Pau Gasol Quotations

I won't forget the hood. I won't forget the days of catching a bullet on the way to the mailbox or bricks with death threats that somehow made their way through the window.

No one could have prepared for me BBQ on pizza. I mean, both are great. But together? It was incredible.

It doesn't matter who gets what. It's just a matter of doing what it takes to win.

In-N-Out is incredible, but don't tell coach I've been going there. He would flip out and put some curse on me.

Making the playoffs three consecutive seasons is a great accomplishment.

I'm not a person or a selfish player, but we have to move the ball more, and we have to look further the team game, because we have enough talent to use different players.

With this kind of incident like we had, it was hard to be 100 percent focused. But we found a way. That's what we've been doing.

Obviously, I didn't think I traveled. I watched the play again in here, and I only took two steps, but those things happen.

Nobody here is thinking about the past and losing again. Everybody is very positive. We've got to stick together here to be more successful in Game Two and get rid of that so people will stop talking about it and bringing it up.

Navarro had a difficult start to the game, but he slowly recovered and scored 35 points. But I have to say, Croatia were a great team and you have to feel for them because they lost their cool at the end. It was down to frustration.

I had to take this game on my shoulders. The last few games that we were right there, I didn't produce down the last five minutes. I had to be a little more aggressive and luckily thinks worked out well.

Fran Vazquez played a great game, Navarro was outstanding,

We try to help each other out. We try to play together. It doesn't matter who gets what. It's just a matter of doing what it takes to win.

We're on a roll. The mentality of this team is very good. We just want to win every game and whoever we play in the playoffs is OK. We'll be ready mentally.

We've got to prove ourselves and show we can do it in the playoffs, show we're a team everybody should respect and be afraid of.

We have to be concerned a little bit, but at the same time we have to do a better job overall in playing with a little bit more hustle.

He was really on me. But we had a nice mismatch there, and I just had to shoot over him.

He's played more minutes today than in the previous three games, and it's difficult mentally to achieve that, but he's done it.

I ain't gonna lie, I was aware of it. I know I needed the assists and I was hoping that Mike Miller was going to make one of those shots (in the fourth quarter). I had a good game sharing the ball and making the right decisions.

He wanted me to keep shooting and not refuse to shoot because I was missing. Like Eddie told me once, he's been in all the different scenarios -- been the main guy, the No. 2 option, and the third option. He knows how it feels.

This was a good lesson for us. It lets us find out what's in store for us in the playoffs. Perhaps we have to step it up one notch.

I see happy people on this team, who are excited to come to work and be a part of this team, working together to get somewhere. I don't see selfish guys, who are worrying about themselves and their situations. We have guys happy to share and doing whatever it takes to win. That is what we've lacked in previous years.

It doesn't matter what I think. It was a good lesson for ourselves -- for what we'll have to fight against the favored team. It showed us reality. It showed us that we'll only get what we give ourselves. It was good because we know we have to play a notch higher.

We need a little more depth, but it's hard to say right now. We need somebody to get us a few more rebounds, a little bit of extra toughness. We need guys who will hold their ground, be a little more physical, get to loose balls, be able to defend this time of year.

That was the play we wanted to run. It's worked out well in the past and it worked out perfectly again.

That was the play we wanted to run. I took it hard to the rim and I knew I had enough time to make a move.

I wasn't going to settle. I tried to attack (Duncan). I didn't have a great game but it didn't mean I didn't want to get to the rim.

I wasn't trying to settle for a shot. I wanted to get to the rim and get a win for my team. I just wanted to be aggressive.

Most of the guys were watching the NCAA Tournament (with Connecticut losing to George Mason). It was weird for a while. We didn't know what would happen.

We're a good defensive team. We've just got to stop them earlier. We've got to figure out a way to get them out of their rhythm and their plays. We've got to make them take tough shots and force turnovers. I'm really excited about Game 3 being a different story.

We are trying hard to bounce out of this funk. That's the only way we are going to do it. We have to win one or two games, loosen up, and play with confidence.

