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'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.
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.
We need to show everyone that we're a team people should respect and be afraid of.
We're on a roll. The mentality of this team is very good. We just want to win every game and whoever we play in the playoffs is OK. We'll be ready mentally.
It's really painful for the team to lose Damon. He's been a great leader for us and we'll miss his great finishes down the stretch.
The last couple of years we thought we had a better chance going against San Antonio and going against Phoenix because we were 3-1 against them (in the regular season). We lost to both teams 4-0. The playoffs are different.
I just need to get more aggressive and let my teammates feel all that energy and all that emotion.
Nobody had faith in me when I got here except my team. That's what carried me through all the transition problems and adjustments and everything.
If our minds and hearts are into it, we can be a heck of a team. We can beat anybody.
The confidence level that he gives me out there is huge. He puts the ball in my hands a lot and trusts that I'll make the right decisions. Playing 39 minutes a night puts a lot of confidence in me. I don't feel any pressure when I make mistakes and that's important for any player. ... He's told us sometimes that this team goes as I go.
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.