Pau Gastupido --Wait Until Garnett Retires You Fool!

[BCEagle74]

I am rooting for Boston, so maybe Gasol just lit their fire for Game 2.

French Asshole...reminds me of the Olympics.

Might have to change my score pick.


LOS ANGELES -- Lakers big man Pau Gasol said Celtics forward Kevin Garnett is not the player he used to be, but Boston coach Doc Rivers stressed on Friday that there is nothing physically wrong with KG.

The Lakers held Garnett to 16 points and only four rebounds in a 102-89 win in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.

"On Kevin's part, he's also lost some explosiveness," said Gasol, who had 23 points and 14 rebounds. "He's more of a jump shooter now you could say, comes off the lane. Before he had a really, really quick first step and was getting to the lane and he was more aggressive then. Time passes and we all suffer it one way or another, but he's still a terrific player, a terrific competitor, and he's going to bring everything he's got. You can count on that."


Rivers countered Gasol with strong assurances that Garnett's problem Thursday was mental rather than physical.


"I just thought, honestly, he got so hyped up about the game he almost took himself out," Rivers said. "He was trying to slow himself down. He didn't have a great game. But no, he's fine healthwise and all that. It's funny -- just with our team -- whenever we don't play well, it always comes down to either health or age, and it's usually sometimes we just don't play well. I thought last night was more of that.


"I just thought he struggled. He had one of those nights. We all have them. We're just not used to seeing him have them unless there's something wrong. But he's fine, I can guarantee you that."

At 34 years old and with 15 hard-fought years behind him at this point in his NBA career, Garnett averaged only 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 29.9 minutes per game this season, the lowest totals since his rookie season.

He missed 25 games last season because of an injury to his right knee that required offseason surgery to remove bone spurs from the back of the joint. The 7-footer, who prefers to refer to himself as 6-foot-12, also suffered a hyperextended right knee in December of this season, causing him to miss 10 games in late December through mid January.

But Garnett's effervescent energy and internal motor that manifests itself through constant chatter and fits of unparalleled intensity have masked his decline.

The surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer was asked after Celtics practice if he took exception to what Gasol said.

"Not at all," Garnett said. "I have no comments for his comments."

Boston point guard Rajon Rondo's face broke into a sly grin when told about Gasol's comment, perhaps knowing that the Spaniard might have just awoken the Celtics' sleeping giant.

"I just can't wait -- I didn't know he said that, but I'll be excited to see how it goes in Game 2," Rondo said. "You know, Kevin is fine. It's just one game. We'll see in Game 2. We'll see in Game 2."

Coincidentally, other members of the Celtics made remarks similar to Gasol's statement about Garnett on Friday, but criticism when it comes from the family is considered constructive.

"Obviously he's had to battle with adjustment with an injury," Paul Pierce said about Garnett. "Certain things that he's done before he's probably not doing now or he's getting back to doing those things."

Still, Pierce sees good things in Garnett.


"He had a good run in practice [Wednesday]," Pierce said. "He was getting into a nice rhythm, offensive flow. You can have good practices and go out there and play bad games. You can have a bad practice and play good games. At the end of the day, you still have to put it on the court regardless."


Asked about a sequence in which KG missed consecutive layups, failing to get up to dunk the ball, Pierce said: "It happens. I've done that throughout the course of my 12 years. We all miss layups, we all miss shots, you've just got to keep playing."


Pressed on Garnett, Rivers said KG had the best practice of any Celtic on Wednesday, but he said he seemed to lose some of that edge trying to calm himself down on Thursday.


More from ESPN.com
Celtics fans won't like Pau Gasol's comments about Kevin Garnett, but based on Game 1, he may have a point, writes Peter May. Story


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"I thought he tried to talk himself down, and he did too good of a job of it," Rivers said. "He needs to play with that edge, and I really thought early on he was going too fast and trying to slow himself down. He probably did it a little bit too much. But he'll be fine."


Kendrick Perkins also dismissed the injury talk and suggested Boston needed to get back to what worked so well against Cleveland in the conference semifinals.


"I think KG's been great these whole playoffs," Perkins said. "In the Miami series he was huge; against Cleveland he was even better. I thought in the Orlando series he did a good job of guarding Rashard Lewis. In this series, we've got to get back to demanding the ball on the blocks. We've got to get back to KG taking 20 shots per game, like he did in the Cleveland series. We've got to find a way to post KG a little more."

