Memphis Grizzlies: Gasol Brothers Likely To Face Off In All-Star Game For First Time
By jasaad
The FedEx Forum was in a frenzy as the fans watched the two foreign kinsman face off. Exhausted, the heftier sibling musters up enough energy to complete an evasive spin move on his befuddled older counterpart before gently laying the ball in the hoop — much to the delight of the Memphis crowd.
The battle between the ferociously competitive Gasol brothers has brought increasing exotic entertainment to the NBA for years.
Perhaps the fondest memories the two Spaniards have of their healthy sibling rivalry can be recollected in their home town of Barcelona.
Via NBA.com
“We would play every sport,” Marc Gasol says of those summers in Spain with his older brother Pau Gasol Player Page” href=”http://www.nba.com/playerfile/pau_gasol/?iref:nba:story_page:playerfile” target=”_blank”>Pau Gasol. “From bocce ball to ping pong to soccer to basketball — we would sign up for everything. We would literally spend the whole day just competing with everybody. I would go watch him play and he would watch me play, and that’s how we grew up. Then at the end of the summer you would see how many little trophies you got. We always kept all the trophies in my grandmother’s place, we put them up there. I remember that.”
They came from humble beginnings in Spain, where they neither expected nor desired fame.
“We never had anything extraordinary, but we never missed anything,” Gasol says. “My mom, she worked at the factory as a doctor, and as a family doctor too. My dad was a nurse administrator. My parents always made sure we had the best education, and food on the table. Our clothes wasn’t fancy. I had patches everywhere. My mom on Wednesday was going to the flea market. For vacation we would take our little RV — it was a little trailer, you open it in half, and you have my parents sleeping on the one side and me and Pau on the other. And we had the best time. We just drive everywhere. We ride on our bikes and we play basketball every day.”
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Now, Pau and Marc Gasol have become the best brother duo to ever tread the NBA’s hardwood floor, and they are likely to face each other as All-Stars for the first time this February. Despite being four and a half years apart, the Gasol brothers are somehow experiencing career seasons in the same year.
Marc is averaging a career high 20.1 points to go along with 8.3 rebounds, nearly four assists, and 1.6 blocks per contest. He’s led the Memphis Grizzlies to a sizzling 24-8 start as the fulcrum of both the team’s offensive and defensive schemes.
As for his counterpart, after being misused by Mike D’Antoni the last couple of seasons in Los Angeles, Pau Gasol is undergoing a year of redemption under Coach Tom Thibodeau’s defensive expertise. Pau is racking up a double-double as a key cog for the 32-10 Chicago Bulls, and he’s playing defense at a higher level than he ever has.
According to NBA.com/stats, opponents are shooting nearly 5 percentage points lower than their average when guarded by Pau Gasol, and he’s allowing opponents to shoot just 45.8 percent at the rim.
Gregg Popovich, a coach with unparalleled basketball wittedness, recently illuminated the Gasol brother’s idiosyncratic games:
“I think probably Pau has a little bit more variety to his game,” says Spurs coach Gregg Popovich of the two Gasols. “Pau can come out and do the rocker step on you and play like a mobile four. And then he can go down to the block, and he’s got moves in the block like his brother. I think his brother is a bit more of a rock-em-sock-em type player, but he has more finesse than most rock-em-sock-em guys.”
Marc isn’t considered a star for serving as a heedless behemoth on the court. His intuition allows him to display excellent aid in regards to the needs of his teammates as he applies his brute force thoughtfully. Scarce are the big men who come into the league with Gasol’s acumen and passing dexterity.
He’s a proficient post player due to his court vision and astuteness when handling double teams. The do-it-all big man has thrust himself into the realm of MVP contention. It’s no surprise, then, that the Grizzlies find themselves among the NBA’s top-tier teams.
Contrarily, although he’s seemingly lacking robustness, Pau Gasol encompasses versatility that has allowed him to become one of the most unique players to ever wear an NBA jersey.
In his book “Life-Vida,” Kobe Bryant (who is notorious for decrying former teammates and speaking his mind) goes so far as to say that, “[Pau has] the highest basketball IQ in the league” and “you’d have to search and search and you still would not find another player in the history of the game with his skill set,” because his footwork and ambidexterity in the post alone give him an edge that centers in the game today typically don’t have.
Aggressiveness may admittedly be his weakness, but logic absolutely continues to be his great strength. Pau Gasol’s high intellect, classy utilization of teammates, and calm tenure negate his apparent lack of ferociousness.
Not many players can be considered more deserving to represent their respective teams at the All-Star game in New York than the best, most dignified brother tandem to ever play the game. The Gasol brothers are sure to stun with their unconventional, exotic playing styles.