Two minutes and 35 seconds.
Over the course of a lifetime, two minutes would be like taking a dime from a billionaire—unnoticeable. Over the course of a 48-minute basketball game, two minutes makes all the difference.
Yesterday in the Lakers matchup against the Celtics, Kobe Bryant left the game at the 6:46 minute mark of the first quarter after picking up a foul on Marquis Daniels. Two minutes and 35 seconds later, Lamar Odom came in for Pau Gasol at the 4:11 minute mark.
When Bryant left the game, the score was 12-9 in favor of the Celtics. When Gasol left the game, the Lakers still had nine points, the Celtics 16. The Lakers failed to convert on six offensive trips down the floor.
During that span, Gasol’s only contribution was a single defensive rebound.
Kobe wouldn’t return to the game until about the 9:26 mark of the second quarter. Gasol’s mark in Bryant’s absence: one basket, one rebound.
And you wonder why Bryant ended the night taking 29 of the Lakers’ 66 field goal attempts.
Plain and simple, with Bryant on the bench Gasol had the opportunity to establish himself as a contributing member of the Lakers offense. Normally a player to be reckoned with, Gasol has at times been a pillar of consistency and a big part of the reason why the Lakers strength lies in their size and length. Lately however, Gasol has been anything but reliable on offense. At times he has settled for long jumpers instead of driving the ball to the basket or has delivered a soft-hook shot only to watch it bounce off the lip of the rim.
Next: Gasol’s effort against the Celtics doesn’t inspire much confidence
Against the Celtics, Gasol shot 5-13, had 12 points, 7 rebounds and one assist. Of those 13 shot attempts, eight were jump-shots 10-feet or further away from the basket. He missed six of them. His inability to establish position in the lower post hurt the Lakers. Gasol chose to be passive rather than aggressive, opting to take jumpers instead of drives at the basket. As a result, he ended the night with two foul shot attempts. But hey, at least he made both of them.
Currently, the Lakers are third in rebounding at around 44 per game. The Celtics entered the contest dead last in the league at 38 per game. Gasol only had 7 rebounds, and overall the Lakers were outrebounded 30-43 by the Celtics.
Kevin Garnett was the one bleeding, albeit accidental, but what he and Perkins did to the Lakers’ big men, Gasol in particular, left the mind to wonder what could have been had Perkins been available to play game 7 of the finals last year.
Gasol has never been the guy to say, “Hey Kobe, I got this.” Essentially, that’s fine. Bryant is the number one option on the team. Gasol is a great facilitator and has no problem being the number two option. The problem is, if you’re the number two player on your team you have to play like it. Too many times this season, Gasol has left something to be desired. He may not have the personality to take over when Bryant is not playing well or when he’s simply seated on the bench, but he’s got the talent and skill to hold the Lakers down during those times, and 12 points is simply not going to cut it.
Next: It’s time for Gasol to start playing like the number two option
At some point this season, Gasol has to decide to make his presence known, just like he did at the start of the season when Bryant wasn’t playing at 100 percent because of his knee. Gasol has to command the basketball in situations where he has a clear advantage with the same exuberance and passion he exhibits when arguing a non-call to the referees.
Whatever contributions Gasol can make on offense becomes more important as Bryant ages. Bryant is always going to want to play hard fourth quarter minutes to get the win. Sunday against the Celtics, the Lakers benefitted from the hot shooting hand of Bryant, but after basically carrying the offensive load of the team for three quarters, he was gassed out in the fourth. Had Gasol contributed a little more during those quarters, we might be telling a different story.
It’s easy to look at Kobe’s 41 points against the Celtics and say he didn’t distribute the ball. He did after all end the night with a big fat zero in the assists column. It was the tenth time this season Bryant took over 40-percent of the Lakers’ shots. The Lakers are 23-5 when Bryant shoots a smaller percentage—less than 35—when on court. Clearly, the Lakers are better when there’s a balanced effort on offense.
In Bryant’s defense, aside from perhaps Lamar Odom, who else on the team was showing any signs of life on offense? Credit the Celtics defense for getting the Lakers out-of-sync offensively, preventing them from spacing the floor and moving the ball to get better shot selections.
Don’t think Gasol didn’t have an opinion on the Lakers’ lack of ball movement.
“It’s not a good thing when you finish with 10 assists,” Gasol told ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Ramona Shelburne. “When the assists are 20-plus, it’s always a good sign because it tells you that you’re sharing the ball, you’re finding the open man, and the open man is hitting the shots. That didn’t happen tonight.”
Next: Who’s really to blame for the Lakers struggles?
While Gasol didn’t really allude to Bryant taking too many shots, like he did last year at around this time, he’s in a way passing off the blame to someone else.
Go ahead and place the blame on Bryant, or don’t because Phil Jackson isn’t going to.
“I didn’t think anybody else wanted the ball,” Jackson said. “We did run a couple other things to get people in position but I thought those times [Bryant] had the best opportunities. A lot of times, it didn’t look like we were running anything out there offensively.”
There were plenty of things wrong with the Lakers effort against the Celtics. Maybe it was Ron Artest’s inability to contain Paul Pierce early on in the game. Maybe it was the bench being a non-factor. Regardless, there’s no excuse for Gasol not raising his play in a pivotal game against a quality opponent.
Perhaps Gasol was thinking that two minutes of hard work in the regular season doesn’t compare to two minutes in the playoffs. It’s a long season, but there needs to be a steady upward progression of improvement going into the playoffs. There’s no time like the present to practice good habits.
So really, two minutes potentially could make all the difference.