Meanwhile, Gasol's signature play of the fourth was a transition dunk coming off a Ron Artest blocked shot that ignited the Lakers fastbreak and put them up by 15.

Garnett averaged 18.2 points and 13 rebounds in the 2008 Finals, cementing his already stellar career with a ring. Gasol averaged just 14.7 points and 10.2 rebounds, earning a label as being soft that he has been trying to shed ever since, helping his reputation by matching Dwight Howard's physicality in the process of winning the championship against the Orlando Magic in 2009.

"It's not a one-on-one situation between me and Pau," Garnett said about the series heading into Sunday's Game 2. "It's just Lakers vs. Celtics. In order to make this team better, I have to be a lot more aggressive."

[branchinator]

Gasol is 100% correct and he wasn't really ripping KG. Still, though, I don't know why players do this. Even though Gasol wasn't talking trash, comments like these can fire a player/team up. If KG doesn't come out strong in Game 2, then he really is cooked.

[cvilleagle]

Yeah, it was weird that he said it out loud, even though Pierce said basically the same thing to the press the other day. Still, I wouldn't recommend that.

[BCEagle74]

[quote="BCEagle74"]I am rooting for Boston, so maybe Gasol just lit their fire for Game 2.

French Asshole...reminds me of the Olympics.

Might have to change my score pick.

----------------

Can I change my pick now???

What a jerk for opening his mouth..

[bignick33]

The Celtics did not win because of a superlative performance by KG. They won despite another subpar performance. Gasol murdered him again. Still, I expect KG to get his shit together in Boston.

[twballgame9]

The Celtics did not win because of a superlative performance by KG. They won despite another subpar performance. Gasol murdered him again. Still, I expect KG to get his shit together in Boston.

KG played poorly, but so did Gasol this time. Gasol got the better of the matchup, again, but it was much closer, and KG made some very big plays down the stretch in helping salt the game away. Right now, KG's biggest problem is that he seems to be trying to rebound with one hand, likely because he doesn't feel he has the hops to board with two. Also, his jumper is way off for whatever reason.

[bignick33]

The Celtics did not win because of a superlative performance by KG. They won despite another subpar performance. Gasol murdered him again. Still, I expect KG to get his shit together in Boston.

KG played poorly, but so did Gasol this time. Gasol got the better of the matchup, again, but it was much closer, and KG made some very big plays down the stretch in helping salt the game away. Right now, KG's biggest problem is that he seems to be trying to rebound with one hand, likely because he doesn't feel he has the hops to board with two. Also, his jumper is way off for whatever reason.

KG has some big rebounds down the stretch, no doubt. Still, Gason was good for 25 very efficient points and he also (like Bynum) had a shit-ton of blocked shots. As I said before, I see an Ali-like comeback by KG in Boston (perhaps I am overstating it?).

[BCMcG]

French Asshole...

[branchinator]

Gasol played poorly? Huh? The guy had 25/8/3 with 6 blocks last night. Gasol's biggest wart is that he's too nice. He should be demanding 15-20 shots / night in this series. The Celtics have absolutely no answer for him. Fortunately, Kobe has to play hero so he takes a lot of Gasol's shots.

[pick6pedro]

Gasol played poorly? Huh? The guy had 25/8/3 with 6 blocks last night. Gasol's biggest wart is that he's too nice. He should be demanding 15-20 shots / night in this series. The Celtics have absolutely no answer for him. Fortunately, Kobe has to play hero so he takes a lot of Gasol's shots.

P.S. 70% shooting, 85% FT shooting, 1 TO, and only 3 fouls.

[BCEagle74]

French Asshole...

Espana --clsoe enough...

[twballgame9]

Gasol played poorly? Huh? The guy had 25/8/3 with 6 blocks last night. Gasol's biggest wart is that he's too nice. He should be demanding 15-20 shots / night in this series. The Celtics have absolutely no answer for him. Fortunately, Kobe has to play hero so he takes a lot of Gasol's shots.

P.S. 70% shooting, 85% FT shooting, 1 TO, and only 3 fouls.

And a complete non-factor in crunch time. STATS DON'T LIE THOUGH!

Gasol had one point in the fourth quarter, going 1-2 in a meaningless trip to the line with 10 seconds left. Good work, Pau.

