The Spanish power forward rubbishes suggestions that the presence of All-Star centre Dwight Howard on the floor is making life difficult for him ….
Pau Gasol is always the subject of never ending scrutiny and even after he made a decent comeback after missing 8 games to nurse tendinitis in both his knees, the power forward had to answer questions regarding his form and the
adjustment issues with Mike D’Antoni’s offensive system.
Gasol was 3 of 10 from the floor for 10 points against the Bobcats, but gave the Lakers 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks. The post-up touches for Gasol were however not facilitated again and the forward mostly operated from the
mid post and elbow. That after a barrage of criticism on Mike D for his use of Gasol indicated only one thing – the coach wants to have it his own way.
Mike’s argument is that he has to find post up touches for Howard as well, and he can’t change the whole system for Gasol. That is exactly what Gasol said after the game, but from his own perspective. The Spaniard also rubbished
suggestions that his struggles owe a major part to the presence of Dwight Howard on the floor,
“I don’t find (playing with Howard) tough,” Gasol said after the win against the Charlotte Bobcats. “It’s more the system right now that makes it tough at times, because (D’Antoni) wants four guys to be spread and one interior
guy and it’s a guard-oriented system, so that makes it tough.
“I think there’s enough looks for both of us. But again, it’s not a system that you post up a lot, so we’ll see. We’ve just got to figure it out, but if you’ve got two great post-up players, you’ve got to utilize it.”
There has been a lot of voices recently to utilize Gasol as a super sub. That is something which the four times All-Star has never done in his career before, but can pretty much sort out the issue, and will also provide the Lakers’
bench an extra edge. However anything of that sort would only happen if Steve Nash fails to get both the bigs going at the same time.
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