It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Pau Gasol provides the key to the Lakers championship hopes, but I must say I felt so good about my last prognostication it was satisfying to just sit back and watch the Lakers decimate the last 7 teams we’ve faced. The Lakers offense and defense are so fluid with Gasol on the floor that the efforts of opposing teams almost seem futile. We’re so big, so fast and so strong that the longest a game seems competitive is about 15-20 minutes. There will be some teams that give the Lakers problems, and malaise will set in at some point and questions will be raised about this team’s ability to deal with it…happens every season. The most important thing when those times arise is always the response, and I frankly don’t see these Lakers folding it in and giving up. If anything, the current Laker team is tougher mentally and physically than in any year since our three-peat to start the decade.

Pau Gasol isn’t the key in and of himself, but because of what he allows Phil Jackson to do with the rotation. Being able to bring Lamar off the bench gives the Laker reserves firepower that few teams can match, and frankly without that they’ve been exposed to be just an ordinary run-of-the-mill bench in the league – the games without Pau standing as proof. That’s the whole reason this team was put together in this way, to allow Kobe to have room to create offensively and completely stifle opponents’ inside game with two active 7-footers in the starting line-up.

Team/Player Photos: Los Angeles Lakers Team / Player Photos on Jun 22, 2010

In addition, his basketball IQ has allowed Pau to integrate himself into Phil Jackson’s scheme completely. He’s an excellent passer and his touch around the basket is something pretty to watch. At one point in the New Orleans game last night, he caught a length-of-the-court pass right at the block and instantly landed in a back-t0-the-basket position to make a great post move with his left hand. Granted, I think the guy guarding him was all of 6-4, but it wouldn’t have mattered if he was 7-4 because that shot was unblockable and as smooth as silk. But as I said, the difference he makes really has to do with the rest of the team, and Kobe in particular.

Kobe benefits the most from Pau being back because he’s able to shift his offensive game back out to the perimeter where he is even deadlier than he is on the post. I think Kobe had only take something like 10 threes through the first 10 games of the season or so, and for a shooter like Kobe that’s a problem. Yes his shot was off a little, but we all know that if Kobe takes 10 threes in a game there’s a good chance he’ll hit 5 or more. He just wasn’t shooting from the outside at all, because without Gasol on the block commanding attention he felt the need to collapse the defense himself. As good as Kobe is as an all-around offensive force and in the post specifically, his strength is truly in his perimeter and mid-range game. It’s hard to say there has ever been a player as skilled as Kobe in certain facets of the offensive end of the game, especially when you watch what he does on a consistent basis. He’s been using his left more consistently now, just another weapon in his seemingly endless arsenal. This is an arsenal we cannot see at its full potential without the Lakers having a dominant inside presence that allows Kobe to exploit seams in opposing defenses. When he has to play 5-on-1 it’s not nearly as fun or pretty to watch.