[pick6pedro]

Gasol played poorly? Huh? The guy had 25/8/3 with 6 blocks last night. Gasol's biggest wart is that he's too nice. He should be demanding 15-20 shots / night in this series. The Celtics have absolutely no answer for him. Fortunately, Kobe has to play hero so he takes a lot of Gasol's shots.

P.S. 70% shooting, 85% FT shooting, 1 TO, and only 3 fouls.

And a complete non-factor in crunch time. STATS DON'T LIE THOUGH!

Gasol had one point in the fourth quarter, going 1-2 in a meaningless trip to the line with 10 seconds left. Good work, Pau.

So now only scoring 1 point in 25% of the game means you played poorly in the entire game? Your stretched definitions to fit your goofy statements are mind-boggling. Gee I wonder why he never saw the ball --

Plus he didn't play the first half of the 4th quarter. The Lakers took only 10 shots after he re-entered because of stupid fouls and TOs. But yea, go to the stats geek argument since Pau didn't play "poorly" while using stats yourself. Stay predictable 9er.

[LawyersGunsnMoney]

The Celtics did not win because of a superlative performance by KG. They won despite another subpar performance. Gasol murdered him again. Still, I expect KG to get his shit together in Boston.

KG played poorly, but so did Gasol this time. Gasol got the better of the matchup, again, but it was much closer, and KG made some very big plays down the stretch in helping salt the game away. Right now, KG's biggest problem is that he seems to be trying to rebound with one hand, likely because he doesn't feel he has the hops to board with two. Also, his jumper is way off for whatever reason.

Did anyone else see the shot of KG on the bench last night? He was rubbing his left shoulder and seemed to be wincing a bit. They cut away from it real quick, but i think his shoulder might be banged up.

[branchinator]

Considering how many times KG has gone up for rebounds with one hand, I think there may be some validity to the rumor that KG has a bum shoulder.

[apbc12]

Gasol played poorly? Huh? The guy had 25/8/3 with 6 blocks last night. Gasol's biggest wart is that he's too nice. He should be demanding 15-20 shots / night in this series. The Celtics have absolutely no answer for him. Fortunately, Kobe has to play hero so he takes a lot of Gasol's shots.

P.S. 70% shooting, 85% FT shooting, 1 TO, and only 3 fouls.

And a complete non-factor in crunch time. STATS DON'T LIE THOUGH!

Gasol had one point in the fourth quarter, going 1-2 in a meaningless trip to the line with 10 seconds left. Good work, Pau.

Faulty reasoning. Gasol doesn't have a ton of control over how many shots he gets, especially with Kobe trying to score six points per possession and Artest randomly dribbling around for 20 seconds. Gasol has been the Lakers' best and most important player in both games; although I can see the argument for Bynum last night, he gets easy baskets because Gasol (1) draws so much attention when they play together, and (2) tires out the people who guard Bynum when Gasol is on the bench.

If Gasol were more assertive, he'd probably average 30 and 15 against this Boston team. They have no one who can guard him since KG apparently celebrated his 70th birthday after the Cleveland series. 'Sheed should be getting way more minutes, but I suppose it's possible he is still too out of shape to play that much.

[branchinator]

Sheed's problem isn't his conditioning, it's his back. Doc said something to the extent that Sheed gave the Celtics everything he could give last night. And he only played about 20 minutes. If the Celtics had a healthy KG/Sheed, they would win this series in 5 games.

[apbc12]

Sheed's problem isn't his conditioning, it's his back. Doc said something to the extent that Sheed gave the Celtics everything he could give last night. And he only played about 20 minutes. If the Celtics had a healthy KG/Sheed, they would win this series in 5 games.

Seems reasonable. I've heard having huge tits can lead to back problems.

[twballgame9]

Gasol played poorly? Huh? The guy had 25/8/3 with 6 blocks last night. Gasol's biggest wart is that he's too nice. He should be demanding 15-20 shots / night in this series. The Celtics have absolutely no answer for him. Fortunately, Kobe has to play hero so he takes a lot of Gasol's shots.

P.S. 70% shooting, 85% FT shooting, 1 TO, and only 3 fouls.

And a complete non-factor in crunch time. STATS DON'T LIE THOUGH!