We had a lot of characters and maybe they were too much for him in the end.

We had to release all of that frustration. It was rewarding to see each one of us working so hard to get that reward of a win.

We wanted to jump on them quick because when you get hit first it's hard to jump back up. It'll be great if we're able to keep this up and go into the playoffs with this confidence we're playing with.

We came out in the second and played hard. We want to be in that playoff race and this game was crucial.

We have this five game (home) stretch here, and we've already lost two, and we just cannot afford to lose anymore. I will do whatever it takes and trying to play with a little more confidence than I did before these two games and be more aggressive.

Unfortunately, we're not machines. Absolutely, we know what's going on.

We didn't seem to feel comfortable. That was the feeling I had during the whole game. We couldn't get to our offense. We couldn't get to what we wanted out of the plays we ran. It really wasn't a consistent offense on our part. We were very sloppy.

We're not trying to slow down. We're trying to keep our minds in a competitive mode. We'll face whoever we have to face.

We are just not able to finish games right now. We are not playing the way we should down the stretch. It might be a confidence thing.

We were able to wear them out a little bit at the end. Finally we rebounded and made some defensive stops toward the end.

We believe in ourselves. We believe that winning the third game changes the whole thing. We're so anxious to win that first game, and everybody keeps reminding you of the record that it's hard to get rid of. But I don't think it's much of what (Dallas) did. It's more about what we didn't do well enough to hang in there and have a chance to win.

We have to come out hard in Game 3, really establish ourselves at home and get a win there. The whole scenario changes then, but we've got to do it. We've got to make it happen. I'm really excited about that, going back home with our fans and getting this monkey, that is really getting heavy, off of our back.

We need to show everyone that we're a team people should respect and be afraid of.

We just got out of the game for a few minutes and that really cost us. It was frustrating the way we were turning the ball over and giving it back to them without making them work.

We weren't ready. We didn't come out ready to compete at their level. It was frustrating because we weren't clicking from the start.

We turned the ball over down the stretch and they came down and took the lead there. It was a little bit of everything, execution was definitely a factor. We need to execute in the fourth quarter.

There's nothing on the court he hasn't seen. He's got an answer for everything.

The thing we wanted to do is jump on them quick. When a team is not having a good year, when you jump on them early and hit them first it's hard for them to get back up.

They started doubling and we kind of stopped running plays for the post-ups. We kind of got lost a little bit. Especially in the second quarter, we got out of our game for a few minutes and that really cost us.

They double-teamed me almost every time I got the ball. Obviously, I'd like to have a better shooting night, but give their defense credit.

They do play off me and challenge me to take that 15- to 17-foot jumper and make it. Once I make a couple, they will have to do something different.

This organization has shown from the beginning that they believe in me, and I am looking forward to being a part of an organization dedicated to winning,

I took it hard to the rim. I knew I had enough time to make a move or even change directions if I had to. I made a tough shot and we got a great win here.

It was good the way we shared the ball tonight and made shots.

It was frustrating. We were turning the ball over without making them work for it. It was really an intense game for a while, and we had a very good chance to be right there. We lost it for a few minutes, and we paid for it.

It means that it's possible. It means we have a chance until we lose again. We've been trying to take it one game at a time all series long. We've got to fight like we did in Game 3.

It's a really bad ending that nobody wanted.

It's all very positive. If Mike would get that, and me making All-Star team, it says how well we're doing collectively. We wouldn't be getting any individual awards or respect if collectively we weren't doing a good job.

It's the usual thing with him. He likes to run his mouth. I said something back and he went crazy. That's fine.

It's hard to tell what happened with coach Brown,

It's hard to play them when they're shooting the ball with that confidence. They did a good job running the ball and running 1,000 pick-and-rolls and they made their shots.

It's hard to overcome mentally when you are down 3-0 and they make a run. They get comfortable when they get in a lead, and it's hard for us to come back and make a run.

It's hard to overcome mentally when you are down 3-0 and they make a run.

