Marc Gasol embracing ‘Pulp Fiction’-like role but proves he belongs in Lakers’ rotation

Single-game plus-minus can be a noisy metric, but there are situations in which it carries weight, crystallizing a player’s impact on a game.

The Lakers being plus-17 in Marc Gasol’s 17 minutes against the Denver Nuggets in their 93-89 win on Monday night was one of those instances.

The Lakers, playing without LeBron James and Dennis Schröder and having lost six of their last seven games, were in a three-way tie with Dallas and Portland entering the game. A loss would’ve dropped them to the No. 7 seed — aka the play-in tournament — and with games against the Clippers and Trail Blazers later in the week, they were at risk of cementing themselves there with so few games remaining.

With Andre Drummond picking up his fourth foul at the 2:22 mark of the second quarter, Gasol checked in to defend MVP favorite Nikola Jokic. At that point, the Lakers were down three points, 40-37. By halftime, the Lakers had a three-point lead, 45-42, winning Gasol’s two-minute stint by six points to flip the game’s momentum.

In the second half, Gasol, not Montrezl Harrell, was the first center off the bench. He played from the 6:03 mark of the third through the 5:03 mark of the fourth, one of his longest stretches of the season. When Gasol subbed out for Drummond, the Lakers were up by eight points. But Denver quickly closed the gap, cutting the deficit to two. Vogel, frantically adjusting, inserted Gasol to close the game for the final 1:37. The Lakers won that stretch by two.

“He’s a hell of a weapon, you know what I mean?” Vogel said. “And so is Drummond and so is Trezz. You know, these are what are called good problems for a coach. And Drum’s the guy who is newest here, so I think it’s important for him to get as many minutes as he can during this stretch to get comfortable with everything we’re trying to do, to look at matchups and for us to figure out the best ways to utilize his skill set, because we’re going to need all three of those guys.”

Since Drummond’s arrival — but even before then too — Gasol has continued to show he deserves a role in the rotation. He should be the Lakers’ primary backup center. If anything, he’s played more like their starting center than their third-string option.

Gasol provides elements that Drummond and Harrell can’t match. He’s the best defensively by a solid margin. He’s the best shooter, floor-spacer and passer. He’s a 3-and-D big at a time when those skills have never been more valuable.

Certain matchups will test his lack of foot speed and agility. But there also are matchups — like against Denver, a potential first-round opponent for the Lakers — in which he’s clearly the best non-Anthony Davis center option against Jokic. Against most elite opponents, he’s the best choice.

Gasol’s one-on-one post defense remains great, as he has demonstrated at times this season, including most notably against Joel Embiid in Philadelphia.

Watch here as Gasol plays Jokic near perfectly. He has his arm up to contest his slow, high-arched shot. He sticks with him on his rip-through move and contests his shot. He jumped early, risking a foul, but he avoided making contact. This is about as good as it gets from a non-Embiid/Rudy Gobert type.

“They run a lot of actions for him, so you just try to be as physical as possible with him,” Gasol said. “He does a great job, as soon as you kind of get your arms around, he does a good job of using it against you. You try to be physical without your arms as much as possible.”

In this clip, Gasol tests the physicality limit, sticking with Jokic on a drive, not falling for a pump fake and then blocking his shot. This was arguably a foul — it’s tough to tell how much contact there was with this angle — but it wasn’t called. Those are the breaks of the game sometimes.

“I’ve played him plenty of times,” Gasol said. “… I try to be as physical as possible, use my length defensively, use my strength. He’s gonna make shots. They give him the ball at every spot possible on the floor with different angles, different screens. They look for him at all times. He has great talent and great vision, so he’s hard to help. And on the other end, you have to attack him a little bit, make him think, make him work.”

After the game, Jokic praised Gasol’s defense against him.

Nikola Jokic: “I think we all forget who Marc Gasol is. The guy who won two defensive players of the year.”

— Mike Singer (@msinger) May 4, 2021

Gasol won one Defensive Player of the Year award, but the point rings true. Gasol remains a great defender situationally and a good defender overall. The Jokic matchup is tailor-made for him.

Gasol’s presence unlocked the second-unit offense. He spaced the floor, burning Jokic and JaVale McGee for playing off him. He found shooters and cutters. He set screens and executed dribble handoffs. He allowed Talen Horton-Tucker, who has seemingly been driving into wall after wall lately, ample space to attack the rim.

