Mike D'Antoni Vows Changes For Pau Gasol

[semi-sentient]

One thing that gets overlooked is that Gasol has never really played all that great next to Bynum. He's forced to play farther away from the basket so that Bynum can post up more, and as that's happened he's just been a little less aggressive overall. When he plays next to Odom, he's a different beast. Odom, as well as Kobe, generally get him much better looks than when he plays with Bynum, so I think that's part of it. He's just going to have to figure it out and get that mid-range game going. He's been fantastic this year from the outside and Landry is giving him that shot, so he's just going to have to start taking those and knocking them down.

I won't speculate on any injuries. We've got several guys that are a little banged up and they seem to be playing OK.

[ALL HAIL]

^Agreed.

And like I stated before, as Bynum's star grows, Gasol's star seems to dim.

They've never really played well together.

They support each other, and I believe there is no real jealousy per se, but this marriage has never really worked ... one is on, the other is off.

And when one stays on, the other stays off.

[Dr Aki]

^Agreed.

And like I stated before, as Bynum's star grows, Gasol's star seems to dim.

They've never really played well together.

They support each other, and I believe there is no real jealousy per se, but this marriage has never really worked ... one is on, the other is off.

And when one stays on, the other stays off.

offensively perhaps; but defensively they make it work, mostly because of bynum, but it works and works well

[StarneyBinston]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6pabMxtz8Y

On the Pau Gasol subject, how bad is he at defending the pick and roll, and especially at hedging?!

I mean sometimes it looks like elementary school basketball, when you didn't figure out yet that you basically defend with your legs and you try to block the opponent with your arms!
This pisses me off so much, knowing that he is a smart bball player, how come he doesn't get that this is never gonna stop anyone from blowing by his "hedge", even less Chris Paul.

[snaquille oatmeal]

KEVIN DING:
Gasol said he has had a cold for the past couple days. About tonight: "Much better game on my part."
22 Apr

not an injury, but it may explain a few things

[ALL HAIL]

^Wow! Are you effin' serious. A f--kin cold!!!

Stop it. To hell with his cold.

Like I've said thoughout this thread and, frankly, for the past few years now, Gasol is "fool's gold."

He just isn't someone I'd want to want to go to war with. He's too weak-minded.

The league's players know it, the leagues coaches know it, Phil Jackson knows it, and now the rest of the Lakers and its' fans are seeing it.

He's weak ... physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Is he useless? Of course not.

But the Lakers should've cashed in his chips a while ago.

Let the excuses and obligatory "look at what he's done" comments commence ...

[Leor_77]

I don't know how some of you guys can just only point at Gasol here. Kobe was horrible in the first half, defensively and offensively. If he actually would have played decently at that time, we would have probably been ahead of the Hornets the entire game.

[ALL HAIL]

^You're absolutely right.

Gasol was not the only reson for the game four loss, but nevertheless, he continues to show me that he is not mentally tough ... especially when he has to share the title of most important big with Bynum.

With Bynum playing well and not hurt in the post season (for the first time ever), Gasol seems to have lost his way.

I just don't think they're isolated incidents.

[Doormatt]

I don't know how some of you guys can just only point at Gasol here. Kobe was horrible in the first half, defensively and offensively. If he actually would have played decently at that time, we would have probably been ahead of the Hornets the entire game.

The difference was Kobe brought it in the 2nd half and has brought effort and production all series. Gasol has done this for two, maybe 3 quarters. Yes if Kobe played great all of the time the lakers would be in a better place, but he doesn't. In fact, he plays awful sometimes. But that is why you have a 2nd option, to pick up the slack.

[Leor_77]

I don't know how some of you guys can just only point at Gasol here. Kobe was horrible in the first half, defensively and offensively. If he actually would have played decently at that time, we would have probably been ahead of the Hornets the entire game.

The difference was Kobe brought it in the 2nd half and has brought effort and production all series. Gasol has done this for two, maybe 3 quarters. Yes if Kobe played great all of the time the lakers would be in a better place, but he doesn't. In fact, he plays awful sometimes. But that is why you have a 2nd option, to pick up the slack.

Yeah, you're right here...But at the same time, I'm a little bit tired of people harping on Gasol, while not giving some blame to Kobe. Besides the recent slump, Gasol has been the most consistent Laker for the past 2-3 years and is a huge reason why we've won. As I said before, we would be ahead of the Hornets the entire game if it wasn't for Kobe's poor shooting in the first half, and his very poor defense on Ariza. I'm tired of him getting a free pass just because he's Kobe.

[semi-sentient]

People are harping on Gasol because he's managed to put together all of one complete game in this series -- against a guy that he has traditionally owned. His first two games were absolute stinkers, and last nights game was only half a game worth of solid production to go along with a crucial botched play when the game was on the line -- a play that cost us a chance at a victory. I know there was a lot that could have been done earlier to prevent having us in that situation, but Pau was really, really bad in that 4th quarter. If we didn't think he was way better than that, we probably wouldn't be complaining. That's just part of what comes with the territory though. He's gotten lots of praise (from me at least) for his role in our championship runs, so he's going to get knocked when he under performs. He needs to pick it up a notch or two -- it's as simple as that.

You know there's a problem when the fans at Staples have to get out of their seats to encourage a player to be more aggressive and instill some confidence in his abilities. The only other player I remember Staples fans doing that with was Kwame freaking Brown.

[Sedale Threatt]

Plus, he got tripled up on the glass by a PG. An admittedly great PG, but still -- that should never, ever happen. I thought we lost primarily because of crappy P/R defense and the inability to control the defensive glass, and Pau had a direct hand in both of those areas. We need more from him, a lot more.

