Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni and forward Pau Gasol have had a difficult time seeing eye-to-eye, which has caused a lot of internal problems with the Lakers. D'Antoni continues to bench Gasol in crucial game situations, leading Gasol to voice his frustration to the media, but for D'Antoni he's had enough.
Gasol's latest benching came in the fourth quarter of the Lakers recent match with the New Orleans Hornets. This was Gasol's fourth time he had been benched and apparently he's confused to why this continues to happen.
Gasol's frustration stems from the fact that the Lakers continue to search for a winning formula, one in which Gasol feels he should be able to solve, but not from the bench. Even with the Lakers going on a three game winning streak before a loss to the Phoenix Suns, Gasol still continued to voice his unhappiness.
Well coach D'Antoni has grown tired of Gasol's constant complaints and told ESPNLosAngeles.com how he felt about it all.
Well, you know, 'all for one' didn't last (very) long, did it?" D'Antoni said. "Forty-eight-hour shelf life. That's not bad. We'll take what we can get." He continued to explain his thought process behind the fourth quarter rotation of the Hornets game by referencing Metta World Peace's lack of an appearance. ""Metta didn't play, either. So, you try to win the game. I thought Antawn (Jamison) was playing well and I thought the matchups were Ryan Anderson and three little guys."
Gasol did play a significant amount of minutes in Wednesday's loss to the Suns. He posted 14 points and four rebounds in 37 minutes.
Center Dwight Howard went down with an injury with 6:57 remaining in the fourth and is now listed as day-to-day. Now if Howard were to miss significant amount of time, Gasol may see more of the court in the fourth than the actual bench.
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