One of the biggest criticisms of Gasol this season — and in Toronto and his later years in Memphis — has been his reluctance to shoot open shots. Gasol can be selfless to a fault. But against Denver, he shot when open, knocking in three 3s. As the trailer in semi-transition, this is the exact shot he needs to take, without hesitation.

Gasol even faked a dribble handoff to Horton-Tucker, shifting the Nuggets’ defense and giving himself a wide-open 3-point look. These are the types of plays he’s capable of consistently making but can sometimes choose not to while he’s busy looking for his teammates.

Vogel said postgame that he’s noticed the increased assertiveness from Gasol recently, which he chalks up to him growing more comfortable with his teammates and in the Lakers’ offensive system.

“I think there have been some games, I remember at Toronto I think he had a 20-point night or something like that, but it’s just part of the evolution of a guy in his first year with a team,” Vogel said. “You find your way. What I loved about Marc before we signed him was that he dominated us twice last year without scoring. He dominated with his defense and rebounding, and I think he had four points and eight points but was a huge factor in those wins.

“So I’m content with him playmaking and facilitating and carrying the 3-point line. And as the season’s gone on, he’s gotten more comfortable in our system and been more aggressive and we welcome that.”

Gasol also ignited the Lakers’ transition attack, as shown here. His outlet passing is special. This is an epic touchdown pass to Wesley Matthews, who catches the ball in stride before scoring over two defenders.

Gasol’s role has been a topic for over a month now, ever since Drummond’s signing. Gasol shifted from the starting center, playing 18 to 20 minutes most nights, to the third-string center, collecting DNP-CDs unless Drummond was out or in foul trouble. After the Drummond signing, Gasol declined to speak with the media at his first three opportunities before speaking after he started a game in Sacramento.

Recently, Gasol received a DNP-CD in nine of the previous 13 games before Monday. Following the Lakers’ loss to the Raptors, Kyle Kuzma advocated on Gasol’s behalf that the team find him minutes as a way to get out of its funk. That suggestion proved prescient given Gasol’s play on Monday. Gasol said he and Kuzma spoke after Sunday’s game — with Gasol comparing his role to The Wolf, the fixer from “Pulp Fiction” — but he wasn’t aware of what Kuzma said to the media.

“He mentioned something after the game, but I was not aware,” Gasol said. “And I told him, ‘I’m fine on that Mr. Wolf role.’ You just come in whenever things aren’t going great and kind of help everyone. So, I accepted it. I’ll try to do as best as possible at that role.”

Kuzma isn’t the only teammate advocating on Gasol’s behalf. Horton-Tucker, who was arguably the biggest beneficiary of Gasol’s presence with the bench, was complimentary of Gasol’s play, as well the handling of his fluctuating role.

“Of course, he could be mad that he’s not playing or anything like that or he’s not getting the minutes that he wants,” Horton-Tucker said. “But ultimately, we’re trying to win. Somebody has to sacrifice. No matter who it is, I feel like we all know that. So I feel like it’s great to have Marc too. Without him, tonight would’ve been a little different.”

It would have been. The flip side of Gasol’s impressive plus-minus is that the Lakers lost the 31 minutes he was on the bench by 13 points. Vogel claimed he was going to find Gasol minutes in this game, regardless of Drummond’s foul trouble, but we’ll never know if that was actually the case — or how many minutes he would’ve played. Gasol was on pace to not playing in the first half, if not for Drummond’s fourth foul. Had he not played, or even played any fewer minutes given how close the final margin was, the Lakers probably lose.

As Vogel described the importance of the win and the Lakers getting back to Laker basketball identity-wise, he inadvertently laid out the case for Gasol to play more: The Lakers, at full strength, have enough offensive firepower with James, Davis — who was brilliant and looked more like himself against Denver — and Schröder. The Lakers need the rest of their role players to fill in the margins, especially defensively. That’s where Gasol has a clear edge over Drummond and Harrell.

There is room for all three centers in the rotation, but Gasol deserves a seat at the table and not to be cast aside.

“That’s the pillar of our culture here,” Vogel said. “We’re a defensive-minded group that likes to get after it and make teams uncomfortable and suffocate them on the defensive end. When you have Bron, AD and Dennis, you have the offensive firepower to put up huge offensive numbers. That’s why we believe in this group. But it starts with the defensive end and that’s what helped us win a championship last year.”

That’s the formula the Lakers will once again need to use this season, and Gasol is their best non-Davis option. He made his case loud and clear on Monday: He’s the fixer for a team that has recently needed a lot of fixing recently.

Marc Gasol embracing ‘Pulp Fiction’-like role but proves he belongs in Lakers’ rotation

Related Reading