Really, you can make a case that Ron Artest has been our most consistent player this series. Which is bad, bad news. Still pretty confident we take this series, but we're going to have to pick it up in a big way to have any shot at the title.

And Kobe...don't even get me started. He saved face with a good offensive half, but for the most part he was awful. That might have been his worst defensive game that I can remember. By the end of the game the Hornets were actually trying to run their P/R so they could get him switched onto Paul.

That's a telling indication of how far he's slipped.

[dockingsched]

i don't really mind kobe's defense on paul. he simply can't guard cp3. i mean, i wouldn't expect cp3 to guard kobe, so i don't expect kobe to guard paul.

what i do mind, and i was watching kobe off the ball a lot, is that he's so LAZY. he's really good at pointing at what hornet should be rotated to, but he isn't about to do it himself.

[Sedale Threatt]

Exactly. (Even though it's still telling that N.O. is obviously thinking, THAT'S the matchup we want.) And even thought I didn't specifically mention it, that laziness is what primarily pisses me off.

There are scores of instances throughout any game where he loses track of his man, goes for a 2% steal that compromises the integrity of the defense, sags too far off a shooter, takes the easy way out by switching because he doesn't want to fight through a screen, etc., etc.

Like I said on the GB, I can tolerate getting broken off by Paul once or twice, because he's lost a step and Paul is fantastic. But the rest of it is blood-boiling. Here he is staring death at Gasol after he fumbled that pass -- which was inexcusable on Pau's part -- yet he didn't expend more than an ounce or two of effort on D all night.

[Jajwanda]

He let off at least two glaring threes from what I remember. That's enough to win the damn game.

[semi-sentient]

i don't really mind kobe's defense on paul. he simply can't guard cp3. i mean, i wouldn't expect cp3 to guard kobe, so i don't expect kobe to guard paul.

what i do mind, and i was watching kobe off the ball a lot, is that he's so LAZY. he's really good at pointing at what hornet should be rotated to, but he isn't about to do it himself.

lol... bingo. That's pretty much been the story of Kobe's defense all season. He's been downright awful/lazy, and noticeably worse than last season where he and Artest seemed to put in more effort (hence the leagues best perimeter defense -- moreso because of Artest than Kobe).

[kobeaki]

^You're absolutely right.

Gasol was not the only reson for the game four loss, but nevertheless, he continues to show me that he is not mentally tough ... especially when he has to share the title of most important big with Bynum.

With Bynum playing well and not hurt in the post season (for the first time ever), Gasol seems to have lost his way.

I just don't think they're isolated incidents.

sooooo, 4/7ths of the way through a series, and yr ready to dump him ,eh?

was he bad against the c's last year? no.

how about making howard look silly inn 09....


oh right, its the what have you done for ALL HAIL lately?

dude is playing below his standard...so are 5 of the top 8 lakers...

[Doormatt]

^You're absolutely right.

Gasol was not the only reson for the game four loss, but nevertheless, he continues to show me that he is not mentally tough ... especially when he has to share the title of most important big with Bynum.

With Bynum playing well and not hurt in the post season (for the first time ever), Gasol seems to have lost his way.

I just don't think they're isolated incidents.

sooooo, 4/7ths of the way through a series, and yr ready to dump him ,eh?

was he bad against the c's last year? no.

how about making howard look silly inn 09....


oh right, its the what have you done for ALL HAIL lately?

dude is playing below his standard...so are 5 of the top 8 lakers...

what do you mean 5 of the top 8 lakers are playing below standard? bynum isnt, artest sure as hell isnt, and kobe isnt. odom has played poorly in comparison to his fantastic regular season, but hes given us a lot more production than pau. fisher is fisher. he cant play any better than he is right now, so you cant really get mad at him.

pau is the only player playing WELL below his standard. other players have had some poor stretches in this series but its pretty minor in comparison. hell even the bench has played well! and youre absolutely right, this is what have you done for me lately, but thats what almost everything in sports is.

so if you want to give pau a break for playing like ****, then lets give every one else a break as well, theyve been just as important in winning back to back titles as him.

[kobeaki]

^You're absolutely right.

Gasol was not the only reson for the game four loss, but nevertheless, he continues to show me that he is not mentally tough ... especially when he has to share the title of most important big with Bynum.

With Bynum playing well and not hurt in the post season (for the first time ever), Gasol seems to have lost his way.

I just don't think they're isolated incidents.

sooooo, 4/7ths of the way through a series, and yr ready to dump him ,eh?

was he bad against the c's last year? no.

how about making howard look silly inn 09....


oh right, its the what have you done for ALL HAIL lately?

dude is playing below his standard...so are 5 of the top 8 lakers...

what do you mean 5 of the top 8 lakers are playing below standard? bynum isnt, artest sure as hell isnt, and kobe isnt. odom has played poorly in comparison to his fantastic regular season, but hes given us a lot more production than pau. fisher is fisher. he cant play any better than he is right now, so you cant really get mad at him.

pau is the only player playing WELL below his standard. other players have had some poor stretches in this series but its pretty minor in comparison. hell even the bench has played well! and youre absolutely right, this is what have you done for me lately, but thats what almost everything in sports is.

so if you want to give pau a break for playing like ****, then lets give every one else a break as well, theyve been just as important in winning back to back titles as him.

kobe playing well? odom is sub par...bynum is doing great, artest is really playing his average...it ust shows better, blake could be better, barnes is playing as well as possible , still below his standards...fish as always is taking up a notch, a notch only cause its playoffs...shannon could be better, could be worse...

so umm , yeah dude...

to your last point, yeah ****, its a team effort, but pau is #2...how about addressing his play in the 09, 10 playoffs, eh? your theory sucks...

[italianleather]

12.3/6.3/3.8 @ .485 TS%...

Really bad.

Pau need to step up big time, since Kobe is injured.