. The main reason they struggled earlier in the playoffs is that they've never been to the playoffs together. I haven't seen as much progress through the playoffs from the Lakers.

The Lakers swept the Nuggets.  Then they closed out the Utah Jazz on their own homecourt, where they had the best record in the leauge.  Then they beat the defending champions in 5 games.  What does progress mean to you?  Losing 8 games instead of 3?  Ridiculous. 

[cordobes]

Do you guys have such short memories to forget what ATL and CLE did to you in the post season?

Can't Lakers fans understand this argument is particularly unimpressive? We had Lebron fans here saying the exact same thing: "have you forgotten the Hawks took you to 7 games? How do you expect to beat us? We are a playoffs built team!". After that, we had dozens of Detroit fans saying the exact same thing: "Do you guys have such short memories to forget what ATL and CLE did to you in the post season? You're done. We know playoffs, you don't. Doc will play you out". Guess what.. in the end, we prevailed, because our defense is much better than anyones else: Detroit, Cleveland, San Antonio, whoever...

It's been like this all season, we've been hearing from experts and fans: first, the big three wouldn't mesh. Then, we'd lack depth. Then, we'd miss a bench. Then, only Garnett would defend. Then Rondo and Perkins were not good enough to be starters. Then, we were winning because of the easy schedule and West teams  would beat us. Then, the Texan teams would beat us. Then the Big 3 were playing too many minutes. Then we were peaking too early. Then our best players were unexperienced and chokers in the playoffs. Then, we couldn't win on the road. Then we couldn't close out games in the 4th quarter. Geez.. this team has taken some punches, but in the end, they overcame every obstacle they faced. They're the team with the best record, the best defense and playing in the Finals. The same ESPN guy who predicted us to be 3rd in the Atlantic Division is now predicting us to be beaten in 5, using the same kind of logic. We'll see, I guess... But even if we lose the first 2 games (won't happen), I'd be confident we'll win in the end. It's really funny how this team has been proving outsiders wrong over and over...

[crownsy]

This comparison is irrelevant--to say the least. Neither Pau (nor Lamar) were on good teams when they were "dominated" by KG. It would be as irrelevant to say that the Lakers p*wned Garnett whenever they faced him in the West--true but who cares? He's in a new situation now.

because of course KG was on awesome teams, so that comparison is somehow relevant. 

they were the two stars of awful teams, therefore, to my mind, it makes those stats even more impressive. it was pretty much a one on one duel since Memphis and minn were terrible outside of those two players.

[crownsy]

Big Ticket-
     I think "p*wned" has passed into the vernacular and is appropriate as I used it. Certainly others got the humorous subtext. KG has played better than Pau over the years, he has the warrior's mentality that Pau doesn't (or hasn't seen fit to demomstrate). There are only two of those players on the floor for this series, Kobe and KG. I like Kobe's age and consistency better.
     
Good luck!

keep sleeping on pierce, all he's done is take out lebron and the pistons this post season, no killer instinct at all over there.

and its not like he traditionally goes off against the lakers...oh wait he's averaging 7 more points vs them than his career average...

[LuckyNumber07]

Not sure why anyone thinks Gasol wins this matchup.

He's got a good jumper, can dunk and occasionally blocks a shot. He's at best, a 'capable' graduate from the FIBA school matador defense. 

[CoachBo]

I keep forgetting that Gasol is the European Bill Russell.

 

Last time I checked, if Magic's walking through that door, he's coming through in a suit as a fat guy.

 

[Bahku]

I keep forgetting that Gasol is the European Bill Russell.

 

Last time I checked, if Magic's walking through that door, he's coming through in a suit as a fat guy.

 

Wow ... Gasol the European Bill Russell?!? I hadn't heard that ... that's about as absurd a misnomer as I've heard in a long time, and whoever came up with it obviously has no clue how Bill Russell actually played! Gasol must be loving even being mentioned in the same sentence with Bill, eh? 

[Chief]

Living in TN, I had to opportunity to go to a few Memphis games since Pau was drafted. The fans, in Memphis, hated him and were glad to see him go. They thought he was fairly talented but not max salary talented. Also, very injury prone and never showed as much passion about the NBA as he did his National team.

Having said that, I too believe KG will win the match-up hands down. As far as the series, KG, Paul, and Ray are too hungry for the championship this year. Celtics in 6.

[jimmyt]

Very thorough of you! 

In the future, if you or anyone wants to get this type of info much quicker, you can use Basketball Reference's Head2Head Find:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/h2h_finder.cgi

He has also owned the matchup with Odom over the years.

Do this with Pierce and Kobe. Their numbers are pretty dead even. Pierce is gonna get his this year. Get that respect kiiiiiiid.

[wdleehi]

I think the Celtics can defensively dominate the LA big down low. 

Perkins on Gasol.   Perkins plays good position, makes it hard for Gasol to get to his spot, and will have a hand in his face on the shot.  He will not shut down Gasol, but Gasol's points and shooting % will be down.


And (unlike the Spurs) KG can matchup with Odom. 

[bleedingreen]

The thing about KG though, is that it's not just KG versus Gasol the whole game. It's KG on a string guarding the entire L.A. Lakers.