Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol Sáezis a Spanish professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. He is a six-time NBA All-Star, and a four-time All-NBA selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. He has won two NBA championships, both with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2002 with the Memphis Grizzlies, one of only two non-American NBA players to win that award. He is the...
NationalitySpanish
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth6 July 1980
CityBarcelona, Spain
CountrySpain
I wasn't going to settle. I tried to attack (Duncan). I didn't have a great game but it didn't mean I didn't want to get to the rim.
I wasn't trying to settle for a shot. I wanted to get to the rim and get a win for my team. I just wanted to be aggressive.
Most of the guys were watching the NCAA Tournament (with Connecticut losing to George Mason). It was weird for a while. We didn't know what would happen.
It doesn't matter what I think. It was a good lesson for ourselves -- for what we'll have to fight against the favored team. It showed us reality. It showed us that we'll only get what we give ourselves. It was good because we know we have to play a notch higher.
We need a little more depth, but it's hard to say right now. We need somebody to get us a few more rebounds, a little bit of extra toughness. We need guys who will hold their ground, be a little more physical, get to loose balls, be able to defend this time of year.
We came out in the second and played hard. We want to be in that playoff race and this game was crucial.
We've got to prove ourselves and show we can do it in the playoffs, show we're a team everybody should respect and be afraid of.
We have this five game (home) stretch here, and we've already lost two, and we just cannot afford to lose anymore. I will do whatever it takes and trying to play with a little more confidence than I did before these two games and be more aggressive.
Fran Vazquez played a great game, Navarro was outstanding,
Obviously, I didn't think I traveled. I watched the play again in here, and I only took two steps, but those things happen.
Nobody here is thinking about the past and losing again. Everybody is very positive. We've got to stick together here to be more successful in Game Two and get rid of that so people will stop talking about it and bringing it up.
Navarro had a difficult start to the game, but he slowly recovered and scored 35 points. But I have to say, Croatia were a great team and you have to feel for them because they lost their cool at the end. It was down to frustration.
I had to take this game on my shoulders. The last few games that we were right there, I didn't produce down the last five minutes. I had to be a little more aggressive and luckily thinks worked out well.
We have to come out hard in Game 3, really establish ourselves at home and get a win there. The whole scenario changes then, but we've got to do it. We've got to make it happen. I'm really excited about that, going back home with our fans and getting this monkey, that is really getting heavy, off of our back.