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Sergio Andres: How much did it bother you …
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Sergio Andres: How much did it bother you personally when they called you soft in your first years in the NBA? Pau Gasol: I don't think it bothered me too much because I knew that if I were a soft player I wouldn't have made it to the NBA. If I had been soft, I wouldn't have been Rookie of the Year, All-Star… So, of course, it surprised me a little. Having gone through everything we did in the 2008 playoffs, for example, where we played against the Denver Nuggets , with Kenyon Martin, Marcus Camby, Nene, a physical and tough team; then we went through the Utah Jazz , where Mehmet Okur… And then there were the Spurs with Fabricio Oberto was there, Duncan was there, Kurt Thomas… Then, suddenly, well, it's true that the final was a physical final and maybe I wasn't up to par physically speaking, but from there to the issue of not... I don't know if I should call myself soft or point out my own shortcomings, right? At that moment, because of the defeat, it seemed a bit excessive. So, I knew, I was aware that I could be more physical, and I made an effort and a commitment for the following year, to even get a little stronger and dominate more, and so on.
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Sergio Andres: How much did it bother you …
