http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-plaschke28-2008dec28,0,6326088.column
Lakers' Pau Gasol tries to flex for success
Forward doesn't want to be called soft again.
Bill Plaschke
December 28, 2008
Pau Gasol rocked back and forth on his giant feet, smiling, pleasant, distracted.
"You have somewhere else to be?" I said.
"After this interview, yes," he said.
"Where?" I said.
"The weight room," he said.
I gasped. I froze. I could not have been more shocked had Pau Gasol told me he was going to a barbershop.
Weights? Him? When?
"Two or three times a week, since the start of training camp," he said. "I've never really done it before, but I've got to do it now."
Oh. So he heard.
He heard last spring's cries of "Gasoft." He heard Lakers fans accusing him of disappearing under the weight of Garnett and green. He heard himself being blamed for the NBA Finals loss to the Boston Celtics.
He stopped rocking and stared down at me, his soft eyes quickly turning hard.
"I heard it a lot," he said, his voice rising. "I heard it too much."
— Mags
