Pau Gasol is rapidly falling out of favor in L.A. On Sunday, for the second time in a week, Gasol was benched for the last few minutes of the game, and he's growing frustrated. Kobe Bryant had a message for him:
"Put your big-boy pants on. Just adjust. Just adjust. You can't whine about it. You can't complain about it."
Fast forward to last night. Gasol missed the entire game with tendinitis, so Kobe decided to hitch up his own britches. He scored 39; it would have been better for the Lakers if he scored 42. Houston erased a 13-point deficit with under ten minutes remaining, and a Bryant three rimmed out in the waning seconds, while Metta World Peace and Antawn Jamison missed putback attempts. L.A. lost their fifth game in the last seven, and fell to 8-10
Houston radio play-by-play man Craig Ackerman celebrated the occasion with a dig at Kobe's comment, in the process coining a catchphrase sure to sweep the nation: "The game is over! The game is over! The Lakers have just pooped their big-boy pants!"
(Huge props to Clutch, the admin at the ClutchFans message board, who synced up Ackerman's radio call with the TV footage.)