Pau Gasol Finds Fountain of Youth With Chicago Bulls
Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers were the laughingstock of the NBA last year, and Pau Gasol was seemingly in the twilight of his career. Some even said he was finished, soft and a bench player at best. It’s almost comical reflecting on those assumptions and evaluations of Gasol’s game considering the season he is having with the Chicago Bulls.
Gasol has found the fountain of youth in the Windy City, and he is bathing in that fountain consistently, playing rejuvenated basketball, carrying a Bulls team mired by injuries. On Saturday night, Gasol recorded a career-high 46 points against the Milwaukee Bucks at 34 years old. Anyone who said Gasol would be this dominant last year would have been laughed at and shown the door.
Gasol’s statistics in nearly every category have shot North so far this season, and he has improved immensely on the most heavily criticized aspect of his game — defense. Widely renowned for being soft on defense, Gasol has wreaked havoc on Chicago’s opponents nearly doubling his block total per game, playing in a fashion reminiscent to his best days on the Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies on both sides of the ball.
On a team composed of young emerging stars lacking playoff experience, Gasol has become a leader on the court and in the locker room, bringing his championship experience to an organization starving for another Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Obviously, the current Bulls are nowhere near as talented as the last team to hoist a championship trophy in Chi-Town, but they are without a doubt the best team to hit the floor at the United Center since then. That says a lot about how talented the Bulls are this season, and how much they have improved offensively.
The only thing standing in the Bulls’ way this season are the nagging injuries of Derrick Rose, Mike Dunleavy, rookie sharpshooter Doug McDermott and Joakim Noah, who is still recovering from offseason knee surgery.
If Gasol and the Bulls are healthy at the end of April and beyond, they are easily the favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2015 NBA Finals.
Dan Marmaduke is a Chicago Cubs, NFL, and NBA writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarmadukeSports and add him to your network on Google.
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