Gasol to Lakers: Give me the ball

May 27, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pau Gasol wants the ball inside against the Denver Nuggets. Only he’s not about to pull a Keyshawn Johnson and order his Los Angeles Lakers teammates to “just give me the damn ball.”

That’s not the Spaniard’s way.

Gasol is all about finesse on and off the court, so he’ll leave the angry big man approach alone.

“I just want to go with what’s effective and what works out there and what’s been working for us and what’s a strength of ours,” he said after Tuesday’s practice. “I think we should explore that a little more.”

The mild-mannered Gasol complained about only taking four shots in the second half of a 120-101 loss at Denver on Monday night that left the Western Conference finals tied at two.

Gasol went 8 of 11 for 21 points in Game 4. He’s shooting 62 percent in the series, but he had only four free throws in the fourth quarter Monday.

“I don’t think there’s many people who would say there’s something right about it,” he said afterward. “I wish we would take more advantage of our inside game, because it’s pretty effective. It’s unfortunate we don’t recognize it enough.”

Kobe Bryant knows what’s keeping the Lakers from delivering the ball to Gasol in the post.

“They’re double-teaming him on the catch. He’s got to go a little quicker when he catches it,” Bryant said. “That’s something I’ve always told him, ‘When you got a shot you got to take it.’ At this late in the postseason, teams aren’t going to let you back out there and spin and do some of the things he likes to do in the post. He’s got to go and go quickly.”

Pushed on whether he would demand the ball in Game 5 tonight, Gasol didn’t sound too convincing.

“I’ll try, but there’s only so much I can do as far as demanding,” he said. “I’d rather talk to our coaches and our guys and hopefully we see what’s effective and what works and we go to it.”

The Lakers’ frontcourt of Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum were no match for Denver’s trio of Nene, Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen, who dominated the boards 42-25 in Game 4.

“One of our main focuses was trying to get the rebound so that way we can do our running game,” Andersen said. “Our best offense is our defense and rebounding is a big part of that.”

The Nuggets practiced in Denver on Tuesday before flying to Los Angeles.

Coach George Karl believes winning Game 5 on the road would be easier than doing so in a Game 7 on the Lakers’ home court.

“We right now have made somewhat of a move to challenge them to try and figure us out a little bit more,” he said. “Can we win the energy game down there? It would be a big step towards getting a win. My big guys were terrific last night. I don’t know if I’ve had three big guys be so dominant on the boards.”