Angry Lakers fans and media noticing soft Gasol.

[nickagneta]

During my perusal through ESPN this morning I found this article about Pau Gasol and how he has slowly but surely started to disappear in the playoffs:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080608&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1

Check the comments on the Los Angeles Times' Lakers blog from Game 1, when Gasol had 15 points and eight rebounds, and you can feel the animosity growing.


"It's okay to get contact, Pau. You're bound to at least draw the foul."

"Can somebody teach Pau how to box out?"

"No effort in rebounding, no consistent shot, no heart."

"Gasol go play for the Sparks."

"Looks like I'll have to gas up my Trade Pau Gasol Bandwagon."

Thanks to Boston's defense -- especially big men Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett -- one of the off-day buzzwords has been "physical." And if this were the word-association segment on the old Roy Firestone "Up Close" shows, that word wouldn't conjure up Gasol.

Even teammate Kobe Bryant said, "You run into Perkins and Pau in an alley, you're probably going to go Pau's direction."

I found the last sentence rather amusing. Seems if Kobe wanted to go to war with someone he might prefer Perk.

I hadn't delved deep into the Lakers games during the playoffs. I was more a casual observer and nothing more, never bothering to watch the post game show or look at the box scores. What I had seen is I thought Gasol was pretty much playing Gasol's type of basketball against Denver and Utah, that being extremely effective offensive orientated and not extremely physical.

When he started the Spurs series rather soft and trying to avoid the contact I thought for sure that the Lakers were cooked. But then the Spurs sucked for a couple games, the Lakers were gifted another and I thought that last 19 rebound game against the Spurs he had finally decided to tough it out and be the player the Lakers need him to be.

But after watching his performance the other night, I once again am convinced that Pau just doesn't have the spine to play the physical game that will be necessary for the Lakers to win. He is their only inside presence and he is rather lacking in intestinal fortitude when it comes to being physical and now he is facing a team that is nothing but physical in every player they have that plays a forward or center position.

This does not bode well for the Lakers chances. Gasol has to come to play with a fire in order for the Lakers to win 4 out of the next 6 games and do you want to know why?

Because the Celtics haven't lost 4 out of any 6 game stretch at any point this year. That includes the pre-season, regular season and postseason. Go ahead check, I'll wait.......


The worst stretch of results the Celtics have had all year was between Game 3 Cleveland and Game 2 Detroit where they lost 4 out of 7. Since that time they have won 4 out of 5 with 2 being on the road.

So if LA wants this title they are going to have to beat up the Celtics and take it from them. And if Pau Gasol doesn't man up and start being a physical presence, the fans in LaLa land are going to have a lot stronger things to say to and about him than:

"It's okay to get contact, Pau. You're bound to at least draw the foul."

"Can somebody teach Pau how to box out?"

"No effort in rebounding, no consistent shot, no heart."

"Gasol go play for the Sparks."

"Looks like I'll have to gas up my Trade Pau Gasol Bandwagon."

Me personally, I don't think he has it in him and I don't think this Laker team is constructed to be the type of team that can make the Celtics do something they haven't done all year, that being lose 4 out of 6 games.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I've always dislike these types of complaints, you know. Players are who they are, so Gasol is soft... big deal. But he's extremely good in other facets of the game, so it's up to management, coach, etc. to put him in a position to succeed instead of asking him to do things he's not used to or simply is not good at.

It's like people wanting Garnett to go kill in the paint and dunk on everyone. That's not his game, and he'd probably fail miserably for the most part if he were to force it.

I find it funny how they're killing Gasol, and are mum about Kobe who was simply horrible. Gasol also did some nice things defensively out there. Sure KG had his way through most of the night, but who's going to stop KG? Ben Wallace? Rasheed Wallace? Guess not.

Where were Turiaf's rebounds? Kobe had 6, but Allen had 8. Pau Gasol had 8 himself, and led the team in rebounds... but where were the rest of his teammates?

