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Pau Gasol Playing Through Injuries At EuroBasket?

By Michael Whitlow

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Some of Pau Gasol’s finest moments in his soon-to-be hall of fame career have come as a member of the Spanish National Team. But, is Gasol overworking himself already by playing heavy minutes at EuroBasket?

After a rash of leg injuries during his final years in Los Angeles with the Lakers, most feared that Pau Gasol’s career was sadly coming to a close. Gasol proved many doubters wrong by putting up one of his best statistical seasons of his career last year; his first season with the Chicago Bulls.

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Overseas, Gasol is leading the Spanish National Team towards a EuroBasket title and an automatic birth in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. But, is Gasol pushing himself too hard for the sake of his homeland playing in next summer’s games?

Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net reported that before Spain’s Round of 16 meeting with Poland, Gasol rushed to the locker room and received medical treatment.

Varlas had the details on what turned out to be another great story in the career of Pau Gasol:

"Pau Gasol was in pain just before the start of the game against Poland and he had to run to the locker rooms in order to get medical treatment. However, this was the start of an amazing story.As Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo revealed in the press conference: “The doctors told me that Pau couldn’t play more than five minutes straight. But after the first five minutes, when I asked him to come to bench he told me now. “I will take the risk”, he answered me and he had an amazing game”.Spain’s leader led his team to the quarter-finals with an extraordinary performance, having 30 points on 6/7 from the three-point range. And while Rudy Fernandez is day to day and may miss the next big game versus Greece in the quarterfinals, Gasol is ready to play: “I never jumped off the boat and I will not do that now. We play against Greece, I will play for sure”."

As a fan of the Spanish National Team, that kind of story makes you fall in love with Gasol even more. He’s a tremendous ambassador for the game of basketball and plays with such pride when he takes the floor for Spain.

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But, as a Bulls fan, that news has to be a little concerning, right? Well, not exactly.

Vincent Goodwill, a Bulls insider for Comcast SportsNet Chicago, also reported that the Bulls aren’t too concerned with Gasol playing through an injury concern.

Medical treatment could mean a plethora of different things. However, the part that’s a little concerning is that Scariolo, Spain’s head coach, was told that Gasol couldn’t play more than five minutes at a time.

Pau Gasol’s will to win cannot be brought into question. He’s a two-time NBA Champion and one of the best International players the game has seen. He knows his body and took pride in playing through the pain and for his country. I applaud him for that.

He does need to be careful however, as the Bulls will be most likely missing Taj Gibson from training camp activities as he recovers from offseason ankle surgery. Hopefully, Gasol will be healthy and ready to go for training camp at the end of the month for the Bulls.

Next: Taj Gibson's ankle issues this past season were worse than expected

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