Los Angeles Lakers: Pau Gasol’s 5 best playoff games as a Laker
By Jason Reed
4. Game 7 in the first round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs vs. Denver Nuggets
The Los Angeles Lakers did not win the NBA Title in 2012 nor make it to the NBA Finals, which hurts this game in the ranking. It was a huge Game 7 performance from Gasol that absolutely deserves to be ranked and if it led to a title then it probably would have ranked higher on this list.
The third-seeded Lakers narrowly edged out the Denver Nuggets in the first round before running into the young and talented Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round. The Lakers lost in five games to a team that had three future MVPs and would go on to lose to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
Despite the disappointing early exit, Laker fans could not be disappointed with Gasol because without him the Lakers may not have even mad it to the second round. In a win-or-go-home game against the Nuggets Gasol was arguably the best player on the court, scoring 23 points with 17 rebounds, six assists and four blocks.
This was not a situation where Kobe Bryant carried the team in the game, either. Kobe had a pretty bad game (for his standards) only scoring 17 points on 7-16 shooting. The Nuggets did a great job in limiting Kobe Bryant in that series and it culminated with a strong defensive effort in Game 7.
However, they were not able to slow down Pau Gasol enough and he managed to have the fourth-best playoff game as a Laker.