Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 at 9:25 am  |  131 responses

Pau Gasol Feels He Has Nothing to Prove After Playoff Meltdown


Pau Gasol briefly addressed his (and the Lakers’) shortcomings in the 2011 NBA Playoffs, and feels that it was just one of those years when everything went wrong. But there’s no reason to freak out. From the LA Times: “In the playoffs last spring Gasol and the Lakers were run ragged by Nowitzki’s Dallas Mavericks. The Lakers power forward was also besieged by unsubstantiated rumors of a rift with his girlfriend, and was the subject of finger-pointing by fans disappointed with his play, and a jab to the chest by coach Phil Jackson during the Western Conference semifinal sweep. ‘I do not think there’s anything to prove on my side,’ Gasol said via email when asked if he was eager to put the Lakers’ postseason behind him. ‘Last season we didn’t perform during the playoffs as we were supposed to. . . . You cannot win every year; there are a lot of very good teams in the league.’”

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  • http://www.ballislife.com/profiles/blogs/kobetop10moments nbk

    Name another great player in NBA history whose success can be explained as totally dependent on an all star bigmen AND (not or) phil jackson. See it works either way you make a ridiculous generalization and act smart because of it. When in reality those guys would have had little success without Kobe and vice versa and Kobe is more like a top 15′r with at 33 a slight chance to crack the top 10

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    Dream coulda, and did, stopped Shaq.
    And don’t call me Shirley.

  • Purple Regin

    NBK- I can’t take any of your posts on here seriously. You are clearly just a KOBE HATER. No if & buts about it. No matter what you will always find some idiotic way to discredit him or nitpick anything about him.

  • Alekesam

    nbk: Completely agree.

    Enig: Yes, he did. And well.

  • http://www.ballislife.com/profiles/blogs/kobetop10moments nbk

    Your right, reading my last post its clear i’m a full on Kobe Bryant hater. Now ima go feed my dog.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Lakeshow, just because a guy doesn’t win a championship doesn’t mean they weren’t efficient during that season. Shaq shot 60% from the field in his 2nd season and while he came close with the Lakers (55%-58%), he never topped that mark with Kobe at his side. MJ (sorry NBK) had his most efficient seasons by far while the Bulls were losing year after year to Det. Bron/Wade had their most efficient seasons (scoring wise) without each other and the same can be said about KAJ sans Magic.
    People need to realize that winning a chip isn’t everything, most players including Kobe, had better individual seasons during their non-championship years.

  • http://www.ballislife.com/profiles/blogs/kobetop10moments nbk

    Taylor O’m fully aware Jordan’s best efficiency (or individual as i said the other day) seasons pre-championships. But his teams also lost more games, and it was an era in basketball where virtually everybody was more productive offensively except in 3pt % – but that is due to the evolution of defense, which wasnt much of a focus in the 80′s. 1990′s Michael Jordan is better then 80′s MJ, its why he is the GOAT. And his efficiency drop is also directly linked to his teams efficiency spike, you know the saying “sacrifice yourself for the good of the team” – same concept. Its quite ridiculous to insinuate Michael Jordans prime came before he won championships.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Enigmatic, come again. Where did this myth about Hakeem magically destroying Shaq in the 95 Finals come from? 22yr old Shaq avg. 28ppg/12.5rpg/6.3apg/2.5bpg on 60% shooting. So unless y’all were watching a different series being played on Mars, Shaq more than held his own vs Hakeem.
    “People tell lies so much that after a while it’s viewed as reality” (taylorism, 2011)

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    @Soop – your b*tch, Kobe?

  • http://www.ballislife.com/profiles/blogs/kobetop10moments nbk

    Its a male, but yeah, that boy Kobe.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    I didn’t say efficient JTaylor, I said effective. Kobe allowed them to win. They allowed Kobe to win. It’s the beauty of the TEAM concept. To me Shaq was most effective in LA. Pau has been most effective in LA. Not efficient. Effective. I have a high regard for winning though.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    I’m sorry JTaylor, did I say Hakeem “destroyed” Shaq?
    Or did I say he STOPPED Shaq?
    As in, stopping him from reaching his goal of winning a title?
    Stats don’t really matter when you fail to win a game in a series, does it?

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    But you’re a Kobe hater! Why would you ever name your best friend after him?!?!??!

  • http://www.ballislife.com/profiles/blogs/kobetop10moments nbk

    Maybe purple regin knows?

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    Word.
    And what the hell is a “regin”?
    Not sure if he misspelled “reign” or “reagan”, but “Purple Reagan” doesn’t make any sense cause to my knowledge, Bill Clinton was the former prez smoking that sticky icky, not Reagan.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Enough with all this “winning a chip is all that matters” BS.
    Want to know what Malone, Stock, Baylor, Barkley, Nique, Miller and Ewing all have in common? O rings and being better than 98% of all the players to ever play in the NBA. Winning a ring doesn’t validate an all-time great’s career, it just reflects a time when a player had the right supporting cast around him.

  • Jeremy

    Nbk aka HENRY ABBOTT

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    ^Spoken like a true LeBron fan!
    Ha! It’s all love, JTaylor.
    I’m out this b*tch for now.
    It’s been real, y’all…

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    LeBron retired?

  • http://www.bullls.com Enigmatic

    LeBron won a ring?

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Enigmatic likes to sing Johnny Cash “Rose of My Heart”?

  • http://www.ballislife.com/profiles/blogs/kobetop10moments nbk

    Maybe he’s from the purple region? Idk what that would be but you never know. Or maybe he got a really bad bruise somewhere random that stayed purple for a long time? Maybe

  • http://www.bullls.com Enigmatic

    Not as much as JTaylor likes to sing Billy Joel’s “James”?
    “James!
    Do you like your life?
    Can you find release?
    And will you ever change?
    When will you write your masterpiece?
    Do what’s good for you
    Or you’re not good for anybody.
    James!”

  • http://www.bullls.com Enigmatic

    “You were so relied upon,
    Everybody knows how hard you tried.
    Hey
    Oh, look at what a job you’ve done,
    Carrying the weight of family pride.
    James!
    You’ve been well behaved, you’ve been working hard
    But will you always stay
    Someone else’s dream of who you are?
    Do what’s good for you
    Or you’re not good for anybody.
    James!”

  • http://philosopher.view@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    LONG… LIVE… THE KING.

  • Samco

    TRADE HIM. TRADE HIM NOW.

  • MikeC.

    And at the end of all the blah blah blah, Kareem is still better than them all.

  • http://dfklf.com Jukai

    Wow. How did I miss this gem!!!!
    Kareem > Kobe > Hakeem > Shaq!
    Once Lebron has seven rings and five finals MVPs, he’ll be somewhere around the Kareem range. You know, whenever that happens.

  • http://www.slamonline.com big_ticket

    pau is crazy,,soft

  • http://bedotwater.bandcamp.com BE.water

    This is earlier in the convo, but Rudy T resigned before he could coach a single game that year.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    No he didn’t. I showed you what his record was.

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