Gasol the guard
February 24th, 2008, 4:25 pm · Post a Comment · posted by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COM
Here’s what I wrote about the Lakers-Clippers game Saturday night. Tough to find the stuff on our Web site …
By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register
LOS ANGELES
Now Pau Gasol can lead the break, too?
It just keeps getting better for the Lakers, who saw Gasol twice showcase some high-dribbling, high-stepping skills in transition Saturday night in a 113-95 rout of the Clippers at Staples Center.
The Lakers moved into first place in the Western Conference by virtue of their tiebreaker over Phoenix, a half-game up on San Antonio and New Orleans. The Lakers were briefly atop the West earlier this season (Jan. 15-16) before skidding without the injured Andrew Bynum.
Now the Lakers are 10-1 since trading for Gasol. He had a team-high 23 points, six assists and three blocks Saturday night. The Clippers had little interior defense with Chris Kaman sitting out with back pain, and the Lakers took advantage.
But Gasol’s 58.3 percent field-goal shooting Saturday night actually brought his field-goal percentage as a Laker down to 64.4 percent; Bynum is shooting 63.6 percent this season.
And just as Shaquille O’Neal would do in the Lakers’ recent glory days of easy victories, Gasol showed some 7-foot handle. He threw in a little left-footed kick before dropping off a pass to Lamar Odom, running the left wing, for Odom’s three-point play and a 68-54 Lakers lead.
“I’m pretty confident about my abilities and my talents out there,” Gasol said.
Forwards Odom and Luke Walton are encouraged to start the transition game after gathering defensive rebounds, but perhaps Gasol – who grew up playing guard – can get more chances, too. Lakers coach Phil Jackson said afterward that Gasol “doesn’t need the spotlight,” but he fits in well with the team because he can step into it at times.
RADMANOVIC HURT
Vladimir Radmanovic left for good after just 8:24 of action with a strained right calf, opening the door for Walton to recapture some of his old mojo at small forward despite a very shaky start.
Walton, playing on an unsteady right ankle, has too often lately committed turnovers or missed shots badly that have left him doing his reflexive embarrassment reaction of licking his fingertips. He had a few more of those missteps Saturday night, but he also got back into the Lakers’ team game with eight points, eight rebounds and four assists in a 28-minute outing Jackson called “pretty good.”
