NBA The pvot has left its mark for his excellent treatment with those around him
EFE
MARCA’s correspondent in the United States tells of his relationship with Pau Gasol and how the Spanish pvot won over everyone for his kindness. “He’s the only player who asks reporters if they want to ask anything else,” said a San Antonio reporter.
“There it is! MARCA’s special envoy! “. This is how Pau Gasol greeted me every time I had to drive to San Antonio from my home in Austin (70 kilometers away) to cover one of his games when he was part of the Spurs for two seasons and He always said it with a smile and an outstretched hand, knowing that he would attend to me for a few minutes before a game.
I usually cover football, but Pau’s joining the Spurs during the summer of 2016 sparked a new adventure in the NBA world, starting with a win against the Blazers on December 30, 2016. Right after the game, Pau, Well dressed, he treated me in the Spurs locker room. I remember it like it was yesterday. “MARK, huh? Jess Sánchez’s colleague? Well, tell me …”.
And for the next two years I had the good fortune to not only watch many Pau and Spurs games but to witness the beautiful details that he left behind and the human gestures that he provided off the court. The examples are many. After the matches, he always attended to the media and always in both languages, giving the same answers in Spanish and English if necessary. At the end of those sessions, he would look at us and say, “Do you need anything else?”
That coincides with the words of Jeff McDonald, a journalist for the local San Antonio newspaper, ‘The San Antonio Express News’ who once said: “Pau Gasol is the only player I know who asks reporters if they want to ask something else first. of him leaving the locker room. “
Another was when the Lakers were in San Antonio to play the Spurs. One of the first destinations for journalists to cover the information about the Los Angeles team was the local dressing room to greet Pau. And Pau always remembered all their names.
There were other very beautiful moments that perhaps were not seen on the cameras during the transmissions. Pau always embraced the Spanish players before and after matches when they faced each other and always responded with a smile when asked about the seasons of Ricky Rubio, Jos Manuel Caldern, Lex Abrines …
It was hard to see Pau in his last days in San Antonio. Of course, he had difficult moments in the Texas city, like Gregg Popovich’s rage when Pau made a mistake at a key moment during a playoff game against the Houston Rockets in 2017. When he returned from his foot injury during the 18-19 season, the coach no longer had him and the face of the pvot said it all. He looked sad and resigned knowing that he was not going to play. After the games he didn’t need to talk to the media because he hadn’t played for even a minute.
But he always showed his face when MARCA appeared, telling what he felt and never blaming others. His time in San Antonio finally ended on March 1, 2019, but curiously the Spurs court was the place where he played what was probably his last game in the NBA. It was March 10 of that year and Pau with his new team, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks, played on the road in San Antonio. On those days he shared a dressing room with his teammate Nikola Mirotic.
“Are you from BRAND? Sit here, buddy,” Mirotic said at the visiting vestaur that night in San Antonio. After a little while, the Spanish-Montenegrin was honest. “Giannis always admired Pau. For him, it’s amazing that he’s playing on the same team as him.” Later in the game, the Spurs, always a gentleman team, broadcast a video paying tribute to Pau, although he was only there for two and a half years. In his last NBA game, he played 15 minutes, scored three points, grabbed three rebounds and added an assist, but what happened next will remain in the memory.
All the journalists covering the Spurs information were waiting for him at the vestaur. To talk about the match? “No, to say hello. Pau is perhaps the friendliest player who has ever walked through these doors,” said Tom Orsborn of the ‘Express News’. And Pau attended to all, the last one, to MARCA: “Sorry, but I’m in a hurry. 30 people are waiting for me outside. Two or three minutes, okay?” There were 30 children from the hospital that he visited every week that he was in San Antonio. We didn’t know at the time that it was probably his last game in the NBA. He was injured and never played with the Bucks again, nor could he play the following season with the Blazers.
One of the nicest things about covering sports in America is for a reporter to have access to the locker room before and after games. There, in the player’s second home, a professional relationship can be formed, but the way in which Pau acted with the media was different. Courteous, humble, loving and without selfishness.
For this special envoy, he will always be the memory of Pau Gasol in the NBA.
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