Pau Gasol accepts the blame, vows to play better in Game 2
Sunday night came as a big catastrophe as the two times defending champions of the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers. Playing on their own back yard, the mighty Lakers could not
help but cringe on to a 109-100 loss against the seventh seeded New Orleans Hornets in the game-1 of the first round Western Conference playoffs. What made the defeat worse was the shoddy display from the four times NBA All-Star Paul Gasol, who had just eight
points and seven rebounds.
The Spanish giant, who has been instrumental to Lakers’ success in the last two seasons, was so disappointed in himself that he preferred to pass the post game media session
and went straight into his team’s trainer room. The loss was not the only reason that caused him to walk with a leaning head though.
It was the mode of the loss that haunted him the most. They not only lost to a team, they had swept 4-0 in the regular season but to a side that had a clear disadvantage
at the post. The Hornets had 6’10” tall Emeka Okafor and 6’9” Carl Landry while the Lakers had Gasol, 7’0” and Andrew Bynum who is an inch taller than him. In addition to that, the Hornets played without David West who was sidelined with a knee injury.
Gasol, who received a big gash under left eye in Sunday’s game, however did not make anyone solve any riddles nor did he say anything in his defence, he just took the blame
on his shoulders.
After avoiding the reporters after the big loss on Sunday, he finally faced them on Tuesday and said that he knew that he has to be more aggressive and he knew how to be
more productive out there. Accepting his weak performance, the player accepted that he was not able to be productive in game 1.
Gasol, who is considered one of the least aggressive players in the NBA, was called “soft” by OKC’s Kendrick Perkins and then New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony before the
playoffs began. Although the Lakers fan and especially his team mates raised a lot of furore on those comments; his Sunday’s game justified his softness a lot.
The seven-footer was completely hounded by Hornets’ Chris Paul, who came out as a hero at the end with 33 points and seven rebounds. Gasol only finished with eight points
and six rebounds, none of them offensive. This is what prompted Kobe Bryant to shoot an open challenge towards his teammate saying, "It's one and two, it's me and him. We've got to deal with it. When you get all the praise when things go your way, [you also]
get all the blame when things don't.” He also said that he has to be more aggressive and (Gasol) is one of the best in the world.
Gasol accepted that he was disappointed, stunned and surprised after the loss accepted the blame whole heartedly with a resolution to play more aggressively and making himself
more visible in the next game.
The Lakers will play their second game of the best-of-seven series against the Hornets on April 20th, at the Staples Center.
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