It's been a mad ending to the game.

You think about it. We thought about it before the game, but not while you are playing. They beat us the first two here. Now we get hope to get them at home.

It's great. It says that things have been going well for me and this franchise. I've been healthy for the most part and consistent.

It's better. I just needed a few days of rest. A lot of things were bothering me. My knees and my foot started hurting (April 15) in Houston. It's gone away. I haven't felt it, and that's what we were looking for.

It wasn't anything. I shot the ball (poorly) tonight. I wasn't shooting the ball well. Ruben tried to front me. Tried to front me and not allow me to get the ball. Reggie was on me. Marcus was on me. They all tried to guard me.

I've got to be a little more aggressive, bring it from the beginning. We can't afford to have a first half like we did the first game.

The turnovers cause you to lose control of the game. It was frustrating. We were turning the ball over and giving them the ball back without making them work for it.

It was just overall, a game that felt really good. I was very aware of it, I'm not going to lie. I knew that I needed the assist.

It was just a bad game. We were unable to win when we needed to. It was frustrating the way we started game. We weren't being aggressive. And we gave them life. We let them believe they could win and the crowd carried them. We have to start playing with a better effort.

It's really painful for the team to lose Damon. He's been a great leader for us and we'll miss his great finishes down the stretch.

The last few games were tough because I didn't produce in the last five minutes. Tonight it was time to step up, be a little more aggressive and produce. Luckily I was aggressive and things worked out well.

The last couple of years we thought we had a better chance going against San Antonio and going against Phoenix because we were 3-1 against them (in the regular season). We lost to both teams 4-0. The playoffs are different.

I knew they were not very fast off their feet and that they are very foul-prone - they put you on the line a lot. I knew if I tried to take them off the dribble and attacked early, it would open up for me and my teammates.

In the first half, I was aggressive and then in a very good scoring rhythm making buckets. In the second half, they had to do something. They started digging in and forcing me to pass the ball and I'm glad to do it.

I just took the day off to get my legs back and get my knees back. Whatever it takes to do that, I'll do. I'm not too worried about it. We'll see what happens (tonight).

I'll take the spirit we had. I was just trying to be aggressive and physical.

I haven't felt any (pain) today and that's what I was looking for. We were looking for release from a lot of the fatigue and all that soreness that I had, and it's worked pretty well.

In the second half they had to do something. They started coming at me and I had to start passing the ball. If they want to play me straight up, I'm going to try to hurt them because I know I'm hard to stop when I'm one-on-one.

I guess they realized that in this league, to get far in the playoffs, you have to be more physical and play better at the defensive end. I don't think they did that in the past. It doesn't matter if you do it in the regular season. You got to do it in the playoffs. That's when all the eyes are on you.

Hopefully, next game, I'm going to start with a better confidence level, be more aggressive and really take it to them.

I couldn't get going. I was just a little bit out of rhythm. It took me a while to get myself into the game and get myself comfortable out there and play at the level I'm supposed to play.

I feel amazing. If they play straight up, I'm going to try and hurt them.

I could have played, ... I've been able to play for a while now, but Memphis wanted me to rest so I can be ready for the season. They don't really want me to play during the summer because the season is so long.

I know that if I perform at a really high level, we're going to have a better chance to win.

All the stats don't mean a thing if we don't get the win. The most important stat is the win. Nothing else really matters if you don't get the win.

I just need to get more aggressive and let my teammates feel all that energy and all that emotion.

I want to be on the floor. I want to fight for the win.

I take losses very personal and very serious.

The NBA is tough. Everybody plays hard and every game is vital.

I want to keep playing at the kind of level where I'll get respect from everybody.

We have a great friendship that I hope will last our entire lives.

The coach has put a lot of trust in me to make good decisions in the post.

I don't think there's a lot of discipline right now.

When it comes to playoff time, I pull the energy and the motivation.

I feel like I can compete against any physical player.

I try to look at what KG does, what Tim Duncan does, what Amare Stoudamire does ... I compare and evaluate myself with them.