Spurs' Pau Gasol: Co-leads team in scoring in Thursday win

Gasol went for 18 points (8-12 FG, 0-1 3Pt, 2-2 FT), nine rebounds and three assists over 24 minutes in Thursday's 107-92 win over the Suns.

Analysis:

Going by coach Gregg Poppovich's track record, the veteran big man would have seemed like a candidate to potentially sit out Thursday after logging 36 minutes against the Celtics on Wednesday. However, Gasol was more or less deployed as usual, and responded with his seventh straight double-digit scoring performance. He was also a rebound short of his second straight double-double, and he's now averaging 15.4 points on 54.2 percent shooting in December, along with 9.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 0.9 blocks and 0.4 steals. The majority of those figures represent a significant improvement over the ones he generated in November, his first full month in a Spurs uniform.