McDonald: Root for Gasol to pull through, Spurs fans

[duncan228]

Root for Gasol to pull through, Spurs fans (http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/courtside/2010/01/root-for-gasol.html)
By Jeff McDonald

Tim Duncan says he doesn't care whether Pau Gasol plays for the Lakers tonight. Maybe he's telling the truth.

If you're a Spurs fan, however, you should be rooting for Gasol, who is battling his second hamstring injury this season, to get off the treadmill and onto the court at the AT&T Center.

While you're at it, root for Kobe Bryant's fractured finger to miraculously heal, Terminator-style. Root for Ron Artest to show no ill-effects from his Christmas Day concussion (although, with Artest, how would you know?).

Root for the Lakers to be full strength tonight. It's the only way for the Spurs to accurately gauge where they stand in the Western Conference heirarchy. The Spurs underwent their offseason makeover with designs on catching the Lakers -- the real Lakers, not the walking wounded Lakers.

Gasol did not practice Monday and was limited in shootaround this morning. He is listed as doubtful for tonight's game, but is not expected to play. Bryant will play, but how well is anyone's guess -- experimenting with a splint on his hurt finger, Bryant is shooting 27.3 percent over the past three games.

A victory tonight over the Gasol-less Lakers would still count for a Spurs team that is 3-11 against teams .500 and above. A victory over the full strength Lakers would mean more.

It doesn't sound like that's an option, at this point. But it's something to root for.

[alchemist]

Really Jeff? :lol I doubt LA gave a flying f*** about the Spurs sleeping on their plane only to play the following day, those are the breaks sometimes.

[Summers]

Really Jeff? :lol I doubt LA gave a flying f*** about the Spurs sleeping on their plane only to play the following day, those are the breaks sometimes.

I think maybe you misunderstood the article.


Root for Ron Artest to show no ill-effects from his Christmas Day concussion (although, with Artest, how would you know?).

:lol

[alchemist]

I think maybe you misunderstood the article.



:lol
No I got it, it's not a measuring game if they don't play a healthy Laker team. I don't know why but it just brought up that playoff series :lol

[baseline bum]

Why in the hell would I root for the Lakers to have perfect health after seeing how heavily they profited from the Spurs getting the injury bug in 08?

[ffadicted]

I'm sure LA was rooting for Manu to magically heal in '08 too

[temujin]

Stern did root for playing G7 of the Hornets series in NO, 48 hours before G1 of the WCF in LA.

[21_Blessings]

I'm sure LA was rooting for Manu to magically heal in '08 too

Manu was in waaaaaaaaaay better shape than the TWO STARTERS the Lakers were missing that series. :lol

[baseline bum]

And waaaaaaaaaaaaay more important than your one starter and 5 minute per game bench player. Saying Bynum and Ariza were more important than Ginobili would be like Spurs fan saying Blair and Haislip were equal to Gasol.

[antgomez2009]

Manu was in waaaaaaaaaay better shape than the TWO STARTERS the Lakers were missing that series. :lol


You fool, he was playing injured!! from the Series before!!!

Which i thought was a wrong move from Pop. He was to loyal, i think if he inserted Brent Barry, they would of been more productive with him in their because he was healthy, and shooting three's and playing good D, oh and did not turn the ball over.

[doobs]

Manu was in waaaaaaaaaay better shape than the TWO STARTERS the Lakers were missing that series. :lol

Remind me, but who else besides Bynum was missing? And Bynum was gone for months and hadn't done anything of note in the NBA. The Lakers didn't "miss" him.

The Spurs having a gimpy Manu in the 2008 WCF was a much bigger deal than Bynum not playing for the Lakers.

[doobs]

Oh, Ariza! LOL.

[doobs]

Ariza and Bynum in 2008 = garbage

[mexicanjunior]

At this point, I am rooting for the least amount of resistance possible.

[cd98]

And if we lose to a wounded Laker team? Does that signify the need for even more radical changes?

[baseline bum]

Ariza, the starter who started a whole 3 games out of 24 for LA in the regular season and 0/8 he played in the 2008 playoffs. :rollin

[HarlemHeat37]

Losing to the Lakers without Gasol wouldn't be surprising, but it would indeed by heartbreaking..

If we're looking for a positive in the result of a loss, it would be that the FO would probably realize we need to make some changes..I'd rather get the W and see that our current roster is enough to contend, but at least there could be a positive in case of a loss..

[ffadicted]

Manu was in waaaaaaaaaay better shape than the TWO STARTERS the Lakers were missing that series. :lol

What does that have to do with the Lakers wishing ginobili was healthy

[Baseline]

Whether we win tonight or not depends largely on Manu and how good a game he has. But it doesn't change the fact that a player who could really help us this year is probably going to be in a sport coat on the sidelines.

