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
The thing we wanted to do is jump on them quick. When a team is not having a good year, when you jump on them early and hit them first it's hard for them to get back up.
We're a good defensive team. We've just got to stop them earlier. We've got to figure out a way to get them out of their rhythm and their plays. We've got to make them take tough shots and force turnovers. I'm really excited about Game 3 being a different story.
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.
It's hard to play them when they're shooting the ball with that confidence. They did a good job running the ball and running 1,000 pick-and-rolls and they made their shots.
It was good the way we shared the ball tonight and made shots.
It was frustrating. We were turning the ball over without making them work for it. It was really an intense game for a while, and we had a very good chance to be right there. We lost it for a few minutes, and we paid for it.
It's all very positive. If Mike would get that, and me making All-Star team, it says how well we're doing collectively. We wouldn't be getting any individual awards or respect if collectively we weren't doing a good job.
I ain't gonna lie, I was aware of it. I know I needed the assists and I was hoping that Mike Miller was going to make one of those shots (in the fourth quarter). I had a good game sharing the ball and making the right decisions.
This was a good lesson for us. It lets us find out what's in store for us in the playoffs. Perhaps we have to step it up one notch.
In the first half, I was aggressive and then in a very good scoring rhythm making buckets. In the second half, they had to do something. They started digging in and forcing me to pass the ball and I'm glad to do it.
The coach has put a lot of trust in me to make good decisions in the post.
We just got out of the game for a few minutes and that really cost us. It was frustrating the way we were turning the ball over and giving it back to them without making them work.
We weren't ready. We didn't come out ready to compete at their level. It was frustrating because we weren't clicking from the start.
We turned the ball over down the stretch and they came down and took the lead there. It was a little bit of everything, execution was definitely a factor. We need to execute in the fourth quarter.