The Pau factor: Lakers in the NBA finals
It’s the gift that might keep on giving until the Lakers have to move into an abandoned Boeing hangar to house all their Lawrence F. O’Brien trophies.
Or, as Kobe Bryant said with a laugh Thursday night, “I talk about the trade with guys around the league and they don’t really call it a trade. A donation, maybe.”
Pau Gasol is a stately 7-footer with widely spaced eyes that digest things quickly. Throw a basketball anywhere near either one of his hands, and as high as you want, and he’ll catch it. Take away one side of the lane and his feet are sweet enough to get to the other side.
All of that was known Feb. 1, when the Lakers got him from Memphis in exchange for what Charles Barkley called a “happy meal.” But when you play the Western Conference finals against the four-time NBA champions and the player of this decade, you need a little soul, too.