You know, we killed the Lakers rebounding when they had Bynum too, a better rebounder than Gasol, so there's more to this than simply faulting Gasol for all their rebounding troubles.  This is what occurs in mismatches, all you need is to tip the ball to your temmates to get the rebound. How many times did that occur the other day? When one player blocked out, the other got his hands on the ball, and got the ball to his teammates? Even though we got most of the rebounds, I thought we had to fight hard to get them for the most part... they weren't simply falling to our laps. But Gasol is being outnumbered in there.

Would they like Gasol to fight harder? Sure, I think that goes for everyone though.

[nickagneta]

Where were Turiaf's rebounds? ...  where were the rest of his teammates?

This is the dilemma that faces the Lakers. They are constructed out of a team of players who are not strong paint players or great rebounders, in the physical sense.

The Celtics are made up of strong, physical, agressive rebounders.

Phil Jackson's triangle offense is wonderful but his champions have always relied on at least one "knock you down, get out of my way, that's my ball" rebounder. Grant, Rodman, and Shaq.

Where is that player on this Laker team?

[jay_jay54]

I've always dislike these types of complaints, you know. Players are who they are, so Gasol is soft... big deal. But he's extremely good in other facets of the game, so it's up to management, coach, etc. to put him in a position to succeed instead of asking him to do things he's not used to or simply is not good at.

It's like people wanting Garnett to go kill in the paint and dunk on everyone. That's not his game, and he'd probably fail miserably for the most part if he were to force it.

I find it funny how they're killing Gasol, and are mum about Kobe who was simply horrible. Gasol also did some nice things defensively out there. Sure KG had his way through most of the night, but who's going to stop KG? Ben Wallace? Rasheed Wallace? Guess not.

Where were Turiaf's rebounds? Kobe had 6, but Allen had 8. Pau Gasol had 8 himself, and led the team in rebounds... but where were the rest of his teammates?

You know, we killed the Lakers rebounding when they had Bynum too, a better rebounder than Gasol, so there's more to this than simply faulting Gasol for all their rebounding troubles.  This is what occurs in mismatches, all you need is to tip the ball to your temmates to get the rebound. How many times did that occur the other day? When one player blocked out, the other got his hands on the ball, and got the ball to his teammates? Even though we got most of the rebounds, I thought we had to fight hard to get them for the most part... they weren't simply falling to our laps. But Gasol is being outnumbered in there.

Would they like Gasol to fight harder? Sure, I think that goes for everyone though.

Sooner or later,i sorta knew  they(the media) would get tired of giving it to Pierce,and find someone else to   bury.Gasol is the chosen candidate for the day.On ESPN this morning,i heard them state,a overseas(Spanish)sports analyst wrote Pau gets some "Muscles",but in spanish,and the announcer at ESPN flexed  his muscle to animate the situation.

[wdleehi]

Where were Turiaf's rebounds? ...  where were the rest of his teammates?

This is the dilemma that faces the Lakers. They are constructed out of a team of players who are not strong paint players or great rebounders, in the physical sense.

The Celtics are made up of strong, physical, agressive rebounders.

Phil Jackson's triangle offense is wonderful but his champions have always relied on at least one "knock you down, get out of my way, that's my ball" rebounder. Grant, Rodman, and Shaq.

Where is that player on this Laker team?

plus, this year, they have been worse defensively with Turaf in there.


Gasol is a PF that is forced to play C.  He needs a big man next to him to do some dirty work.   Sorta like KG has now with Perkins.  Someone who will do the heavy banging most of the game.  Someone who will put a body on someone to clear the lane out for rebounds. 


Of course KG being more willing to mix it up down low then Gasol also helps. 



Lakers need Bynum. 

[Who]

Where were Turiaf's rebounds? ...  where were the rest of his teammates?

This is the dilemma that faces the Lakers. They are constructed out of a team of players who are not strong paint players or great rebounders, in the physical sense.

The Celtics are made up of strong, physical, agressive rebounders.

Phil Jackson's triangle offense is wonderful but his champions have always relied on at least one "knock you down, get out of my way, that's my ball" rebounder. Grant, Rodman, and Shaq.

Where is that player on this Laker team?

For better or worse that player is Lamar Odom for the Lakers

He's a quality rebounder and he had a bad game on both ends the other day. He finished 9th in the league for total rebounds, and 5th for defensive rebounds. He was 7th in rebounds per game this season.

