Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol Sáezis a Spanish professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. He is a six-time NBA All-Star, and a four-time All-NBA selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. He has won two NBA championships, both with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2002 with the Memphis Grizzlies, one of only two non-American NBA players to win that award. He is the...
NationalitySpanish
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth6 July 1980
CityBarcelona, Spain
CountrySpain
I'm doing my job. I'm doing what's expected out of me, and I'm proud of the way I've been able to perform and contribute.
I won't forget the hood. I won't forget the days of catching a bullet on the way to the mailbox or bricks with death threats that somehow made their way through the window.
No one could have prepared for me BBQ on pizza. I mean, both are great. But together? It was incredible.
Nobody had faith in me when I got here except my team. That's what carried me through all the transition problems and adjustments and everything.
You never know when it is your last game or your last tournament,
I may not be the most physical player, that's not my nature. But I am a competitor and I play as hard as I can.
When I'm aggressive and physically feel pretty good, I'm hard to stop.
It doesn't matter what you've done, but what you're going to do the next game, and that's what I'm focused on.
It doesn't matter who gets what. It's just a matter of doing what it takes to win.
If our minds and hearts are into it, we can be a heck of a team. We can beat anybody.
In the second half they had to do something. They started coming at me and I had to start passing the ball. If they want to play me straight up, I'm going to try to hurt them because I know I'm hard to stop when I'm one-on-one.
I guess they realized that in this league, to get far in the playoffs, you have to be more physical and play better at the defensive end. I don't think they did that in the past. It doesn't matter if you do it in the regular season. You got to do it in the playoffs. That's when all the eyes are on you.
I knew they were not very fast off their feet and that they are very foul-prone - they put you on the line a lot. I knew if I tried to take them off the dribble and attacked early, it would open up for me and my teammates.
The confidence level that he gives me out there is huge. He puts the ball in my hands a lot and trusts that I'll make the right decisions. Playing 39 minutes a night puts a lot of confidence in me. I don't feel any pressure when I make mistakes and that's important for any player. ... He's told us sometimes that this team goes as I go.