One of the biggest things that has hurt us in the series has been the amount of times I have seen Gasol standing at the free throw line. It is almost laughable. He has shot 39 free throws so far in this series. KG, Perk, and Sheed COMBINED have shot 28. That is downright outrageous. I don't know why they have all of a sudden decided he is the golden boy to get to the free throw line, but that is terribly one sided. I guess their bigs don't foul...
I find this very amusing.
Pau actually takes it to our bigs. Apart from Game 4, with KG attacking, i havent seen any of our bigs attack the basket, or get deep post position.
This is why Gasol has so many freebies.
Hate the guy for the way he looks, but dont hate the guy as a player because he is a good one. He is a different man from the one we saw in 2008.
Not too different, just not as willing to be intimidated. That said the refs have been protecting him a bit much. I think the refs have heard how we're going to bang him out of his game so they are watching it closely.
He should have gone to the line more than our big men because we don't attack much, but he's gotten the superstar/benefit of the doubt calls too much from the refs, he flails his arms around like mad any time he's touched or loses his balance and gets calls where he shouldn't. A bit like AI's head jerk. Best two examples I can think of are Sheed's phantom foul from last game and a rebounding foul on KG in game one where Pau tried to grab the ball one handed and missed. He actually bumped into Bynum but KG got called for the foul.
That said the officiating was so terrible most of the series that I really don't think he's been that unfairly rewarded. The only thing I'm still annoyed about is the fact that Bynum got away with 2-3 fouls in game 3 on KG's turnaround jumper. He keeps hitting Kevin's arm or elbow but the refs seem to ignore it because the move is a fade away.
Correct when you say not as willing to be intimidated.
I also see big improvement on his defensive game - especially when he works in conjunction with Bynum.
Many will look at game 4 and say that Pau disappeard. Thats not true. Well, actually it is sorta true, but with good reason.
The guy played 44 minutes - the most on that Laker team. He was absolutley rode into the ground by Phil Jackson, mainly becuase of the Bynum injury situation.
This has lead to a similar effort in game 4, to what we saw back in 08. Without Bynum in there, Pau has no hope.
I think he's LAL's mvp this series, and its not even close. The Lakers team without him on the floor look lost.
Topic: Anyone else furious about Gasol's Free Throws (Read 8141 times)