Pau Gasol is a great player, but he does have a weakness that could be exploited during the playoffs.
The Weakness is Weakness
On Sunday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, Pau Gasol came away with the win, but the rest of the league (particularly the playoff bound teams) got a reminder as to how to disrupt the big Spaniard’s game.
His final numbers for the game were pretty impressive. Pau Gasol scored 17 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and had 5 assists. Those are numbers that most players in the league would love to have.
However, basketball is more than just stats.
The game showed how to effective play against Pau Gasol on defense. You have to use your strength and move the big man from his comfortable spots on the floor. You have to physically wear him down in order to take away his consistency.
Erick Dampier isn’t a lot of things, but he is strong. On Sunday, he used his strength to make Pau Gasol uncomfortable.
Tough Challenges
When you browse through the teams that will potentially be in the playoffs, a few of them have guys on the roster that could cause some problems for Pau Gasol.
The team that is directly ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers in the standings is the San Antonio Spurs. Their combination of Kurt Thomas and Tim Duncan has to be a cause of concern.
Kurt Thomas, despite weighing only 235 pounds, is one of the strongest defenders in the league. He’ll definitely use his physicality against Pau Gasol.
Offensively, the San Antonio Spurs will look to have Tim Duncan wearing down Pau Gasol by forcing him to play defense. The team will also look to attack Andrew Bynum as well to get him into foul trouble. If Andrew Bynum isn’t in the lineup, then Pau Gasol is forced to guard Tim Duncan.
The Boston Celtics have PJ Brown and Kendrick Perkins, the Detroit Pistons have an army of big men, the Orlando Magic has Dwight Howard, and the Cleveland Cavaliers have Ben Wallace.
Granted, Pau Gasol isn’t going to be dominated by all of these guys. We’re just saying that these guys have the potential to cause problems for him if they play him physically.
Adjustments
Everyone knows that basketball is a game of adjustments.
It’s a human chess game where you counter a good move with another good move. In basketball terms, if a defense figures out how to stop you, then you change things up to continue scoring.
Pau Gasol is a finesse player. Most European big men are finesse players. That’s nothing new.
On nights where the defense is getting physical with Pau Gasol, the Los Angeles Lakers can adjust by having the 7′0″, 260 center use that finesse of his.
The perimeter players can also provide some help for Pau Gasol on offense as well. The Los Angeles Lakers can utilize a lot of cuts by the guards to help out Pau Gasol against the opposing big men. He’s gifted enough of a passer to make it where his defender has to stay focused in case a perimeter player breaks through the paint.
Having Pau Gasol playing some pick and roll offense also utilizes his strengths as a finesse player as well.
Closing Thoughts
Pau Gasol is going to have to figure out how to adjust in order to help the Los Angeles Lakers win another NBA championship.