[Reg]

Following Wednesday's loss in Dallas, Pau Gasol was asked if the Lakers too frequently coast in games. "Sometimes we just get a little too comfortable, too confident in games and we don't push hard enough at times to be able to pull away from teams," he said. "You give a home team confidence, they get going, the crowd gets into it. We've got to control games. We have enough guys here and enough quality that we can do that."

http://basketball.re...too_comfortable

[Real Shalongest]

By Kurt Helin

Pau Gasol is one of the more soft-spoken, cerebral players in the NBA. In a league where smack talk is an art form, Gasol is virtually a mime.

Kenyon Martin? He's a talker. Most of his Denver teammates are talkers. And Gasol doesn't like that.

"They talk too much," the normally reserved Gasol said after the game. "Way too much. I don't listen to things that don't make sense. I'm a player that likes to play and that's how I talk, by me playing. Other players can't do that."


Gasol finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds, and as he said did his talking with his play. Often that gets interpreted as soft, because people think he is a 7-footer therefore should play like Shaq, that he needs to be a man of words and brute force. But Gasol's game is subtler than that.

On one sequence, Kenyon Martin patted Gasol on the butt as he said something. Gasol went down court to the Lakers offensive end, got the ball in the post, and then put on a series of well-crafted moves to get his shot and draw the foul on Martin. Gasol is not brute force, he is subtle and clever. That gets lost on those who call him soft, who expect him to be what he is not nor would ever be.

But Gasol gets the job done as well or better than any power forward on the planet right now. That is strength. Don't believe me? Go ask Kenyon Martin today.


I don`t care what Derelict thinks, Gasol is soft and gets punked by rough players like Kenyon Martin. Dude has to grow some stones if the Lakers are going to try to get past the Nuggets and Cavs this year.

[Nanizm]

He frustrates me with his softness...he has been complaining all year about not getting the ball more but in close games when he gets it he usually gets stripped with his school girl grip or gets pushed way out of position where he takes a bad shot...
..the guy is incredibly skilled and Lakers would not be champions without him but they also might not win another because of him.

[Hayter]

i've accepted gasol for his finesse play. he's not going to toughen up. he's 7 ft and as thin as a rail. that's what bynum is for. bynum is more of a force down there. they make a good duo. bynum doesn't have the finesse that pau has and pau doesn't have the strength bynum has. bynum typically can't run the break and catch and finish like pau can pau can't outmuscle anyone...

[Nanizm]

Hayter, on 02 March 2010 - 11:06 AM, said:

i've accepted gasol for his finesse play. he's not going to toughen up. he's 7 ft and as thin as a rail. that's what bynum is for. bynum is more of a force down there. they make a good duo. bynum doesn't have the finesse that pau has and pau doesn't have the strength bynum has. bynum typically can't run the break and catch and finish like pau can pau can't outmuscle anyone...

I agree..he is not gonna change and that is not a bad thing.

But you can see why Gasol could never be a first option, take a team on his back and carry them to a championship type player.
He couldnt do it in Memphis and wont do it anywhere. He is a very good #2 man.

What gets me is his statements about getting the ball more kinda like Shaq use to say when he was here.
If you cant be trusted with the ball in crunch time you shouldnt cry for more touches the rest of the game.

Throughout the course of a game he is great but keep the ball away from him in the closing seconds against physical teams.
He will either:
A. get stripped.
B. get pushed out of position and pass out to a player.
C. get pushed out of position and take a bad shot. then look at the ref for the non call.

Lakers have many strengths and some weaknesses. A lot of those weaknessess come from Gasol's game.

[Steven]

Nanizm, on 02 March 2010 - 10:45 AM, said:

He frustrates me with his softness...he has been complaining all year about not getting the ball more but in close games when he gets it he usually gets stripped with his school girl grip or gets pushed way out of position where he takes a bad shot...
..the guy is incredibly skilled and Lakers would not be champions without him but they also might not win another because of him.

Gasol has proven that he can play tough, but toughness is clearly not in his DNA.

[Real Shalongest]

REDONDO BEACH, California (AP) -- Police in Redondo Beach, California say two men they stopped for following Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol turned out to be Spanish paparazzi.



Sgt. Phil Keenan says Gasol told officers he saw the men following him before he got into his car on Wednesday.

Keenan says the men tailed Gasol's car and the Spanish athlete was worried that they might be stalkers.

Gasol called a friend in law enforcement who told him to pull into the police station, and he described the men's black sedan to officers.

Keenan says officers pulled over the car near the station and officers discovered that the men worked for a Spanish news agency. They were allowed to leave and Gasol was escorted home.

Derelict is stalking Gasol?

[Juan23]

Real Shalongest, on 19 March 2010 - 06:51 AM, said:

REDONDO BEACH, California (AP) -- Police in Redondo Beach, California say two men they stopped for following Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol turned out to be Spanish paparazzi.



Sgt. Phil Keenan says Gasol told officers he saw the men following him before he got into his car on Wednesday.

Keenan says the men tailed Gasol's car and the Spanish athlete was worried that they might be stalkers.

Gasol called a friend in law enforcement who told him to pull into the police station, and he described the men's black sedan to officers.

Keenan says officers pulled over the car near the station and officers discovered that the men worked for a Spanish news agency. They were allowed to leave and Gasol was escorted home.

Derelict is stalking Gasol?

FCKN Derelict man....!!