What would the Los Angeles Lakers be without drama? Well, they’d be the San Antonio Spurs. That’s a pretty easy answer. No doubt every NBA locker room has its share of dramatic tension. But things are much different for the Lake Show.
The latest entry into the Laker Journal of Drama is one that could explain Pau Gasol’s belly flop in the playoffs thus far.
According to MediaTakeout.com, Gasol is going through it having been left by his fiancée recently. Oh but that is just the tip of this potentially three-peat wrecking ice berg. The report goes on to claim that Gasol blamed an unnamed teammate’s wife for causing the split. Said teammate and Pau proceeded to have a nasty exchange and are no longer on speaking terms.
The knee jerk reaction is that this is the “trust” issue Andrew Bynum was referring to after the epic fail that was Game 2.
Make of this whatever you will. Maybe this is all rumor sprinkled in with bits of truth. Whatever the case Pau just hasn’t been the same since the playoffs began. Of course, his performance has dipped since that fantastic start he had to the season so I’m not quite prepared to cosign on the breakup drama just yet.
Now, if all of this is true then it speaks volumes as to why this squad has gone soft at the hardest point of the year. I’m not one to simply say “man-up” but I’d hope that Pau would dig deep and use this heartache as motivation.
These are the moments that will define this season.
A loss in Dallas tonight will validate the drama has been too deep rooted on this roster for success. A dramatic turnaround that tilts this series on its head and all of this will just be a whimsical antic dote in PJ’s next book.
Either way, all of Laker Land will be tuned in to see which team has made the trip to Dallas.