SportsHubLA

8 Responses to “They Say Pau Gasol Is a Softie, So That Makes It True?”

1. 1 Alex Nov 14th, 2008 at 11:32 am

   Apparently you haven’t been watching the games this season.

2. 2 Pinky Nov 14th, 2008 at 11:42 am

   Pau’s play is not soft.

   But I’ve always interpreted the “soft” label as “not willing to hit back when hit”. When teams get physical and play dirty, you have to be willing to send them a message beyond just your play. I never believed that until I saw the Lakers play the Celtics. The Celtics would rough up the Lakers and generally bend the rules, but I never saw any Lakers (save Derek Fisher and Kobe) willing to bend the rules to win the game.

   Unfortunately, if that enforcement is not going to be done by the officials, you have to do it yourself - if you want to win. Again, I have to say that I never ever believed that - until I saw the way Boston played in the Finals. And Pau is no dummy. I think he knows now “oh, so that’s the game”. I don’t think it’s honorable or dishonorable, it’s “what are you willing to do to win?”.

   It makes me a little sad, because I don’t believe you should play that way (fight fire with fire by pushing and shoving) but after watching the Finals, I see that is the way, and I think the Lakers see it too.

3. 3 Eric Nov 14th, 2008 at 11:48 am

   Pinky,
   I’m worried that because it’s such a copy cat league (at least, second to the NFL), teams will revert back to physical post play and defense, rather than the more wide-open styles we’ve seen in the last few years. Sadly enough, until the Knicks, Warriors or Grizzlies or any other “running” team wins the title, the pushing and shoving will probably continue. Honestly, that kind of sucks.

4. 4 Jag Nov 14th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

   Great points Karl, across the board. When people call Pau “soft,” they also ignore how competitive and passionate of a player he is. Plus, I think he’s showing improvement in how he responds to attempts to physically bully him — as the Celtics successfully did. When Carl Landry tried to beat-up Pau and deliver cheap shots on Pau in the post in the Houston game, Pau came back and scorched him the rest of the night — including in the low post (and didn’t miss another shot). Pau was also phenomenal against Dallas, despite the fact that Erick Dampier is an absolute beast and was clearly trying to physically intimidate and knock Pau around whenever he could. Paul had 22 and 11, and of course, finished with the huge offensive rebound and “and-one” to seal the game. Not bad for a “soft” guy…..

5. 5 Brian Kamenetzky Nov 14th, 2008 at 4:29 pm

   Jag-

   Along those lines, there’s often no middle ground in today’s media environment. Pau isn’t an enforcer. He’s not Ben Wallace. His game is not powerful in a Dwight Howard way. But there’s something in between that and “soft.”

6. 6 Dave Nov 15th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

   Two reasons why many consider Pau soft:

   (1) Physical play. Pau isn’t physical power player. He has a lot of moves in the low post but they aren’t power moves like a Shaq or Karl Malone. There’s also been several times where physical play hasn’t bothered him. He also isn’t a dominant physical rebounder, or a dominant physical defender. He has certain talents in each of these areas but he’s regularly (not always) not physical in these tasks

   (2) Mental strength. Like in the NBA Finals when the Lakers were struggling offensively, Pau didn’t step to the plate. He’s the Lakers second most talented offensive force and he was very effective. Yet he refused to attack, refused to shoot.

   He shot the highest FG% on the team among players who got big minutes, and he scored the highest number of points per shot. He scored 1.43 points per shot in the Finals, which is fantastic. He scored on Perkins, he scored on KG and he scored on PJ Brown. He could create his own shot and score on every one of the defenders that guarded him. Yet, he took only 10 shots a game … so he scored only 14.7ppg. So Kobe had no second scorer. With Kobe struggling and with no second scorer standing up, the Lakers offense fell apart. Once the Lakers offense fell apart, they couldn’t compete.

   It was because Pau was mentally soft and backed down in pressure and against a tough opponent.

   —————————

   This is why he gets a lot of criticism.

   Also, because he checks if he’s bleeding every time he gets hit in the face … which I don’t care about, and consider funny more than anything, but others take it as a negative sign. I care that (1) he didn’t shoot the ball in the finals and let down his teammates (also quiet in conference finals _ some other big games earlier in his career), and, (2) doesn’t combat physical play with physical play against physical opponents.

7. 7 Sildenafil Citrate Mar 6th, 2009 at 10:14 pm

   Everyone is “soft” until proven “rigid,”

   …

8. 8 Online Canada Viagra Mar 12th, 2009 at 9:29 am

   He’s an All-Star, world champion and one of the best players in the world, yet he can’t shake the soft label. Why? Because Gasol is a power forward who has been forced to play center nearly his entire career against players who are thicker and stronger than him.

Leave a Reply

Name

Mail (will not be published)

Website

---

---