Hooped Up

When the Lakers and Grizzlies do battle, the Gasol brothers match up is always key. They grew up in the same house and have been playing physical basketball against and with each other since they could probably walk.

With Marc only getting better and Pau on the possible decline, this battle will only intensify as the title of best “Gasol in the league” becomes an even match.  Created by Huang from Taiwan, this piece depicts the fire the brothers Gasol have for the game even when they play against each other.

See more work from Huang, here.

Using Photoshop, Jared Marantan successfully transitions this very good picture of Marc and Pau Gasol fighting for position under the basket. Into a very good mock painting picture of the two brothers. It’s all about the details here.

Created by Daniel Crespo Boquera from Spain, this Pau Gasol illustration pretty much sums up the type of playoffs Gasol had this season. He was there, but wasn’t at the same time. However with the Gasol performance debate aside, this is some excellent stuff.

The dream of a LA Lakers three-peat is deader than the PlayStation Network becuase the Dallas Mavericks made sure of it. The Mavs beat the Lakers so bad, that the game was officially done in the 3rd quarter.

It would be brave to wear an “I Love LA” t-shirt in Dallas after such a ragging, but for those that real do love LA. Cop this tee from the NBA store and wear it with pride. Just not in Texas.

A dark spirited painting or illustration if you will of Pau Gasol from The Art Warriors crew in Madrid,Spain. If Gasol can embody the darkness that this wicked devious piece depicts for the rest of the playoffs, those rumblings of him being soft will vanish in a heartbeat.

See more work delicious from The Art Warriors, here.

Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Rudy Gay, Kevin Love, David Lee, Steve Blake, and George Karl team up with Hoops For St. Jude.

The Lakers are back-to-back champs and play in one of the biggest television markets — so yes, they’re pretty much always in demand. With the exception to that theory being Pau Gasol of course, but that trend stopped a few late, late nights ago with the big Spaniards appearance on CBS’ The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

It’s just too bad that Craig Ferguson didn’t know a thing about Pau Gasol, the NBA or basketball. I bet the whole time he really though Gasol was Kobe Bryant since he’s fluent in Spanish too. Enjoy this terrible interview if you can.

Another year, another championship and yet another chance for the Lakers to meet up with President Barack Obama at the White House before playing the Wizards. Just one more of the perks involved with winning back-to-back NBA titles, that’s all.

This time around, the Lakers and Barack Obama switched things up from the last time they visited with a community twist by spending time with kids from the Boys & Girls Club of America. I wonder if Kobe Bryant can make it three visits with the President in a row in 2011?