Marc and Pau Gasol: Two brothers on opposite sides of the Hill – NBA Feature (Part - 2)
Mike Brown brings with him a lot of questions.
How will he run the offence? How will he affect the defence? Will Kobe Bryant still run the game? Will Pau Gasol be the second option? Or will Andrew Bynum get his wish and become central to Los Angeles’ game?
We don’t know the answer to those questions, not many people do. That is why the Lakers are, for the moment, shrouded in mystery, uncertainty even. And that is exactly the word that currently describes Gasol’s future at the Lakers.
Uncertain, not in terms of staying put, but in terms of his role on the team, the level of his performances, his adaptation to the new system and as to how he will react to the debacle that unearthed last season. In the Western
Conference Finals, the Lakers, gunning for a three peat fell completely flat in the face of a brutal assault from Dirk Nowitzki and his team of aging underachievers.
After a decent season, Pau choked in the playoffs and his chemistry with Kobe Bryant and the Andrew Bynum was nowhere to be seen. The result was that the Lakers were swept in the playoffs for the first time in their history.
Even though Pau Gasol returns to the Lakers as a European Champion with Spain, what people around here will not forget how his last season ended in the NBA.
It was not a pretty sight.
Since coming to the Los Angeles Lakers, he helped turn the franchise into the power house that they have been throughout history.
Once at the Staples Centre, Pau Gasol added some finesse to a side that relied heavily on the brilliance of Kobe Bryant. He added another way out for an offence that misfired when Bryant wasn’t firing. He added an air of assurance
and he put in the performances to boot. What followed were three appearances in the NBA Finals and two World Championships. He was especially pivotal in the 09-10championship run, when he played out of his skin to help the Lakers edge out the resurgent Boston
Celtics in game-7
It was a love affair for the ages. Or was it?
Not if you saw the Lakers last season. An increasingly physical side with the emergence of Andrew Bynum and the antics of Metta World Peace, formerly the bruiser called Ron Artest, the Lakers were not the same team that revelled
in Pau’s cultured approach to the game.
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