Phil Needs to Listen to Pau Gasol
Andrew Bynum‘s poopy-pants attitude about his limited playing time and touches earned him a verbal spanking from Phil Jackson earlier in the playoffs. After last night’s loss, Pau Gasol voiced similar concern about his role in the offense. But Pau’s complaint isn’t the same as Bynum’s. And it shouldn’t be met with the same reaction from Phil.
“I wish we would take more advantage of our height and the inside game, because it’s pretty effective,” said Gasol. “It’s unfortunate that we don’t recognize it enough.”
“I don’t know what to do anymore, to be able to get a couple more looks. Like I said, I’ve been pretty effective all season long, and in the playoffs, and I want to continue to be able to help us have a better chance of winning ballgames. I think I’ve been doing that. I just haven’t had a chance to do it enough.”
“Obviously it wasn’t the game plan tonight,” Gasol said with an annoyed shrug. “It should’ve been. It should be in the game plan every night. At least for me. From my perspective. But obviously it wasn’t and we didn’t get the ball down low early on, we settled.”
The Lakers pulled 31 three’s last night, making 29% of those attempts. That’s way too many tries. Kobe went 2-10, Derek Fisher went 1-5. Neither one of those guys should be green-lighted to take that many three’s. On the other hand, Gasol only took 11 shots last night, which is one more than he’s averaging for the series. During the regular season, Pau pulled almost 13 times per game. Two extra shots might not sound like much, but the drop in attempts is emblematic of a shift away from the block.
Kenyon Martin, Birdman and Nene are definitely tough post defenders, but they’re not re-inventing the wheel in denying an entry pass into the post. Gasol has been effective when he’s taken shots – he’s shooting 63% from the field.
Source: Daily Breeze
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May 26th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
doc says:
Pau said give him the dam ball.I didnt even know Kobe could go 2-10 on 3′s.I thought that was Brons specialty.
May 26th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Kwright says:
More Pau less D-Fish…
May 26th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
kg fan says:
I want denver to win the series and even I can see the gasol can get buckets almost whenever he wants against nene and the denver bigs as long he get deep in the post. I’d rather have d fish jacking up shots than pau gettin more touches.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
D.H. says:
I would like to see the Lakers take a few more threes, especially Fisher. Pau should shutup. He should be limited to 10 touches a game!
May 26th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
djKianoosh says:
Pau’s got a point actually. He was pretty much the only effective player they had last night. especially down low. bynum was invisible. luke walton did some ok things but he fouled out with a quick flurry late in the game. Gasol can be an advantage down on that left block. 60+ percent is nothing to sneeze at.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Rare Air says:
Heres where I tee off.
I want to hear less bitching about Pau not getting the ball, and have him address the fact that he has been getting his sorry ass outhustled, outmuscled, and out played during crucial stretches of the game. Im sick of watching him get slapped around inside and losing rebounds. This team can score whenever they want but cannot get stops at any point. The same goes for Bynum crabbing the other day, get tough, show up on defense and you will be rewarded with more touches on offense. Right now the Birdman is making him look like a punk in every effort situation. I am as die hard Laker as it gets but am so damn sick of defending Gasol. Ill save my rant on LO for now.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Aj says:
You know what’s a funny thought…what do the lakers do with this team if they do lose this series…?? They are capable, but they aren’t getting the job done. Just a thought…go nuggs!
May 26th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
fallinup says:
Granted to Kobe, he took about 3-4 of those threes when he was just jacking shots at the end of a certain loss to see if he could bring them back.
But Phil needs to establish Pau early in the game. There should be no reason why Pau isn’t averaging 20pts a half in this series. Birdman and Kenyon are too small, and he’s faster than Nene.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
fallinup says:
Granted to Kobe, he took about 3-4 of those threes when he was just jacking shots at the end of a certain loss to see if he could bring them back.
