Posts Tagged ‘Pau Gasol’

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Kupchak: Lakers Will Pursue Trades

May 23, 2012  ·  9:33PM





EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – General manager Mitch Kupchak, signaling his agreement that the Lakers need significant changes after a decisive loss in the Western Conference semifinals for the second time in as many years, said Wednesday the front office will pursue trades more aggressively than in past years.

“Why not?” he said. “Sure. We went through it last year. Other than at the trade deadline, we didn’t do anything last year. But when you lose before you think you should have lost, you have to open up all opportunities.”

Speaking at his annual post-season press conference at team headquarters following two days of exit interviews with players, Kupchak made no attempt to gloss over the fact that the Lakers need to make adjustments and that being one of the better teams in the league is not acceptable.

“There’ll be some change,” he said less than two full days after the season ended with a 4-1 loss to the Thunder, nearly one year after being swept by the Mavericks in the same second round. “We’ve got a group of players that are free agents. As you know, Ramon (Sessions) has an option in his contract that he signed with Cleveland. He can extend it a year or he can opt out. I have no idea what he’s going to do. That could be an additional free agent. There will be quite a bit of activity July 1, looking at who we can bring back and dealing with the marketplace.”

Other frank comments from Kupchak as the Lakers head into the offseason after the jump:

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Blogtable: What’s Next For Lakers?

May 23, 2012  ·  11:36AM

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

Play Lakers GM: What do you do in the wake of another West semifinal defeat?

Steve Aschburner: I start by abolishing World Peace.  Sounds nihilistic, I know. But given the rebuild/retool ahead, they don’t need Metta’s shenanigans. Then I trade Pau Gasol, maybe to Minnesota for Derrick Williams in a package. I rebuild around Andrew Bynum because Jimmy Buss will fire me if I don’t. And I ride out Kobe’s angst or swing a deal for him that makes him happy. If that’s possible in every sense. 

Fran Blinebury: I get on the phone to Orlando and find out if there’s any way to re-start the conversation for Dwight Howard.  Does it take Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol together?  Done.  Gasol is fading into the twilight of his career and for all there is to like about Bynum on the nights he plays, that happens too infrequently.  Howard has his own flaws, but combining with Kobe Bryant puts him back into the championship picture immediately, restores his damaged reputation and transitions the Lakers for the post-Kobe Era.  I also do not sign Ramon Sessions to a long-term contract at significant cost. Not nearly enough bang for the buck.

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Lakers Have No One Else To Blame But Themselves For Latest Playoff Ouster

May 22, 2012  ·  10:14AM





HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – Before anyone else in Los Angeles points another finger at Pau Gasol, Mike Brown, Ramon Sessions or any of the other convenient scapegoats in the wake of a second straight second-round playoff exit, look in the mirror.

Stare long and hard and ask yourself if you didn’t see this coming. Didn’t you realize last season, when Andrew Bynum was heading to visitor’s locker room in Dallas without his jersey, that this team was fatally flawed and had no chance of overcoming its own internal obstacles?

Like an aging heavyweight champ who gets K.O.’d in his last bout and then comes back into the ring the next time without truly understanding what went wrong, the Lakers got popped against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals. This time, it came by believing in their ability to overcome any obstacle with sheer talent alone.

Avoiding the sweep this time around shouldn’t ease the sting for Lakers fans, either. They knew (better than most) what they saw from this group during last season’s semifinal flame-out against the Mavericks exposed the team’s flaws.

Why would anyone, Kobe Bryant included, be surprised at Gasol’s struggles against the Thunder when you saw him crumble against the Mavericks?

You replaced a living legend in Phil Jackson with a good coach in Brown, but if Jackson couldn’t get this team over the proverbial hump in his final season, why would anyone assume Brown would be capable of pulling it off now? And Sessions was supposed to be the anti-Derek Fisher — a younger, more athletically gifted point guard capable of matching up better against the league’s younger and more athletic guards. He proved to be just as ill-equipped to handle Russell Westbrook as Fisher would have been.

This is a mess of the Lakers’ own making, whether they admit it or not. They are the ones that tossed Jackson’s hand-picked successor, Brian Shaw, aside in favor of Brown. They saw the cracks in their foundation and opted for some instant sealant instead of legit fixes.

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Thunder Again Crush Laker Hopes

May 20, 2012  ·  9:23AM





LOS ANGELES – The last time, Wednesday in Oklahoma City, was a shot right through the Lakers’ heart, an agonizing missed chance to win the game on the road and perhaps change the course of the entire series. This, though, was the legs.

It wasn’t just another Los Angeles loss Sunday night at Staples Center. It was stopping the momentum and cutting any comeback hopes out from under the Lakers. And it was the second fourth-quarter falter – the last three tries in the real sign of trouble for a veteran club with championship experience,  yet suddenly with a pattern of being unable to close out games.

