It’s been a great month for Pau Gasol and his Los Angeles Lakers.

Following up on my post from yesterday, the Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol was honored with Western Conference Player of the Month for February.  Gasol has played  more minutes filling in during Andrew Bynum’s absence and he’s been rewarded for it several times this month.

After capturing NBA player of the week honors for the Western conference on February 9th, Gasol played in his second all-star game of his career on the 15th.  The Spanish superstar then followed up with another NBA player of the week award for week ending February 23rd.

Also in early February, Gasol was named Interbasket’s 2008 International Player of the Year, as well as Interbasket’s 2008 European Player of the Year.

With starting center Andrew Bynum out, Gasol helped lead the Los Angeles Lakers to an 11-2 record in February as Gasol has averaged 20.9 points and 10.9 rebounds during the month, but are the Lakers asking too much of Gasol?

A few highlights in Gasol’s performances in February include 24 points and 14 rebounds in a 110-109 victory over the Celtics in Boston,  18 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in handing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavs their only hone loss this season (101-91), and his third career triple double (12 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists) during the Laker’s 96-83 win over Atlanta.

For the season, Gasol is averaging 18.5 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists.  The Laker’s have the NBA’s best record at 48-12.

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade won the Eastern Conference award by leading his conference in scoring with 30.7 points while shooting .502 from the field.  Wade had scored at least 20 points in all 12 games, and on February 24th, put up a career-high 50 points at Orlando.

Other nominees for NBA’s February Players of the Month were Boston’s Rajon Rondo, Charlotte’s Boris Diaw, Cleveland’s LeBron James, Golden State’s Stephen Jackson, Houston’s Yao Ming, Milwaukee’s Ramon Sessions, New Jersey’s Devin Harris, and Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant.

Links and Resources: Wade, Gasol named February’s Players of the Month (NBA.com),  Pau Gasol raising level in Andrew Bynum’s absence (Interbasket), Magic’s Howard, Laker’s Gasol named NBA Players of the Week (Nba.com), Interbasket’s 2008 International Player of the Year is Pau Gasol (Interbasket)