Is Gasol Ready for ‘Showtime’?

by Marcel Mutoni

He better be.

In an instant, Pau Gasol went from being a really good player (if relatively ignored) on a gawd awful team, to perhaps the player with the most pressure to perform in the entire NBA. Such is life when a star enters the Lakers’ galaxy.

Pau says he’s ready for the bright lights and welcomes the pressure.

“I think it is a great kind of pressure,” he said. “The pressure to win and being one of the favorites is what you want and something I have been missing in the NBA. I love that I have that with my (Spanish) national team every summer.”

The travel-weary Gasol didn’t suit up for his new team yesterday due to a sore back, but is expected to play on Tuesday night in New Jersey.

Maybe he can find some time to tell Jason Kidd what it feels like to be freed from basketball hell.