For the Lakers' Gasol, the weight is gone

He is standing in the Staples Center tunnel, waiting to step inside the interview room, a giant wet mop with this dorky, delightful smile, and you just have to ask him.

"It's the monkey, isn't it?" you say.

"What?" says Pau Gasol.

"You got the monkey off your back, didn't you?" you say.

"Oh man, it was more than a monkey," Gasol says. "It was huge. It was a burden. It followed me everywhere."

He pauses.

"It was more like an orangutan," he says. "I got the orangutan off my back."

One of the NBA's best players to never win a playoff game indeed looked about 200 pounds lighter Sunday, the longest Laker flitting through the Denver Nuggets' defense on the wings of taps and tips and tosses.

With his frumpy hair and delicate gait, sometimes he looked like a bird. With his long thin arms spread wide, other times he looked like a plane.

In the end, though, he looked like Super You-Know-Who, scoring 36 points with 16 rebounds to lead the Lakers to a 128-114 victory over the Nuggets in their first-round playoff opener.

"I had a blast out there," said Gasol after leaving a building full of roaring fans who agreed with him.

It was a day of class, with Rick Fox bringing out the ball to start the game.

It was a day of crass, with some Lakers fans chanting, "D-U-I" when Carmelo Anthony shot his first free throws.

It was a day of sass, with Coach Phil Jackson, during pregame interviews, impulsively calling out Shaquille O'Neal for never getting his proper sleep during the playoffs.

But mostly, it was a day of Gas.

"As hard as it was for me to have that burden of never winning a playoff game, I think it made me who I am," Gasol says.

Oh yeah, the burden. Before Sunday, in his six previous professional seasons, all with the Memphis Grizzlies, Gasol's teams have gone 0 for 12 in playoff games.

He was their leader, so it was on him. He was labeled soft, he was described as indifferent, his career was going nowhere when he was sent here in the already-legendary deal on Feb. 1.

"He was languishing," said Coach Phil Jackson.

As of Sunday, officially, he's flourishing.

"This just ain't Memphis," said Bryant with a grin.

On Sunday, because of Gasol, nobody here was singing the previous two postseasons' blues.

Remember in the last two springs when Bryant would get double-teamed and the offense would disappear?