NBA Finals 2010: Pau Gasol Should Thank Media for the Kevin Garnett Controversy

The media was wrong.  Gasol was right to be mad about how his comments concerning Kevin Garnett were portrayed.  However at the end of the day, Pau should be thankful that the media created extra drama for this NBA final.

After game one, some media outlets such as ESPN suggested that Gasol had made post game comments stating that he no longer respected Garnett’s game.  Garnett was subsequently asked for his thoughts about Gasol’s comments concerning his lack of game.

How could ESPN’s parent company be so lucky?  The NBA finals not only pitted the two most storied franchises in NBA history in the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics but now even more casual observers are going to tune in to see how Garnett was going to respond to the “trash-talking” Gasol.  

The only problem with the story line was that Gasol never said he didn’t respect Garnett’s game.

After game one, Gasol was asked the following question:

How would you say you’ve most changed as a player since then?  And if you could say something about Kevin’s game that’s maybe changed since you were first introduced to him, what stands out?

A fair question to which Gasol responded:

. . . And also on Kevin’s part he’s also lost some explosiveness.  He’s more of a jump shooter now, you could say, comes off the lane.  Before he had a really quick first step and was getting to the lane and was more aggressive then.  Time passes and we all suffer it one way or the other, but he’s still a terrific player, a terrific competitor and he’s going to bring everything he’s got.  You can count on that.

He’s still a terrific player? He’s a terrific competitor?  He’s going to bring everything he’s got?

Yes, Gasol did note t...

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