Pau Gasol was always questioned about his toughness. Especially in last year's NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. He was also questioned about his toughness against point guards! Have you ever seen him dunked by Baron Davis? Well you should because I got for you right here.
He struggled badly last year against Kevin Garnett in the NBA Finals. As you can see here, it was a lop-sided match-up with K.G. winning. But Pau Gasol has been struggling a bit this year in the Finals as well when he faces Dwight "Superman" Howard.
Gasol only averaged close to 15 points per game last year in the Finals. He was criticized badly to not only being overpowered by the Kevin Garnett, but also Kendrick Perkins and Leon Powe.
Gasol was so soft that when you Google up "Pau Gasol toughness" as John Hollinger of ESPN would say, there won't be many results. I tried myself and if you look at it, there isn't many results actually. Don't believe me? Try it, actually don't, some people are too lazy so here is the link.
Gasol is soft. We all know it. He is not tough as all those players like Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard, Roy Hibbert, Ben Wallace, Amare Stoudemire, Jermaine O'Neal, Tyson Chandler, D.J. White, and all of those guys.
But in Game Four of the NBA Finals, he labeled himself as a "tough" player. Sure, the stats weren't would you call amazing (16 points and ten rebounds) but come on, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher were the guys of that game.
But in every "key juncture" (as what John Hollinger would call it), Gasol was their. He did his dunks, his shots, and his blocks during that game. He labeled himself as the man of the court.
And if you don't believe is Gasol labeled as a tougher player and not as soft as he used to be, check out this excerpt from John Hollinger:
Gasol overcame two early fouls to do yeoman's work defending Orlando's Dwight Howard, the type of physical beast who was supposed to overpower Mr. Softie. Using his quickness to front the post, Gasol has denied catches throughout the series. Using his footwork after the catch, he has repeatedly put himself in Howard's way. Yes, he had some double-team help; everybody does. But Gasol was a major factor in Howard's committing seven turnovers. Even the three-second violations were partly his doing, as he aggressively denied the initial entry pass.
See what I mean?
According to the Sports Illustrated magazine issue I read, it says Gasol hit the weights this year to gain his toughness and not being the Mr. Softman he was in the 2007-2008 season. This year, Gasol has got it on and has probably bench-pressing and all of those stuff I have started doing as well.
"I just feel stronger," he told John Hollinger at ESPN. "I feel like the work that I put in this year has paid off and is paying off. I'm able to hold my ground a lot better, and overall I think I'm doing pretty well."
So with that said, can Pau Gasol get tougher or softer? We don't know but so far, he is getting better and he looks to improve further.
Now don't get soft with me!
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