The insults pelted Pau Gasol more than any other Laker in 2008.
They weren't catcalls. That wasn't good-natured ribbing.
Boston fans threw rocks at the L.A. team bus as it left TD Garden. Those who questioned the Lakers' toughness threw figurative ones.
They saved the bricks and boulders for Gasol.
They assaulted his manhood and wondered if people from Spain were born without backbones.
Ductile players do not hoist championship trophies. Resoluteness wins in the NBA.
The Celtics had it, they said. Gasol and the Lakers didn't.
The final score from that Game Six beatdown haunted Hollywood's hoops squad for 12 months. The Lakers could not escape it. They could not make the pain it caused or the embarrassment it represented disappear.
131-92.
Two years later, as the Lakers and Celtics commenced Game One of the teams' 12th Finals meeting, Gasol fetched some duct tape and forced those detractors to shut the hell up.
The Lakers swatted back 131-92 in handling the Orlando Magic in the 2009 Finals. They smashed it Thursday night with ...
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Article written by Robert Kleeman
Pau For Pound: Gasol Delivers L.A. Lakers’ Opening Statement
June 4th, 2010 by Robert Kleeman Leave a reply »
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