The Lakers got outscored by the Thunder 32-20 in the final period while L.A. shot 31.8 percent and Oklahoma City was 66.7 percent from the field, with a critical bad pass by Pau Gasol tossed in as the underlining moment of offensive inefficiency that led to the visitors winning 103-100 to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“I wish I could sit up here and say how that happened,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “But it just happened. Our guys really did a good job of fighting and not giving up and just making basketball-winning plays.”

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Quick Turnaround For Thunder, Lakers

May 19, 2012  ·  4:35PM





LOS ANGELES – The Lakers and Thunder, after playing 2 hours 43 minutes without overtime Friday night, return to Staples Center tonight for Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals and the rarity of a postseason back-to-back.

It is a particular challenge for the older Lakers at a time they need a win to avoid what would be a seemingly insurmountable 3-1 deficit as the series shifts back to Oklahoma City.

“It’s going to take a mental commitment on our part in order to fight through the fatigue we might feel (Saturday),” Pau Gasol said after the Lakers grinded out a victory in Game 3. “It’s going to be all will and desire and effort. Just pushing ourselves through everything and anything that we might be feeling or going on out there.”

The Lakers are playing on consecutive days in the playoffs for the first time since May 22-23, 1999, in the second round against the Spurs.

“It’ll be a little different,” Steve Blake said of a back-to-back in the regular season compared to the playoffs. “The intensity. A back-to-back during the regular season, sometimes the first quarter can be a little bit lull. But I don’t think it’ll be that way tomorrow night.”

Other topics heading into Game 4:

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Lakers Back-To-Back Against The Wall

May 18, 2012  ·  10:07AM





HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – If the Los Angeles Lakers are nervous at all about the task ahead — fighting off elimination in the Western Conference semifinals in a back-to-back set tonight and tomorrow at home — they’re doing a splendid job of faking it.

From Kobe Bryant to Andrew Bynum to Pau Gasol to Jack Nicholson (sorry, we threw him in there for effect), there seems to be no worry about anything going wrong in Game 3 tonight at Staples Center (10:30 ET, ESPN). After outplaying the Thunder for 46 of the 48 minutes in Game 2, the Lakers act as if they’ve solved the Rubik’s Cube that is Oklahoma City.

“We know exactly how to defend them,” Bynum said. “We’re actually confident.”

Maybe someone forgot to tell Bynum that the Lakers are facing more than just a survival game tonight; no team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a series. They’re facing that game with their backs firmly against the wall, on back-to-back nights.

The last time they were in this position was during 1999 Western Conference semifinals — the last lockout-shortened season. L.A. lost Games 3 and 4 to the San Antonio Spurs as Tim Duncan and David Robinson kicked off that franchise’s championship era.

Bryant was a part of that series, but feels one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. In fact, he’s not particularly concerned with the back-to-back set.

“I prefer not to have it” he said, “but I feel well rested. Everybody else feels well rested. We’ll be ready for it.”

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Relentless Thunder Rally, Take Game 2

May 17, 2012  ·  1:09AM





OKLAHOMA CITY – A seven-point lead with two minutes to play and one of the greatest closers in the game wasn’t enough to save the Los Angeles Lakers, not with the Oklahoma City Thunder lurking in the final minutes on their home floor.

Six points from James Harden, two critical turnovers from the Lakers and a Kevin Durant baseline runner with 18.6 seconds to play and a sure-fire, series-equalizing win for the Lakers turned into another shocking comeback win for the Thunder. More amazing is that OKC struggled through its worst game this postseason, yet still stole Game 2 in the final minutes at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Durant’s free throw with 0.3 seconds left capped a 9-0 run for the Thunder, who won Games 1 and 2 in their first-round series against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks by a combined four points. That might explain why they didn’t panic in those final two minutes.

“I’ve been around these guys four years, and one thing about them is they won’t quit,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “They’re not wired that way. It’s not in their DNA. If it was, they wouldn’t be here.”

The Lakers led 75-68 with two minutes to play with the game seemingly in hand. But instead of the veteran Lakers salting this one away with Kobe Bryant finishing the deal, the Lakers lost control of the game and basically gave it away.

“We’re better than Santa Claus giving out gifts,” said Lakers center Andrew Bynum. “We like giving out gifts. We give out games, contracts and rings.”

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Lakers Have A Plan, Are Aiming To Slow Thunder Down In Game 2 … Good Luck!

May 16, 2012  ·  10:35AM





HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – The theory makes perfect sense for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Slow the game down, make the Oklahoma City dial it back a few notches and play the half court game that favors the Lakers’ and big men Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum in Game 2 tonight (9:30 ET, TNT) at Chesapeake Energy Arena and all will be right in the basketball world.

