Pau Gasol feels that the Los Angeles Lakers have to start concentrating on offense more – NBA Update
When Mike Brown took over as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in the pre season, he immediately hinted that the ‘Triangle Offense’ system of his predecessor Phil Jackson will be dumped under his watch.
Instead, the ex-Cleveland Cavaliers coach wanted his new team to pride themselves on defense. The Lakers did that alright and are at present the best defensive team in the league. However, in the midst of all the focus on defending,
the Lakers forgot to excel on the front end of the court and that has not gone down well some of the Lakers. According to a recent report on ESPN, most of the players in the LAL locker room are not happy on how Brown handles his offense.
Brown runs his offense through Kobe Bryant and on nights where the franchise henchman fails to deliver, the Lakers take a fall more often that. The tactic makes the Lakers predictable and also lessens the importance of players
like Metta World Peace and Matt Barnes. The duo has been vocal about their role and on Saturday, the Lakers called a player-coaches meeting to address the issue.
It is understood that the coaches asked the players to avoid public comments and also requested team leaders – Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant – to share their views.
After the meeting, Gasol while talking to the media revealed that he focused on better communication and team spirit, but did not hesitate to point out the extra focus on defense by the coaches.
"I think we all know more or less what's going on, what we need to do and what the coaching staff wants us to do out there as far as defense and offense," Gasol said. "Basically, it's focus on defense. Whatever goes on offensively,
forget about that, go play D. As simple as that might sound, sometimes it's not that easy because I think you also have to respect what goes on on the offensive end, especially when you have the kind of talent that we have on this team."
The Lakers went onto to beat the Celtics on Sunday and the offense did click, as it did in the two games prior to that, but there is still a lot of room for improvement, especially in stretching the court.
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