Report: Pau Gasol Played Big Minutes For Spain Against Doctor's Wishes
(CBS) Bulls center Pau Gasol played big minutes for his Spanish national team in a win against Poland on Saturday in a EuroBasket contest despite the medical staff's advice that he not play more than five consecutive minutes in the game, according to a report from Eurohoops.net.
The specifics of Gasol's injury weren't exactly clear, though the eurobasket2015.org website reported that it was tendonitis of some sort.
"The doctors told me that Pau couldn't play more than five minutes straight," Spain coach Sergio Scariolo told Eurohoops.net. "But after the first five minutes, when I asked him to come to bench he told me (no) -- 'I will take the risk', he answered me and he had an amazing game."
The 35-year-old Gasol had a huge game, scoring 30 points in 31 minutes to lead Spain to an 80-66 win and a berth in the quarterfinals against Greece. Gasol's expected to play in that game Tuesday.
The Bulls are aware of Gasol's situation and not overly concerned, CSN Chicago's Vincent Goodwill reported. Gasol was durable in 2014-'15, playing in 78 of 82 regular-season games and averaging 34.4 minutes per game under former coach Tom Thibodeau.
