Good thing it happens now instead of in-game.
AZ Central: Gasol received a Flagrant Foul 1 after league officials reviewed the foul in which Gasol struck Amundson’s head during Friday night’s game. The play led to Gentry’s ejection and a $25,000 fine for the coach.
Just a note on what an unbelevable effect Pau Gasol has had on the Lakers since their acquisition of Gasol back in February of 2008.
In 217 games with Pau Gasol, the Lakers, for the first time, have lost 3 straight games.
This should be indicative of how fortunate the Lakers are to have Pau Gasol; despite the harsh criticism from the media and fans, at times.
Phil on Pau… no other way to put it.
ESPN: In the Lakers’ last two losses, a three-point overtime loss in Miami on Thursday and a five-point loss in Dallas 10 days ago, production from Los Angeles’ three-time All-Star Pau Gasol was conspicuously absent.
Gasol, who is averaging 17.0 points and 11.1 rebounds this season, averaged 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in the two losses while playing his normal amount of minutes (33.5 minutes in the two games as opposed to his season average of 36.6).
“I really don’t like to talk about that aspect of a person’s game … other than the fact that he’s been weak and sickly,” coach Phil Jackson said before the Lakers played the Bobcats on Friday, setting up the delivery of the jab with a pregnant pause.
When asked to clarify, Jackson said that Gasol has been feeling “under the weather” and he will have to monitor his 7-foot power forward’s playing time.
“I’ll start to work the bench a little more and see if I can’t spell some minutes for these guys,” Jackson said.
After Thursday’s loss, Jackson reserved judgment on Gasol, simply saying, “He just had a tough night tonight.” Gasol, while stretching out on the Time Warner Cable Arena court before the game, acknowledged that he has been affected by a cold.
Could this be the reason for his recent slump?
O.C. Register: Pau Gasol is not every woman’s dream date, but Silvia (no apparent last name) finds the Lakers forward to her liking.
The Spanish cheerleader, referred in one Spanish newspaper as his “fiancee“, was seen with Gasol at the All-Star Game in Dallas and reportedly at the L.A. Sports Council awards, where he was named Sportsman of the Year. Her appearance at these functions is somewhat surprising considering how guarded Gasol is about his private life.
But then again, they are a cute couple.
He redeemed his poor performance from a few weeks ago.
L.A. Times: Pau Gasol returned again to Tennessee’s largest city, the scene of so many images from his past.
Some of them haven’t been pretty — booing from fans a few years ago after he requested a trade from the Memphis Grizzlies, a 10-point effort in a loss here three weeks ago with the Lakers — but he’ll want to remember Tuesday’s game.
Gasol clearly outplayed his younger brother, Marc, and provided solid defense on the game’s final play, getting a hand in the face of O.J. Mayo as the Grizzlies’ guard shot long on a 20-footer as time expired.
Gasol had 22 points, 13 rebounds and five assists in the Lakers’ 99-98 victory. Marc Gasol had eight points, 11 rebounds and no assists.
“What I wanted to do is just contribute to help my team to win, just like what I usually try to do . . . but especially here,” the elder Gasol said. “I felt really bad when we lost last time. I’m glad that we got a nice win tonight.”
Gasol had only 10 points in the Lakers’ 95-93 loss on Feb. 1 and also said his teammates didn’t look inside enough.
He had no such criticism after their victory Tuesday.
“A lot better tonight,” he said. “I think our balance was good.”
Congrats to Pau!
ESPN Los Angeles: Lakers star Pau Gasol and track star Allyson Felix received the highest individual honors at Friday night’s Los Angeles Sports Awards.
Gasol received a standing ovation from the crowd at the JW Marriott at L.A. Live when he was honored as the region’s sportsman of the year for his contributions to the Lakers’ NBA championship run and work in the community.
“It feels great, it’s obviously great recognition for me in my second year here,” the Spaniard said. “It didn’t take long for me to feel at home when I came to L.A.
“Everything just clicked quickly here, in the basketball court and outside. Everybody is just so warm and giving me a great welcome. People here made me so loved.”
Felix, a native of the San Fernando Valley who attended USC and trains at UCLA, was recognized as sportswoman of the year for becoming the first woman to win three 200-meter World Championships.
“This is really a huge honor for me,” Felix said. “L.A. is the land of Hollywood and celebrities so to be recognized here is really special.”
The Lakers’ victory over Orlando in the NBA Finals was selected as the top sports moment of the year. Lakers owner Jerry Buss was honored as executive of the year for his commitment to winning and leadership of the Lakers. His daughter, Lakers executive Jeanie Buss, accepted both awards in person. Derek Fisher’s clutch three-pointers in Game 4 of the NBA Finals were recognized as No. 5 overall sports moment.
Continue reading ‘Pau Gasol received the highest individual honors at Los Angeles Sports Awards’
Pau wins back-2-back European player of the year awards!
The Global and Mail: Spaniard Pau Gasol has been voted European player of the year for 2009, winning the award for the second year in a row, the governing body FIBA Europe said on Monday. The 2.15-metre centre won an NBA championship title with the Los Angeles Lakers and followed that up by helping Spain to win their first European championship gold medal in Poland in September. Gasol came in ahead of Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki and Serbia’s Milos Teodosic in the voting by fans and a panel of experts
The amount of shots Pau is getting now should ease him down about not getting enough touches.
ESPN: If you were to rank the current Lakers team, few would argue against Pau Gasol ranking No. 2 behind Kobe Bryant as the team’s best player in terms of skills on the court.
But now that we’ve seen how the team would look with Gasol as No. 1 and Bryant out of the lineup the last three games, how would you rank their leadership styles?
The Gasol-led Lakers enter the All-Star break on an impressive three-game winning streak against three teams primed to be Western Conference playoff teams in Portland, San Antonio and Utah.
While Bryant sat in the locker room receiving treatment on his sprained left ankle, Gasol carried the team on the court on Wednesday, racking up 22 points, 19 rebounds, four assists and five blocks, helping the Lakers to a 15-point win in Utah against a Jazz team that was riding a nine-game winning streak.
It followed a game against San Antonio, when his 21 points, 19 rebounds, eight assists and five blocks signified a stat line that only five players in the history of the NBA have achieved — Bob McAdoo, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Robert Parish, Charles Barkeley and Shaquille O’Neal — and L.A. won by 12.
The game before that, the Lakers’ first without Bryant, Gasol had 13 points and eight rebounds, and L.A. won by 17 to snap a nine-game losing streak at the Rose Garden.
Gasol ball is working for the Lakers.
“I tried to step up and understood how we needed to play,” Gasol said.
Pau definitely gave a not-happy-about-losing-this-game answer here when asked about Kobe’s record…
O.C. Register: Gasol was asked about Bryant’s new record and offered politically correct – and believably authentic – commentary (“I’m proud of him; I congratulate him”) before adding the kicker: “Now we can focus on winning games again.”
UPDATE: Pau dropped 20 points against the Knicks!
Twitter: Since Gasol finished with 20 points, that’s $20,000 to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.
This is a very cool thing Pau is doing tonight. Thanks to Kevin Ding’s twitter…
Twitter: Pau Gasol donating $1,000 to Haiti relief for every point he scores tonight vs. Knicks.
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