FIBA World Cup: Heartbreak For Pau Gasol (Again)
No matter how you dissect what has happened to him, no matter what measurement you use to explain failure, the playoffs in 2011, the Olympics in 2012, the playoffs in 2013, the D’antoni disaster in 2014, it has all been the same pattern at the very end. Disappointment overwhelming the best intentions.
February 9, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Injured Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol watches game action against the Chicago Bulls during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Paul Gasol has been through several lifetimes in four years. Injured and frustrated and sometimes angry, things have not worked out the way he thought. But this Spanish summer was supposed to be different. Pau and his brother Marc were to be a formidable combo with additions. Generous Ricky Rubio. Jose Calderon on the perimeter. Serge Ibaka and his hands policing the rim. And Pau, well Pau would be who he always was. He would be the best player and carry his team on his home soil to the gold medal game. He would do this because he had to; it meant that much to him to perform for his country, to finally slay the Americans.
He had gotten close in the Olympics in 2012 but he didn’t have enough help to offset Lebron James and Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony. But this year the Spanish team was going up against an inexperienced American squad. No Lebron or Kobe or CP3 or Carmelo or Westbrook or Durant. Derrick Rose was not himself. James Harden was allergic to defense. Steph Curry was struggling with his shot. There was no way that Kenneth Faried could best Pau. No. Ever. Loving. Way. Even Charles Barkley picked Spain to win.
Falling short was unacceptable against a French team without Tony Parker. France, the heavy underdog in Madrid, took the punches necessary to stab a foe in the heart even as everyone was against them. But that is not what they will say about this FIBA World Cup quarterfinal game. What they will say is that Spain shot 32%. What they will say is that Spain could not keep Rudy Gobert off the boards. What they will say is that it was a game in which Marc Gasol was terrible. What they will say is that Spain’s home court advantage was muted by having beaten France last week by 24 points so France was out for revenge.
It’s all so very twisted and complicated about being the team to beat and playing on your home soil. The nuts and bolts of it is fighting off the pressure. For Spain, it started off ugly and it never got any better. It started off with misses by Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol and Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez as if they were nervous. Spain didn’t make a field goal the first three and a half minutes. It began a trend and allowed France, behind the craftiness of Boris Diaw, the free throw shooting of Nic Batum, the frenzied rebounding of Rudy Gobert, the solid play of Thomas Huertel, to be up by 7 at halftime.
This is the beauty of sports, the unexpected oh my God David is besting Goliath.
Spain took a 40-39 lead and then for the rest of the third quarter- four minutes and change- they scored exactly three points.
Pau had his moments in the fourth quarter with six minutes left in the game and down by 6. He had a Kobe-esque task to change his character. Somehow, carry a nation all alone. Ricky Rubio had been awful. His brother Marc was a no-show. Serge Ibaka missed nearly every shot that he took. So he had a burden. And there he was. Pau missed a shot and had a layup blocked by young Rudy Gobert. Undeterred Pau then made a layup and went to the line. He turned the ball over and his last field goal was with two minutes left in the game. It was his last moment of pride for his country.
It wasn’t particularly close at the end. This Spanish team on Spanish land, the land of the Inquisition and the land of the voyage to the Americas, were the ones expected to dethrone the hyper talented Westerners. But instead they looked like a bunch of European players not good enough to beat their own shadow.
Apr 11, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Pau Gasol hugs Golden State Warriors guard Steve Blake (25) after the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. Warriors defeated the Lakers 112-95. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
And so there you have it, one more Pau Gasol heartbreak, one more moment of despair and this may have been the toughest of all. It was in front of his countrymen though he was not to be blamed because he was the best player on the basketball court. But he was responsible; Pau is Spain just like Rafa Nadal is so very Spain. His country was embarrassed and he was a part of it just like the Lakers were embarrassed and he was a part of that too. Those are the things that don’t disappear, that haunt the mind, that remind you of shame.
Gone is the myth about Spain and their great inside play and their great unselfishness and their great…whatever. It fell flat as Spain fell to the earth. It was nothing like in 2006 when Spain won the World Championships and Pau Gasol was the Most Valuable Player and the third leading scorer in the tournament behind Yao Ming. Eight years later Gasol was still valuable but he is not what he used to be. No one ever is.
Sadly, no one cares about beginnings. If sports lays claim to anything it is what you do at the end that matters. With the end here, Pau Gasol is back to his regular job in the United States. As he showed in the World Cup Games, Pau is still a 17 and 8 guy. But he is not the difference between winning and losing anymore; but we already knew that, knew the Pau of 2009 and 2010 had long expired and so have his glory days. He was hoping for a second World Cup medal, his second, to salvage these years of discontent. It has been 4 years since he won anything and now it will be even longer. Perhaps this was his last cry for his beloved country. His international career may be done.
It’s goodbye to Spain and at the same time- this is also the beauty of sports too, how quickly things change- it is hello to Chicago and a new dream yet to begin for Pau Gasol.