Friday, February 10th, 2012 at 11:15 am  |  18 responses

Kobe Bryant Happy With Pau Gasol’s Aggression vs Boston


Pau Gasol has struggled to adjust to Mike Brown’s system, and coupled with Andrew Bynum’s emergence and Kobe Bryant’s increased shooting this season, it has resulted in Gasol putting up career low scoring numbers (16.8 ppg). The big Spaniard busted out last night for 25 points, 14 rebounds, and the game-saving block. His teammates – Kobe especially – and coaches were happy to see him finally assert himself on the offensive end of the floor. From ESPN: “I just wanted to make sure everybody knows the kind of player that I am,’ Gasol said. ‘And I continue to help my team to get better and win games.’ Hmm, could ‘everybody’ include the Lakers’ front office, which was willing to send him out of town in exchange for Chris Paul and continues to, at the very least, entertain offers for Gasol? […] Gasol had as many shot attempts as Bryant through regulation (19) and he finished 12-for-20. ‘He took 20 shots; that’s phenomenal,’ Bryant said. ‘We’ve been urging him to be aggressive and he took what the defense gave him and he also dictated some offense with the defense and he played a phenomenal game.’ The highlights included a put-back off a Bryant missed jumper to tie the score with 9 seconds left in regulation, and he swatted away Ray Allen’s last-second attempt after Allen rebounded an errant Paul Pierce shot at the end of overtime. ‘I was in the perfect situation and he came out of nowhere,’ Allen said. Lakers coach Mike Brown said it was a textbook example of his exhortations to play everything out to the finish. Gasol seemed to respond to Brown’s coaching Thursday, including a tongue-lashing during a timeout in the second quarter. ‘I just wanted to come out aggressive and shoot the ball better,’ Gasol said. ‘I just want to be as big a factor as I can be.’ He hasn’t been a big enough factor throughout the season, which has brought him to a career-low 16.4 scoring average. He was thrown off by the nixed Chris Paul trade at the start of training camp and has struggled to find a comfort zone in Brown’s offense, which has him further from the basket than he was in Phil Jackson’s triangle offense. He learned about the All-Star snub while he was stretching on the court before the game Thursday, when TNT’s Craig Sager asked him how he felt about his brother Marc being selected ahead of him. Pau was genuinely happy for his brother, and if he were that genuine about his own feelings he would probably protest his exclusion more loudly.”

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  • The Philosopher Posted: Feb.10 at 11:34 am
    Yeah.
    Kobe won’t get upset if you take one or two games as your own.
    Let him keep doing it, though… see what happens.

  • Paul H Posted: Feb.10 at 11:46 am
    Kobe got bailed out again last night. His shooting In the fourth and overtime last night was just terrible. I am, and always have been, a huge Kobe fan. But when Is he going to be properly held accountable for these failings that have been happening time and time again? Pau bailed him out big time.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER Posted: Feb.10 at 11:46 am
    Kobe System: ride a big man or get knocked out of the first round.

  • Paul H Posted: Feb.10 at 11:52 am
    Kobe has been failing the last season or so, but to say he has only ever succeeded by riding the coattails of a big man Is stupid. What about all the times the lakers were on Kobes back when shaqs free throw shooting and or foul trouble made him a liability In forth quarters of big playoff games? I’m calling for accountability and better decision making now, not idiotic historical revisionism.

  • T-Ray Posted: Feb.10 at 11:55 am
    Paul
    Kobe will never be held accountable because he is a winner and unfortunately in the eyes of retard fans and sports media and player/team can avoid be scrutinized for mistakes if they have been winners in the past. Kind of strange considering sports media is almost like E! kind of a what have you done for me lately type of thing.

  • Paul H Posted: Feb.10 at 12:08 pm
    I think Henry Abbott on Espn Is the only person I have consistently seen criticize him. I mean the fact that the Lakers have a a big man with the potential to drop 25 a night (drew) and the proven and criminally undervalued Pau standing like statues on so many plays vexes me.

  • T-Ray Posted: Feb.10 at 12:13 pm
    As long as Kobe is on the team he is the face of it. Also with Kobe getting older he settles for jumpshots a little too much when he can just dump it in to Bynum. You can blame Brown for the big men looking like statues. One play where Kobe took on a double team and for the life of I couldn’t understand why he was in the paint while Pau was in the corner looking like Bruce Bowen.

  • actionslackson Posted: Feb.10 at 12:16 pm
    the big guys bailed him out again.
    all those offensive rebounds made me sikk.

  • robb Posted: Feb.10 at 12:17 pm
    I’m gonna sound like a crazy man, but I really think Kobe’s an underrated player. The fact that he takes so many shots, makes him an easy target, and make him the poster boy for egoism and ball hogging, but he’s better than we realize, maybe when he retires we’ll be able to appreciate him a little bit more. That being said It was great to see Gasol not giving up on that play. Good job.

  • OTB Posted: Feb.10 at 12:49 pm
    Kobe was great for 3 quarters. In the 4th quarter, Kobe did not take a shot until LATE in the game. The offense went through Bynum and Pau…actually, the Lakers had multiple chances to take the lead, and it ended up being an awkward Steve Blake shot or a Gasol 20 footer. Mike Brown needs to work on spacing his offense. At the beginning of every play, Gasol is near the top of the key instead of being set up on the low block. Ditto for Bynum (he should be on the other side). Kobe was pretty bad in overtime, but he was a willing passer in the 4th, including WIDE OPEN shots for Gasol (twice) that Gasol missed, and a wide open pass to Fisher (which he missed).

  • k9 Posted: Feb.10 at 12:50 pm
    Ok, STOP blaming Kobe for Gasol doing a little better than him last night. Kobe’s still injured. Gasol sucks almost everynight, but you don’t give Kobe credit for bailing his garbage ass out.

  • hoopstopia Posted: Feb.10 at 12:52 pm
    Awesome game last night. Pau deserves to be an all-star and he showed why last night. Classic rivalry game. Highlights are below, with some good observations. http://hoopstopia.com/game-of-the-night-lakers-vs-celtics/

  • k9 Posted: Feb.10 at 12:52 pm
    Oh, and these losers want Kobe to be the one to take the backseat and let Gasol and Bynum do the work. They want KOBE to be the third option. My goodness, you guys are mentally ill. No one complained about this when they were winning because they were getting the same touches they do know. Unfortunately, this season, gasol sucks.

  • JML-G Posted: Feb.10 at 12:52 pm
    Kobe is the worst Lakers star ever #truestory

  • LakeShow Posted: Feb.10 at 1:12 pm
    Very accurate synopsis OTB. Although, I don’t know if you want both 7′ footers on the low block to start each play. That is way to much crowding to start your offense. Also you do realize it’s the defenses first priority to not let a 7 footer get low post position. It’s kinda a pipe dream to say that.

  • T-Ray Posted: Feb.10 at 1:21 pm
    Lakeshow you’re right the Lakers are much more effective when Pau is roaming the freethrow line while Bynum fights for position on the low block. Considering Pau is a threat with his jumper.

  • Dungeon Family Posted: Feb.10 at 2:56 pm
    Let me get this straight….Ya’ll Upset That Kobe Praised Pau? Ya’ll really got serious Issues Kobe can say Water is wet and ya’ll would disagree just because it’s coming from Him. @JML-G………….Sit yo ass ALL THE WAY DOWN!

  • Thanatos Posted: Feb.10 at 8:49 pm
    @ Paul H
    Who are you and how do you dare to speak the truth!?!
    ;)

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