He had a bad game on the backboards and it made life very difficult for LA.

[Who]

Gasol had a woeful second half. 3 points, only 4 shot attempts. He was a non-entity offensively. It was a terrible display.

I hate passive play. Lakers can't win if he shies away from the basketball. He doesn't need to play physical in the post offensively, he just needs to put pressure on the opponent. Whenever he made a move down there he was dangerous. He needs to get his act together. Go get the ball and make a play. Stop bloody looking at Luke Walton and Ronny Turiaf. Go get the ball and make a play.

He'll do better next year after a full season with Phil and the Lakers. They're a mentally strong team. Phil will find a way to limit Pau's "weenie shots" and stuff like that. There are parts of his game that he can shore up. However, Gasol will never be a consistently dominant rebounder, just doesn't have it in him.

[SShoreFan 2.0]

Nevermind Gasol, without Bynum, the Lakers are deficit in the paint.  The Celts (IMHO) need to continue to drive it inside, pound it inside, pass it inside, force it inside, go down inside, dribble it inside, penetrate inside, dominate inside.  There's only so many big guys on the Laker's bench and they are not the strongest crew, foul them and pound them.

[fairweatherfan06]

Though he can rebound (when interested) I think Odom is on the soft side too.

[wdleehi]

Though he can rebound (when interested) I think Odom is on the soft side too.

I think he is more of a interior SF that grew (in size) into a smaller PF.


Similar to Walker. 

[the_Bird]

The Lakers ARE going to be wicked scary next year when they've got Bynum back inside to do the dirty work and can let Pau play at the 4.  If they keep Odom at the 3, that's a frontline that's got a real good balance between interior and exterior play, finesse and banging, real good size at every one of those positions. 

[BudweiserCeltic]

The Lakers ARE going to be wicked scary next year when they've got Bynum back inside to do the dirty work and can let Pau play at the 4.  If they keep Odom at the 3, that's a frontline that's got a real good balance between interior and exterior play, finesse and banging, real good size at every one of those positions. 

Let's see if Bynum can rebound from his injury and keep his condition up. Not everyone is able to do so, and weren't people unhappy with his conditioning up until this year? So there may be some precedent to him getting lazy, especially if some "depression" over the injury comes (like what happened with Amare).

[wdleehi]

The Lakers ARE going to be wicked scary next year when they've got Bynum back inside to do the dirty work and can let Pau play at the 4.  If they keep Odom at the 3, that's a frontline that's got a real good balance between interior and exterior play, finesse and banging, real good size at every one of those positions. 

Let's see if Bynum can rebound from his injury and keep his condition up. Not everyone is able to do so, and weren't people unhappy with his conditioning up until this year? So there may be some precedent to him getting lazy, especially if some "depression" over the injury comes (like what happened with Amare).

plus, they need to see who all three big men fit together.  Does Odom handle coming off the bench or moving to SF? 

[Who]

The Lakers ARE going to be wicked scary next year when they've got Bynum back inside to do the dirty work and can let Pau play at the 4.  If they keep Odom at the 3, that's a frontline that's got a real good balance between interior and exterior play, finesse and banging, real good size at every one of those positions. 

Let's see if Bynum can rebound from his injury and keep his condition up. Not everyone is able to do so, and weren't people unhappy with his conditioning up until this year? So there may be some precedent to him getting lazy, especially if some "depression" over the injury comes (like what happened with Amare).

plus, they need to see who all three big men fit together.  Does Odom handle coming off the bench or moving to SF? 

I think they trade Lamar Odom for a SF that can shoot the ball. Or a point guard who's capable of replacing Fisher in time (I don't think they're sold on Farmer as a starter).

Odom's contract is up in a season. Kupchack was been non-committal about resigning Odom. Those silly Radmanovic/Walton contracts are going to hurt LA's flexibility.

[the_Bird]

Think they might move Odom, either for a more-traditional SF or for a PG?  Fisher's still pretty good, but that's got to be an area of some concern down the road a few years.  

EDIT: I guess you do!