But Phil needs to establish Pau early in the game. There should be no reason why Pau isn’t averaging 20pts every first half in this series. Birdman and Kenyon are too small, and he’s faster than Nene.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Simon says:
Friggin’ eh Rare Air! Stop worrying about scoring and start bustin’ yo ass for some rebounds! When players want the ball that much they need to go take it. That means Pau needs to get after those boards, especially the offensive rebounds!
May 26th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
the cynic says:
if the lakers had a decent point guard who could take the ball from Kobe maybe Gasol would get more touches like he should be getting. Too bad Kobe is trying to prove he is the man while getting torched for his aggressiveness on D
May 26th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Rafa23 says:
i know its OT but just read taht somewhere:
“During a timeout while the Magic dancers were on the floor, LeBron actually walked right through the middle of their routine. Amazingly, none of the dancers were whistled for a foul.”
thats just hilarious.
May 26th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Kermit the Washington says:
Here’s the thing with Phil…he’s not going to just spoon feed his big men the touches they want. They gotta go GET those touches by not getting out hustled on the boards.
But I agree that DFish (and Kobe too, but not as bad as DFISH!!) should stop jacking. His “jack to actually good jumpshot” ratio is out of control. Something needs to be done about this fool.
May 26th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
E$ says:
He would be focused on the offensive side of the ball….the same reason the celtics were the champs last year, Pau didn’t get the ball enough (smh)
May 26th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Kudabeen says:
Pau and Bynum were getting easy baskets, but the offense constantly shifted away from them. Kobe was too into the “be tough for the team” role to see that his bad shots weren’t helping. To his credit though no one else was trying to make tough plays.
LA need to force feed their bigs and really test there mettle. They are not going to out shoot or run Denver…They aren’t going to out tough them. They need to out play them and out smart them with their matchups…
I don’t understand why LA goes away from what is working…
May 26th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Ewing4Ever says:
Pau was the best they had, last night, yet Phil sat him, along with Kobe, for basically the whole fourth. And, when he came back, he got no touches… the same 5h!t as last year, when they lost to Boston: Kobe went 40% from the field, Vujacic, Fisher and Farmar combined for 4 assists a game and 5 turnovers, and wayyyyy more shots than Pau, yet Pau got blamed for the entire series loss and was unfairly given the name Gasoft, even though he’s one of the best rebounders, offensive and defensive, in the league and averages 1.8 blocks for his career.
After game 3 win by the lakers, even Melo said that Pau was the difference for LA. Oh well… can ya’ll spell scapegoat?
May 26th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
E$ says:
He can have D.Fish & Sasha wack azz shots, happy now?
May 26th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
hucklebuck says:
now this is the big man who should be clapping his hands, yelling at the top of his lungs when he is open underneath the basket or when he has post position, NOT DWIGHT HOWARD vs Perkins.
and yes, Howard is doing a brilliant scoring job on the Cavs since they don’t have a Perkins to play good D.
ANYWAY-30 shots from 3? LA isn’t the Nuggets. U got Pau and Bynum down low and you get beat on the boards like a punk?
Lakers, (Fisher, Sasha, those who have been cold) give the ball to Pau and let him make MJ moves like he has the last two games.
May 26th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
George W Kush Sr says:
Its always hilarious to watch Kobe talking shit when the Lakers are losing.
George Karl looked like he was gonna rip his remaining hair out when K-Mart took that tech.
Andrew Bynum is a bitch nigga. He proves this monthly, case in point last night’s cut block on Birdman.
The best thing to do is make Kobe a jumpshooter. Good job Denver.
Luke Walton really sucks. Really really sucks.
JR Smith has many talents. None more powerful than his ability to annoy you and entertain you at the same time. But good God can the boy shoot.
Billups is a rock.
These playoffs are amazing.
Tonight Lebron lives up to his hype and pulls out a win or Dwight and company come to work ready. We’ll see.
