"Pau Gasol emerged from the Lakers locker room after practice Tuesday and immediately was met by a swarm of reporters.

They had a lot of questions for the Lakers center who suffered through one of his worst postseason games ever in the Lakers' loss to New Orleans on Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series. He then spent the next 48 hours or so hearing about how soft he played, how disappointed Kobe Bryant was with him and how he needed to pick it up for the Lakers to regain control of the series.

In case you're wondering, though, none of that affected him as much as his own displeasure with his play.

"What bothers me is when I don't perform to the level that I expect myself to perform," said Gasol, who scored just eight points in Game 1, "not what everyone else thinks. I know when I play well and when I play bad. And I need to play better.

"I don't need to focus on the obvious or the comments that aren't positive. It is what it is. It's all part of the deal."

Which means sometimes accepting supportive criticism from your teammates. Especially from Bryant, who's been adamant that Gasol needs to be more aggressive.

It's a mutual bluntness Gasol is comfortable sharing with his teammates.

"We're always honest with each other; it's more indoors than outdoors," he said. "It's just a matter of doing our part and being on the same page."

Bryant appreciates the comfort level he has with Gasol."