Pau Gasol shrugs off trade rumors

*The Times’ Mike Bresnahan explains how Pau Gasol has handled the latest trade rumors.

Game stories

--The Times’ Bresnahan reports the Lakers’ win Friday against Minnesota came after a meeting where Mike Brown apologized to Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace and Matt Barnes for publicly questioning their shot selection.

--The Orange County Register’s Kevin Ding explains the importance in the Lakers beating Minnesota after losing to Detroit and Washington.

--The Daily News’ Elliott Teaford observes Gasol plays well when he has a chip on his shoulder.

--The Star Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda mentions Ricky Rubio injured his knee against the Lakers.

Notebooks

--The Orange County Register’s Ding explains why Brown’s putting heavy emphasis on the Lakers improving their three-point shooting.

--The Daily News’ Teaford also details Brown’s apology to the players.

Sidebars

--ESPN Los Angeles’ Ramona Shelburne reports the Lakers had talks with the Houston Rockets about trading Gasol in recent days. But the Lakers aren’t planning to trade Gasol unless they get an All-Star player in return, more likely at point guard. Shelburne also focuses on Brown’s apology to Bryant.

--Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears reports the Lakers will likely only move Andrew Bynum in a deal for Dwight Howard.

Blogs

--ESPN Los Angeles’ Andy Kamenetzky breaks down the Lakers’ win over Minnesota.

--Lakers.com’s Mike Trudell provides a running diary of the Lakers-Timberwolves game.

--Silver Screen and Roll’s C.A. Clark calls the Lakers win a “survival of the grittiest.”

--Forum Blue and Gold’s R.R. Magellan has trouble getting a handle on this Lakers’ team. Don’t we all.

Tweet of the Day: If the season ended today the No. 4 seed Grizzlies would play the No. 5 seed Lakers 4 years after the Gasol trade.” -- ArashMarkazi (ESPN Los Angeles’ Arash Markazi)

Rick Friedman Reader Comment of the Day: “Mike Brown you can’t compare Kobe to LeBron James or Cleveland to L.A. Kobe is a hot head gunner and he doesn’t care what people say about his game. Kobe will miss 10 shots in a row and will keep shooting. If you are coaching Lakers you better understand that winning isn’t everything it’s the only thing. On LeBron, he is more of a team player. If his game is off he will get the ball to the open man and will play within the confines of the game. “ -- bgmoney1