Gasol had one point in the fourth quarter, going 1-2 in a meaningless trip to the line with 10 seconds left. Good work, Pau.

Faulty reasoning. Gasol doesn't have a ton of control over how many shots he gets, especially with Kobe trying to score six points per possession and Artest randomly dribbling around for 20 seconds. Gasol has been the Lakers' best and most important player in both games; although I can see the argument for Bynum last night, he gets easy baskets because Gasol (1) draws so much attention when they play together, and (2) tires out the people who guard Bynum when Gasol is on the bench.

If Gasol were more assertive, he'd probably average 30 and 15 against this Boston team. They have no one who can guard him since KG apparently celebrated his 70th birthday after the Cleveland series. 'Sheed should be getting way more minutes, but I suppose it's possible he is still too out of shape to play that much.

So, Gasol didn't play bad in the fourth, he's just a giant pussy. He would have played well if Kobe had let him touch the ball. Got it.

Garnett got what seemed to be his only 3 rebounds. a great defensive play, and a beautiful pass last night in crunch time. He was dogmeat the rest of the game. Gasol was the opposite. For whatever reason, big Pau disappeared when he was needed. Blame it on Kobe all you want.

[pick6pedro]

Gasol played poorly? Huh? The guy had 25/8/3 with 6 blocks last night. Gasol's biggest wart is that he's too nice. He should be demanding 15-20 shots / night in this series. The Celtics have absolutely no answer for him. Fortunately, Kobe has to play hero so he takes a lot of Gasol's shots.

P.S. 70% shooting, 85% FT shooting, 1 TO, and only 3 fouls.

And a complete non-factor in crunch time. STATS DON'T LIE THOUGH!

Gasol had one point in the fourth quarter, going 1-2 in a meaningless trip to the line with 10 seconds left. Good work, Pau.

Faulty reasoning. Gasol doesn't have a ton of control over how many shots he gets, especially with Kobe trying to score six points per possession and Artest randomly dribbling around for 20 seconds. Gasol has been the Lakers' best and most important player in both games; although I can see the argument for Bynum last night, he gets easy baskets because Gasol (1) draws so much attention when they play together, and (2) tires out the people who guard Bynum when Gasol is on the bench.

If Gasol were more assertive, he'd probably average 30 and 15 against this Boston team. They have no one who can guard him since KG apparently celebrated his 70th birthday after the Cleveland series. 'Sheed should be getting way more minutes, but I suppose it's possible he is still too out of shape to play that much.

So, Gasol didn't play bad in the fourth, he's just a giant pussy. He would have played well if Kobe had let him touch the ball. Got it.

Garnett got what seemed to be his only 3 rebounds. a great defensive play, and a beautiful pass last night in crunch time. He was dogmeat the rest of the game. Gasol was the opposite. For whatever reason, big Pau disappeared when he was needed. Blame it on Kobe all you want.

Gasol played well, but did not step up when his team needed him down the stretch (whether that was his fault or not). I'm not sure how that translates to he played poorly when he was stellar outside of that 6 minutes. Why do you bother?

[twballgame9]

Whatever, let's just lob this in with "I believe in clutch hitting," and be done with it.

[pick6pedro]

Whatever, let's just lob this in with "I believe in clutch hitting," and be done with it.

I'm not going to argue that a hit in a tight game in the 9th isn't more important than one in a blowout in the 5th, but you can't completely discount the other 3/4's of that player's performance just because a player barely touched the ball in the last 6 minutes of the game.

[twballgame9]

Whatever, let's just lob this in with "I believe in clutch hitting," and be done with it.

I'm not going to argue that a hit in a tight game in the 9th isn't more important than one in a blowout in the 5th, but you can't completely discount the other 3/4's of that player's performance just because a player barely touched the ball in the last 6 minutes of the game.

Gasol wasn't that good last night, particularly when compared to what he did the game before, as well as the legit point that if he weren't a shrinking violet, he should be getting 35/15 against the Corpse of Kevin Garnett, and he disappeared in crunch time. That is all. Garnett was terrible, but stepped up to make some key plays when it mattered, in particular the huge defensive rebound over Gasol and the beautiful pass to Perkins on the break.

[BCEagle74]

Garnett looks finished to me.

[twballgame9]

Garnett looks finished to me.

Just like Ortiz and the Red Sox.

[BCEagle74]

Double facial.