His name is Ian Mahinmi, and he now only has a bit more than half a season to get acclimated enough to help us in the playoffs. That's because our brilliant coach has buried him for the whole year excpet for the NJ game.

As much as we may want a trade deadline deal to happen for us, it won't. I think the Spurs will stay with what they have - Pop won't want to work even more new guys in than he already has.

[DesignatedT]

this article is garbage

[Obstructed_View]

Sorry, but I'm too busy rooting for the Spurs to show up to a big game to worry about what the Lakers are or are not doing.

[rascal]

Remind me, but who else besides Bynum was missing? And Bynum was gone for months and hadn't done anything of note in the NBA. The Lakers didn't "miss" him.

The Spurs having a gimpy Manu in the 2008 WCF was a much bigger deal than Bynum not playing for the Lakers.

The spurs were not beating the lakers in 2008. Give it up. That series was not even close.

That spurs team was not very good. Manu had a great game in that series then stunk, inconsistent as normal. sure he wasn't 100% but he was healthy enough to play. He played well in one game that series. how do you account for that?

[PDXSpursFan]

I just want a W and I don't give a sh** about Laker's health.

[Obstructed_View]

why in the hell would i root for the lakers to have perfect health after seeing how heavily they profited from the spurs getting the injury bug in 2000, 2001 and 2008?

fify.

[rascal]

Losing to the Lakers without Gasol wouldn't be surprising, but it would indeed by heartbreaking..

If we're looking for a positive in the result of a loss, it would be that the FO would probably realize we need to make some changes..I'd rather get the W and see that our current roster is enough to contend, but at least there could be a positive in case of a loss..

Losing to the lakers tonight would turn into a big positive if the spurs realize that the frontline is not strong enough to get past a healthy Laker team and make a good move to add another big.

It would be a worst case scenario to have the spurs win a close game tonight, everyone get excited about it, with Gasol out then make no moves, then get crushed when it really counts in the playoffs.

[rascal]

I just want a W and I don't give a sh** about Laker's health.

A W means nothing if the spurs don't address the thin frontline.

[doobs]

The spurs were not beating the lakers in 2008. Give it up. That series was not even close.

That spurs team was not very good. Manu had a great game in that series then stunk, inconsistent as normal. sure he wasn't 100% but he was healthy enough to play. He played well in one game that series. how do you account for that?

Manu is at his best when he's slashing and passing and hustling and rebounding and generally being an unpredictable playmaker. Spurs fans who pay attention know this.

Yes, Manu was healthy enough to play . . . as a glorified facsimile of Brent Barry. Even in his "great" game, most of his points came off of ridiculous outside shooting. He could barely jog down the court, much less throw any opposing defense into disarray.

I'm not saying the Spurs would have definitely won that series if Manu had been healthy. But come on. They had a chance. They nearly won game 1, and that was less than 2 days after having to sleep on an airport runway after beating NO.

[rascal]

Manu is at his best when he's slashing and passing and hustling and rebounding and generally being an unpredictable playmaker. Spurs fans who pay attention know this.

Yes, Manu was healthy enough to play . . . as a glorified facsimile of Brent Barry. Even in his "great" game, most of his points came off of ridiculous outside shooting. He could barely jog down the court, much less throw any opposing defense into disarray.

I'm not saying the Spurs would have definitely won that series if Manu had been healthy. But come on. They had a chance. They nearly won game 1, and that was less than 2 days after having to sleep on an airport runway after beating NO.



If he could barely jog down the court he would not have been playing. Its a lot of exaggeration. Sure he wasn't healthy at top form but he was good enough to play and even healthy enough to play well, he just didn't.

[doobs]

^ I don't think you watched the 2008 WCF, or maybe your memory is poor.

Now explain to me how he was healthy enough to play well. Pointing to game 3---with Manu making some 3-pointers---should not convince you of anything. He got hot and played "well" in much the same way Brent Barry or Michael Finley could have played well.

Like I said, he could barely jog down the court. Watch it again.

[rascal]

^ I don't think you watched the 2008 WCF, or maybe your memory is poor.

Now explain to me how he was healthy enough to play well. Pointing to game 3---with Manu making some 3-pointers---should not convince you of anything. He got hot and played "well" in much the same way Brent Barry or Michael Finley could have played well.

Like I said, he could barely jog down the court. Watch it again.

He was fine enough to play. End of story.

[iggypop123]

ill say what i have always said. at least ginobli was on the floor. bynum ariza werent even on the floor even if it was at a crap crippled state

[UnWantedTheory]

This is a ridiculous argument. Rascal obviously didnt watch the 08 playoffs and the Laker fan is trying to compare an Ariza and Bynum who were non existent to the Lakers success of that year. Who cares? Thats then and this is now. We got a win against a very good team, with or without Kobe and Pau. It would have been sweeter had they been at full strength,but they are still a good team. It was a nice win. We shall see about the rest later. End the stupidity already.