No one on the Utah Jazz could stop Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers in game 4 of the western conference semi-finals. He had 33 points on only 18 field goal attempts, along with 14 rebounds. Taking a deep dive into the fouls that Gasol drew compared to the fouls that he committed in order to measure the effectiveness of his aggressive play, it is clear that Gasol impacted the game in many ways not displayed in the box score. Gasol kept Carlos Boozer out of the flow of the game by drawing 5 fouls, including Boozer's 6th foul to remove him from the game. Boozer, who has averaged over 17 points per game in the series, ended up with 10 points (no points in the fourth quarter) and only 5 fourth quarter minutes as he was plagued by fouls. For the game, Gasol drew 8 fouls, took 11 free throws (made 9), had 7 offensive rebounds, and blocked two shots – meanwhile, he committed 0 fouls in 40 minutes of play in a physical elimination game. His energetic play contributed to the Lakers +11 advantage at the free throw line, kept Boozer out of sync, and helped lead the Lakers to the western conference finals which begin on Monday, May 17th against the Phoenix Suns.
YAY! Goooo Lakers, finally playing well!
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