| 04 June 2009
Pau Gasol versus Rashard Lewis
There isn't a better match-up of conflicting styles and philosophies than the power forwards in this series.
Pau Gasol is slow and methodical. He makes his living in the post and is about as polished from three to six feet as any player in this league. There may not be a better big man for the triangle offense than Gasol, and the Lakers don't seem to realize this until their backs are against the wall and need Gasol to have a big game. He is a very good passer out of the post and seems to augment the games of Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza.
Many have questioned Gasol's toughness saying that he is soft and can't handle the pressure, but anyone that says that must have bought into the Euro hype. It's easy to claim that a big man with some polish from another country is soft because that's the stereotype, but Gasol doesn't fall into that category. He seems hell-bent to prove it this postseason. Gasol is averaging 11.3 rebounds over these last 18 playoff games. He has never averaged double-digit rebounds in the regular season or any previous playoff run, but he has managed to do just that with the screws tightened in this postseason. He is also averaging 2 blocks per game and fouled out for the first time this season during the Lakers' first round match-up against Utah. He is showing a willingness to throw his body around and isn't backing away from contact. Soft players don't do that.
Gasol will have a tough test against Rashard Lewis.
Many people scoffed when the Magic bid against themself and gave Lewis huge amounts of money (and we should scoff because that was a ridiculous contract). Now Otis Smith and the rest of Orlando's front office look like inadvertant geniuses because Lewis just so happens to fit to Stan Van Gundy's style of play. Like Hedo Turkoglu, Lewis gives the Magic an unconventional forward that can stretch the defense with a strong outside shot, the quickness to blow by most power forwards and enough length and strength to bother players defensively.
Lewis will cause a match-up problem for Gasol because Pau isn't nearly quick enough to stay in front of him. Lewis will also pull Gasol away from the basket with his dangerous outside shooting which will open up the lane for Hedo, Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee to penetrate. It will also allow Dwight Howard to go to work one-on-one with Andrew Bynum which is quite possibly the biggest mismatch in this series.
Conclusion
The Lakers do have the ability to offset any potential match-up problems with their own hybrid, Lamar Odom. There will be stretches in this game that Gasol moves to post where he is more comfortable and Odom comes in at power forward to create his own mismatches (probably because Bynum will be in foul trouble). The goal for either team is to maximize what they get out of Gasol and Lewis when they are defending each other.
Lewis will need to establish that he can get to the basket whenever he likes to force Gasol to sluff off on the perimeter. Once Gasol does that, Lewis his the ability to beat Pau to a spot on offense and start hitting outside jumpers. On defense, Lewis' main goal will to stay out of foul trouble and deny Gasol from ever getting the ball. Gasol is just too good in the post for Lewis to consistently stop him once Pau has it down low.
Gasol will have to make life hard on Lewis in the post using his length and polish to get to the rim. Gasol is also a very intelligent player and will have to use that as an asset. He can get Lewis into foul trouble early if he can create contact in the post. On defense, Gasol needs do whatever he can to bother Lewis' outside shot. If that isn't going down early, it puts that much more pressure on Alston, Lee and Turkoglu to make plays.
The forward match-ups (especially this one) are going to decide this series.
Advantage: Lakers (slightly)
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