May 26th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
haslem says:
paus being the consumate pro as always, proving once again he is a valuable piece on any winning team. Pau is SICK! the guy can play back to the basket or face up and won’t just chuck needlessly and knows how to pass out of a double team. give him the rock. nuff said
May 26th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Sanpitch says:
Pau has a legitimate beef. Why would you not go to your team MVP?
http://www.wagesofwins.com/2009MVP.html
May 26th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Rizwan says:
Who else was getting pissed with Derek Fisher coming down the floor and bricking a 3. I think he did that at least 3 times yesterday and averages about 5 a game. He should look to pass at this stage of his career, even though I know he doesnt do that. Pau Gasol should get at least 16 shots a game to put up a consistent 22-10-3 line, so I agree with him. I would tweak the line up and put Farmar in as he strikes me as a equal pass and shoot guard.
May 26th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
xtiantz says:
A good offense sometimes wears down the defense. Lakers should play to their strengths and not try to play ” crashball” with the Nuggets. Post up the big men and see what happens because everything else is not working…
May 26th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
jzsmoove says:
I been rooting for Gasol, he’s the reason that the Lakers are here this far in the first place.We already witnessed what Kobe’s life is like without a legitimate #2 option. Odom dont cut it. The bench is thin for a contender like LA. This guy is a workhorse, time to give him some.
I aint even a Lakers fan. (Not a Kobe-led Lakers fan anyways).
Go Nuggets! Go Magics!
May 26th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
yoda says:
some say he doesn’t hustle enough for rebounds. pau has around 13 boards per game +20ish pts. if anyone else except him shows up to help kobe (ariza is too often on and off) lakers would be way better
May 26th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
tja says:
the nba wants superstar performances by kobe bryant, instead of effective post play.
May 27th, 2009 at 12:49 am
swayconmigo says:
gasol is absolutely right; he should be getting the ball more often, sitting him out in the 4th was a dumb thing to do ESPECIALLY since they were down by 12 points. Give him the damn ball and stop putting everything on Kobe!
May 27th, 2009 at 1:18 am
added says:
@Rare Air and Simon
Pau may not look like he’s hustling, but he’s the team’s leading rebounder at double figures….nuggets outrebounded the lakers for the first time in the series in game 4…all the other games, lakers had the edge, so its not like lakers have been getting creamed on the boards overall…
if you wanna get on someone, have a look at andrew ‘shaq’ bynum’s rebounding numbers…with a body, height and reach like that, it shouldnt matter that he only plays 15 or so minutes…he needs to get more rebounds…
May 27th, 2009 at 8:46 am
ENEW says:
The only issue I have with Pau is him taking it to the media. Pull Kobe, Fish and Phil into the hallway and let them know how you are feeling and point out what works. Denver’s shot blockers are most effective when they are off the ball coming from the weak side. MAKE THEM PLAY POST DEFENSE ON PAU GASOL. Gasol can make life so much easier for Kobe if they will let him. I can’t see the Lakers winning this series if they keep approaching the game like this. They must go inside out and be methodical on the half court, force double teams or get to the free throw line when attacking the rim from the POST.
As many said above this Laker bench has become quite thin, remember when they were the best bench in the league?
Denver’s bench is at the top of the list…
May 27th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Dukesman2000 says:
The Lakers cannot win a ‘Chip with Odom. I know this is cliché at its best, but a team is as strong as its weakest link; and Odom is the weakest player on the team. When I say weak I am not talking about physical strength, but heart. As I watched the game, I see Odom’s nonchalant attitude on both sides of the ball. It drives me crazy so I know it drives Kobe and Coach Jackson crazy.
The Lakers need to trade Odom while his stocks are still high and get another complimentary player i.e Gerald Wallace
May 27th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Lakers Nation Twitter says:
That’s the nicest way of asking for the damn ball I’ve ever seen from a NBA player.
May 27th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Jon says:
Pau Gasol PERMS his hair. Its obvious. Notice that on some days, its extra extra curly. Roller type curly.
March 20th, 2010 at 3:36 am
Jackme offer says:
What this article sucks