Gasol, Bryant need a little help
Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol likely will take the most heat for the Lakers’ loss in Game 4 because they’re the team’s best players. As the only Lakers players called upon to give postgame press conferences, Bryant and Gasol are naturally the ones to whom the questions fall.
But Bryant (33 points) and Gasol (21 points) combined for 61-percent of their team’s points Thursday night. In contrast, the Celtics’ box score features six players — including two bench players — in double figures.
Still, after the game Bryant was forced to answer questions on why he wasn’t effective.
“They’re a great scheming team,” said Bryant. “They have a strategy in place, and they execute extremely well. I feel pretty comfortable. Wasn’t pleased with the way I took care of the ball tonight. I thought I did a horrible job of that. But it’s a great defense.”
For Gasol, the questions centered around why Rasheed Wallace was so effective guarding him.
“He’s longer,” Gasol said of Wallace. “But there’s also long players in the league. I mean, I don’t treat it any different when one or another player is guarding me. I try to attack and be aggressive and go by him. If I see the opportunity to shoot it, if I see it, I seize it.”
The Lakers were hampered by the unavailability of Andrew Bynum, who played just 12 minutes because of a knee injury.
“It bothered us in the second half not having Andrew be able to come out and play the start of the second half,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. “He tried a couple minutes, but it just wasn’t there for him. We’re glad we have a couple days off and we can kind of get him back hopefully in position where he can help us out again.”
Bynum was hurt, but Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, and Derek Fisher can do more to help the Lakers than they did in Game 4.
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