Darío Brizuela: “I really enjoy being able to make a crazy shot, although my percentages break” | Basketball | Sports

It is not a guy to use, an elite athlete framed in the typical canons. He has two subjects left to finish the psychology career. “How are you?” Darío Brizuela releases (San Sebastián; 30 years) as greeting. They are not empty words, because he cares about the answer and from there comes a conversation that ends in Nick Hornby’s book, Fever in the stands. He knows what Arsenal speaks, beyond his family and basketball, perhaps also the role games on the consoles, is the passion that moves him. “It’s my club,” he solves. Although with the orange ball in the hands, Barça is, where he plays escort and where he has taken giant steps in the last year, of the main to the main actor, shooter in times of emergency. The playoffs They begin this Monday (Valencia Basket-Gran Canaria, at 7:00 p.m., and Tenerife-Joventut, at 9:00 p.m.); Barça, fifth of the ACB League, will be measured to Unicaja, fourth, on Tuesday, which will also have a Madrid-Baskonia.

Ask. He arrived at Barça after making two destruction in the Cup, 33 and 27 points. Didn’t they want to have him a rival?

Answer. I always liked playing against Barça because it is the club that I liked the most. I motivated me thinking that, if I played well against them, they perhaps noticed me. But I don’t think they would sign for that, but for the globality of my career.

P. On the last occasion, still with Unicaja, he lived it differently because his son Bruno was in the hospital …

R. UfffYeah. That story is very serious because a surgeon saved him after a seven -hour operation. The intestine exploded and had an infection everywhere. Open, clean … and a very hard recovery that I lost for a few days for the cup. Leaving it there with my wife was horrible. I remember that with that cup the Unicaja of now was built, which is a show, but I cried every night because I did not want to be there.

P. Now it will be Barça’s rival in the playoffs of the ACB.

R. Very complicated. But this rival has touched us because we have not been regular and solid in the League, perhaps because we have put too many energies in the Euroleague. But if we want to win the trophy you have to beat them and then, probably, to Madrid. We know it and we are aware; The last time we fell against Madrid, since we have not won them this year, we told ourselves that important victories would be in the playoff. But first, Unicaja.

P. There Alberto Díaz plays, a good friend of his. Good moment for him trash-talking, to cause the rival with the word during the party?

R. I will try, but Alberto does not usually fall. It is something that I like to do with real friends, that I know they don’t care. Alberto or Jaime Fernández (Tenerife). But I will rarely talk to someone first. But, if my incite, I answer, of course.

P. With the referees do speak a lot, right?

R. Yes, but good, to ask my doubts in the actions that whistle. 19 of 20 times I say well. But I am very hot and if I see injustices I usually jump. Although I try to improve it, as a father, so that my children do not have that image of me when they grow up.

P. They will remember him in Barcelona. Last year, when I barely played, did you think that this quota of prominence would get?

R. It was my first year and it was rookie In the Euroleague, in addition to the coach [Grimau] I had a lot of confidence in others. With Joan [Peñarroya] I have had more space and the injuries of my colleagues have allowed me to cover more. I am at the best moment of my career and I am happy to fit this moment with Barça.

P. Nor did he play much at the beginning of his career in the students, who signed Omar Cook and Edwin Jackson. What did he do then and what did he do last year to reverse the situation?

R. It is different. At that time I was young and could change my routine, since in summer I went from one to four sessions. I trained a lot and won 10 to 15 kilos in two summers, change that my body would not support now. I did to box to know how to face tiredness, to learn to suffer. Now, with two children, I don’t have so much time, although in summer I continue to crush in the house gym with my father. I have always been a nonconformist and wanted to explore my limits in a club like Barcelona.

P. Can you apply any boxing in your basketball?

R. No no. It was something mental and physical, I don’t think about fighting anyone. The thing is that I don’t like to give up. I am the little brother and he played basketball very well. I wanted to be better and that has fed how I am now. With that mentality I have gone further than anyone thought.

P. Is that winning mentality that Peñarroya saw to play the latest possessions?

R. In the first preseason game in China, there were five seconds, we took out and said: ‘Sal and Tíratela’. It was to give me a small role. It’s funny because now, when you play one of those plays, the bench looks at me and I look at Joan. And I go to the track. I love it and, of course, I don’t mind breaking my percentages. I really enjoy being a crazy shot. I think I’ve only put one and take about 20 attempts, but I love it.

P. What is the reality of this Barça, capable of the best and the worst?

R. We have lacked many things and above all continuity. Many signings, new coach and many injuries, five of them for the whole year. But it has been shown that we are very resilient, capable of forcing a fifth game with the Euroleague finalist. In the Cup we will also compete. The only identity we have is that we always grab our way of playing.

P. They say you don’t get along with …

R. I have improved a bit and I have learned to relativize the results. I understand that this is cyclical and that it is not always played well. It’s frustrating because you always want to win, but you can’t always. If I am not happy with the work or I lose, I do not sleep. So clear. My wife leaves me space. I have been like that since childhood and you will not stop importing now that I am in the most demanding club of my career. It would not make sense.

P. Does it give an advantage to have studied psychology?

R. Maybe to know how to deal with certain bad things or manage bad times, separate emotions, study them …

P. How when he was little stuttering?

R. It had a very bad time speaking in public. I suffered it. Luckily, a group of friends in class laughed in good sense and never told me anything wrong. I worked to try to get the phrases that cost me and that also gave me friends for a lifetime.