For all the talk about Jimmy Buter’s rapid ascent to stardom and concern over Derrick Rose’s health and performance, it’s been somewhat easy to overlook Pau Gasol’s debut season with the Chicago Bulls. Not anymore. For a game highlighting his awesome overall play in 2014-2015, watch the Spanish superstar score a career-high 46 points and grab 18 rebounds in his team’s 95-87 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.
Vintage Pau. This is pretty good company, too:
.@paugasol joins Michael Jordan as the only @chicagobulls player to post 40+ pts and 15+ reb in a single game pic.twitter.com/PCZYz0uCwk
— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 11, 2015
Remember the past couple of seasons when it appeared the slow-footed thirty-something was playing in sand? No longer. Gasol has exhibited the coordination and short-area quickness this season that made him a star early in his career, and has supplemented it with a jumper that’s more accurate than ever.
Considering his back-to-basket, playmaking, and much-improved defensive exploits, is there anything that Pau hasn’t done for the perpetually injured Bulls? After so much talk of Carmelo Anthony making his way to the Windy City in free agency, it appeared Chicago got its ‘B’ choice when Gasol came aboard. Six months later, it’s obvious the Bulls are better off with Pau than they would have been with ‘Melo.
Butler has been Chicago’s most consistent player. Rose is its most talented. Joakim Noah or Taj Gibson is Tom Thibodeau’s top defender. But there’s a case to be made that Gasol is as influential to the Bulls’ title hopes as any of his younger peers.
That’s been evident all season long, but never more so than in the wake of Pau’s virtuoso performance versus Milwaukee.
(Video via Dawk Ins)
What do you think?
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