“Most importantly, Pau Gasol figured out that being tough doesn’t necessarily mean being a banger. For him, it means being resilient, playing smart, and never giving up. It means using his superior speed, quickness, footwork, and intellect to gain an advantage over his opponents. It means working hard, remaining aggressive, and sometimes demanding the ball. And every now and then, it means getting in his opponents’ faces and daring them to try that again. He may have faltered a year ago, but in the 2009 Playoffs, and in the Finals most of all, he figured these things out, and he executed them to perfection.”
is the only way to be tough, to be someone that gets into a fight, “defends himself”, shouts at the opposition, bullies his way to the top?
what we see in the working world, the academic world, the social world, is that somehow he who makes the most noise wins. and being tough is about being the one that shouts or struts about the loudest — intimidating others, and puffing themself up.
so i like this quote about how pau gasol, labeled soft/quiet/weak, managed to toughen himself up to bring another championship to LA.
Maybe being tough is more about being resilient, smarter, more efficient. I think i posted something about this previously, but it’s nice to see in this case, the modern tough guy wins out against the noisier tough guys (the celtics — KG i’m looking at you!).
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As for the Magic, they are a sweet team. Dwight Howard is a class act. Hope you either win a championship after Kobe retires. Or else you move to LA where you belong.
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