It is a reward that indicates the times.
Win the playoff battle in the first round and you will see your family. Sure, losing still means you’ll be returning home to see your family, but the former option gives you the best of both worlds.
The Toronto Raptors wiped out the Brooklyn Nets and after a humiliating defeat to the Boston Celtics in the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals, there was no better tonic than seeing a few loved ones.
“I’m just excited, I miss my family. Family is huge to me, “said Fred VanVleet.” It’s been a while. I think the last time I saw them was Father’s Day. It’s been a while, but it will be nice to see everyone. And just in time after we got our ass kicked yesterday. So this will take me off my mind a bit for a while, then I’ll get ready and lock myself up for the game. “
Father’s day was 70 days ago. The Raptors were the first team to enter Florida (other than Orlando and Miami for obvious reasons) in an effort to minimize quarantine time instead of having to quarantine in Canada and then the United States. The organization has done its best to make the Grand Destino hotel at Disney World as welcoming as possible, filling players’ rooms with photographs of family members to add a personal touch.
Nothing can replicate the actual presence of family and close friends, however, and after nine long and difficult weeks, week 10 brought things to extreme overdrive with the Jacob Blake shooting and the ensuing strike that saw players turn down. to play August 26 to 28 in an effort to create more tangible action by the NBA’s Board of Governors.
“Here, of course, everything is magnified for us because we have no outlet and all we have is each other.” – Marc Gasol
This would always have been a huge demand for gamers – come play in a bubble environment, only have online access to your friends and family, continue the conversation about fighting racial inequality, and play basketball at an elite level. Toronto has an extremely close-knit team, but there is only so much that they can be there for each other off the pitch.
How much the players were missing their loved ones was evident when the Raptors asked family members to present their starting lineups in Game 1 against the Nets. Pascal Siakam was hysterical to see his brother Christian give his presentation, OG Anunoby’s intro was just as you’d expect, and Kyle Lowry’s sons Karter and Kameron thrilled their father more than anyone else.
There are some players on the team who have chosen not to let their family members enter the Orlando bubble to accompany them, however, Marc Gasol among them.
“Everyone is different, and everyone has a different reading of the situation,” Gasol said. “And I think of course we all miss our loved ones, but we all have different needs, and we all can’t answer that question for anyone else. I don’t think it would be right for me. “
Spain was one of the countries most affected by the coronavirus, and its impact likely persists for Gasol. Both of her parents are also members of the medical community, with her mother Marisa a doctor and father Agusti who worked as a nursing administrator. His wife and children have been to Spain, close to their other relatives. It is incredibly selfless of Gasol to acknowledge that it might be unfair of him to ask to leave all those relatives and go on a journey these days from Spain to the US, quarantine out of the bubble, then enter the bubble and follow all protocols. .
Gasol will continue to lean on his teammates and focus on the game itself. He has been fighting on the pitch since he entered the bubble, only shooting 25.7% from over the arc, and as much as Gasol would like to see his family, he insists that all he can do to fix his fights is look at himself. in the mirror and challenge yourself to be better by moving forward.
“Obviously, we are there and we talk about it, we can find many things but, again, in the end what I like most is looking at you in the mirror,” said Gasol. “This, for me, is the ultimate test. You look at yourself in the mirror. Did you give your all? Of course we all try to do every hit we make, but unfortunately we don’t do all the hits we do but beyond that, are you doing what you need to perform? You’re working as hard as possible for your teammates, aren’t you? doing all you can
“And the only one who ultimately knows it’s you and that’s why I like the mirror so much. You have to face that boy. “
From here on out, the Raptors will have players managing on both sides of the coin. Some look in the mirror, others enjoy the company of their family. But when it comes to finding a way to win on the pitch, it still depends on the relationships they have built with their teammates.
“Nobody likes to lose, man, nobody likes to lose, especially in the playoffs,” Gasol said. “Here, where we are, I don’t know from the outside, but here, obviously, everything is magnified for us because we have no outlet and all we have is the other”.
