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Spurs' Gasol goes scoreless for 2nd time in career

Chris Schwegler / National Basketball Association / Getty

It was March 14, 2008 when Pau Gasol - a member of the Los Angeles Lakers at the time - was held scoreless in a loss to the New Orleans Hornets after playing just three minutes.

Fast forward a touch over eight years later, and the now-36-year-old big man once again put up a big fat zero on the scoreboard for just the second time, despite getting nearly six times as many minutes (17) in a narrow 109-103 win Friday for the San Antonio Spurs over the Boston Celtics.

Gasol clanked all five of his shot attempts on the afternoon, with his only contributions offensively coming in the form of five rebounds and two assists, as well as a rejection on the defensive end. He also turned the rock over twice while finishing with a -9 rating.

It was David Lee's time to shine coming off the bench, finishing with his first double-double in a Spurs uniform and season highs of 15 points and 12 boards in 17 minutes.

The 7-foot Spaniard has put up his fair share of duds in black and white, but not to the extent of what occurred at TD Garden. Call it a bad night at the office, or just a Thanksgiving hangover, but on this particular day, Gasol was as much of a non-factor as you could possibly imagine.

In 15 games to open the 2016-17 regular season, Gasol is averaging a career-worst 12 points and 7.2 rebounds in 26.1 minutes. San Antonio is also allowing 5.3 more points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, which shouldn't be much of a surprise as he's very much a downgrade defensively at the five spot from what the team had a year ago with veteran Tim Duncan still in the league.

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