The only problem with that theory is that it requires the cooperation of a Thunder team that has been anything but accommodating this postseason. And it also requires an opponent that can exploit the Thunder’s perceived deficiencies in a slow-down game.

The Dallas Mavericks had similar ideas  in the first round after dropping Games 1 and 2 by a combined four points. All they had to do was lock in on Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden and force the  Thunder into the uncomfortable position of a grind-it-out, half court, possession-for-possession series. The Mavericks headed back to Dallas for Games 3 and 4 with the blueprint in hand. They never saw Game 5.

The Thunder’s energy and effort overwhelmed any plans the Lakers had for Game 1 to the tune of a 35-point lead and a 119-90 blowout win. It served as a wicked opening statement, too, that the Western Conference semifinals are going to be played on the Thunder’s terms.

The Lakers cannot match the Thunder’s youth, fleet feet or resilience — a day of rest at 23 or 24 is much different from that same day of rest when you are 32 or 33. And according to Kobe Bryant, the Lakers have no intention of trying to do any such thing.

“It’s not a big deal. We don’t worry about matching their energy,” Bryant said. “We just think about slowing them down and playing our style.”

If that “style” includes playing inside-out through Bynum and Gasol, then the Lakers might actually be on to something. Thunder center Kendrick Perkins is a game-time decision with that strained hip.

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World Peace Will Start in Return

May 11, 2012  ·  10:16PM

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – The Lakers will welcome Metta World Peace back Saturday night in various ways. Coach Mike Brown confirmed before practice Friday at the practice facility that World Peace would start at small forward, a predictable move that sends Devin Ebanks to the bench. Kobe Bryant, meanwhile, may hug World Peace.

The Lakers may have missed the versatile defensive presence as he served a seven-game suspension for an elbow to the head of Oklahoma City’s James Harden, but that’s nothing compared to how much Bryant missed the former Ron Artest, period. That was never more evident than Thursday in Denver, where the Nuggets again jumped L.A.’s lack of focus and energy to score an easy victory and tie the first-round series 3-3, an outcome that prompted Brown and Bryant to call out Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum in particular for a poor effort.

“I expect him to come out and play with the tenacity that he’s known for,” Bryant said of World Peace in the deciding Game 7 at Staples Center. “He’s the one guy that I can rely on night in and night out to compete, to play hard, to play with that sense of urgency and play with no fear. I’m looking forward to having that by my side again.”

He’s the one guy I can rely on night in and night out to compete….

Blasting at least two teammates while praising another. Precision shooting.

Friday, as he prepared to play for the first time since April 22, World Peace said little about serving the suspension, about watching teammates unable to sustain intensity, even about the praise from Bryant. Maybe he wanted a low profile to have all the focus in Game 7. Maybe he was told to say little. Just as likely, it was simply that kind of moment for a man of many moods.

On his thoughts as he returns from the discipline: “I don’t have any thoughts on that.”

On whether he needs to come back with extra focus since the return is in a Game 7: “No. I’ve been motivated from Day 1. There’s no extra motivation needed. I’m already at the limit.”

On Bryant’s comment: “That’s what he said. I don’t have no comment on that.”

On what the last seven games have been like, the first six games of the circuitous series with the Nuggets plus the regular-season finale: “I can’t remember. It’s the past. It went by. It’s over.”

On whether he will be under extra scrutiny by referees and the league: “That’s not my concern. Not at all.”

It will be one of the Lakers’ concerns, of course. They are obviously aware of the unique moment, as if facing elimination at home after blowing a 2-0 lead isn’t enough. They are also aware that one of World Peace’s clutch moments with L.A. was Game 7 against the Celtics in the 2010 Finals.

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Kobe, Brown Call Out Bynum And Gasol

May 11, 2012  ·  6:06AM





DENVER – In even tones but no uncertain terms, greatly raising the stakes without raising their voices, the coach of the Lakers and the star of the Lakers called out big men Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol after the 113-96 loss to the Nuggets on Thursday that forced a Game 7 in the first-round series.

Already facing pressure to step up their play as the Lakers’ advantage of size and inside play goes to waste, Gasol and Bynum were moved even more into the crosshairs by Mike Brown and Kobe Bryant, both clearly frustrated by Gasol managing three points on one-of-10 shooting with three rebounds and by Bynum getting 11 points on four-of-11 shooting. Bynum did have a game-high 16 rebounds, but his series has become a run of nights without focus.

“We’re going to need more out our two bigs,” Brown said as the Lakers faced the reality of going from a 2-0 series lead to a Game 7 in Los Angeles on Saturday night. “They’re our second- and third-best players. We’re going to need a lot more out of those guys in order to win the series. But not just scoring wise. Defensively. Defensively to follow the game-plan discipline and do it with some effort and some energy and really just lay it out on the line.”

Bryant followed soon after.

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