Pau Gasol had an awful Game 1.  Game 2, his defense was better but his offense was nasty.  Since then?  He's been pretty good.

Gasol always has had trouble with Landry.  He's not the only one, by the way, there are a lot of players in the league who just don't like to be guarded by Landry.  He's very physical and he has a low center of gravity.  Think Dennis Rodman on defense.  His offensive game also is a pain in the ass, because he basically has an old man game, with lots of clever hooks and fades that you rarely see because they take a lot of practice, but you can see the work in his game.  I would love to see that guy wearing a Laker jersey someday. 

So Gasol got outplayed by Landry game 1.  Game 2, he did a much better job in assisting the Laker team defense to blanket Chris Paul or his passing lanes in game 2.  He continued that effort in game 3, and after a slow first half on offense, he broke through. Game 4 was another good game on offense, but he (along with all the other Lakers) really failed to shut down the passing lanes for 3 quarters, which led to Chris Paul killing the Lakers with his passing (Chris Paul's scoring has little effect on the Lakers, it's his assists that really kill them, but that's another blog).  But in the 4th quarter when the Lakers finally handle on Paul, Pau was apart of that; he didn't get a lot of rebounds, but neither was anyone other than Bynum..  To see people freak out on him for one turnover that he made up for the very next play just boggles my mind. Game 5 speaks for itself, it was solid all around from start to finish.

I don't know if it's because he's foreign, I don't know if because his skin is light, or because he's educated, or what, but there has to be some explanation as to why Laker fans turn on Gasol on a drop of a dime.  Kobe Bryant hasn't had 5 good games this series either and his man has been dropping 3s or getting to the paint as often as Gasol's.  I don't see any "Kobe Cryant" idiotic puns being throne in his direction.

The Lakers win as a team and they lose as a team.  This year more than ever.  Stop making Gasol the scapegoat.