It served as an easy way to break the ice and to cut to the chase.
"You know this is all your fault, right," a reporter joked to Lakers forward Pau Gasol the minute he sat down for his exit interview.
That joke of course was referring to Gasol's postseason play during which he averaged 13.1 points on 42.9% shooting, played passively and allowed both on- and off-court adversities to rattle his mental focus. Gasol didn't shy away from the characterization, even the one that suggested he was a huge factor in why the Lakers suffered a four-game sweep in the Western Conference semifinals to the Dallas Mavericks.
"The thing that makes me the angriest is me not playing at my best and not helping my team accomplish its goals," said Gasol, who described the 2010-2011 season as very emotional. "I’m not happy, I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to perform at my usual high level, but obviously I’m not playing alone. It’s time to analyze, to sit back and see what actually happened out there, not just through this last stretch but throughout the year. I think we have to really look deep into how we started, the ups and downs, the meaning of them and what we could have done better individually and as a team to be able to get stronger at certain times when we needed to. It’s unfortunate the way we ended it up; anything short of winning the championship would have been very tough.