Pau Gasol trying not to get irritated by D’Antoni’s benching calls – NBA Update
The Los Angeles Lakers have had an 8-9 start to the season, and one of the biggest problems they are facing at present is the inconsistent performance of Spanish power forward Pau Gasol.
The seven foot forward, who is a 4 time All-Star, has been a shadow of himself this season. He recently claimed that he has been playing through tendinitis in both his knees, and that has affected his athleticism. But, for the
Lakers that is just not good enough. They want the same numbers and hustle from the Spaniard.
Gasol was benched in 4th quarter of last week’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies and in the days that followed he opened up about his struggles and the system of new head coach Mike D’Antoni. In the next few games,
the player put in decent numbers, however in the last night’s outing against Orlando Magic, D’Antoni seemed unimpressed by Gasol’s effort and benched him for the final 6:07 of the game.
Ironically enough though, the Lakers who were up by 84-83 at that point, conceded a 30-19 run in the ensuing passage and lost out at home against one of the weaker teams in the league.
After the game, Gasol admitted that being sent on the bench was upsetting, but vowed not to let this on his nerves.
"I don't get irritated," Gasol, who has scored 11 points on a 4-of-11 shooting and 7 rebounds till that point, said of the benching. "I like to be out there. It's upsetting for me as a player but I won't allow it to irritate me."
"I think we're all trying to figure it out and we're all trying to do our best to win the game. The coach makes his decisions and you got to respect that."
D’Antoni said later that the decision was based on his desire to have more athletic players down the stretch. When asked about the Pau’s struggles, he didn’t mince words either;
"Just talk to him," D'Antoni said. "There's no magic words out there. He's going to have to play. He still had 11 and seven and he's playing, but we just have to be a more dynamic team. We're slow right now. It's just athletically,
we're struggling."
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