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Pau Gasol’s Mom Breaks Down Into Tears Recalling His First Game Against Michael Jordan: “He Was Filled With Happiness Like a Kid Who’d Just Received the Biggest Gift”

Published 01/30/2022, 7:29 AM EST

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On December 11, 2001, in Memphis, Pau Gasol got to witness the legendary Michael Jordan in action. Pau Gasol’s mom revealed in the recently released Amazon Prime documentary, ‘Pau Gasol: It’s About The Journey’, that Pau was like a giddy kid as he got to play against his idol. Particularly, she said, “The night he played against Michael Jordan, he was very nervous. He was filled with Happiness like a kid, who’d just received the biggest gift.”

via Imago

Further, his mom fondly reminisced that he used to hang posters of NBA legends like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Looking at those posters, he once said to his mother, “Wow, maybe I’ll be in the NBA one day”. Needless to say, he ticked one item off his bucket list.

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Michael Jordan put up 16 points that night and dished out 9 assists. Moreover, Washington Wizards beat the Memphis Grizzlies with Hamilton scoring a season-high 30 points. A rookie Pau Gasol cleaned the glass a team-high 13 times that night.

via Imago

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Michael Jordan in Hollywood

Michael Jordan is widely considered as the greatest basketball player of all time, or the GOAT. This is attributed to the incredible feat of winning the NBA title six times with the Chicago Bulls. He is also the face of Jordan, a Nike subsidiary. He is said to have amassed over $1 billion from Nike to date.

His Airness himself is well-versed in the film industry. First, he co-starred in the original ‘Space Jam’ film alongside Bill Murray of Hollywood. Then he appeared in Netflix’s ‘The Last Dance,’ a documentary on his illustrious career. Notably, both the film and the television series were huge successes.

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Jordan stated that he used to simply summon fellow NBA players to the Warner Bros studio to train during the filming of ‘Space Jam.’ Jordan was given a regulation-size court by the WB so that he could continue practising after shoot.

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via Reuters

‘The Last Dance’ spawned a slew of Jordan and Bulls-related tales. However, not all of his supporters and friends are pleased with the documentary’s debut. Following the premiere of the docu-series, MJ and Scottie Pippen reportedly had a falling out.

On the court, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen developed a rapport similar to that of Batman and Robin. Despite this, Pippen was not a fan of the series, believing it painted him in a negative manner.

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Which one did you like better- ‘The Last Dance’ or ‘Pau Gasol: It’s About The Journey’? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by:

Parshva Chandok

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Parshva Chandok is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He is a 5th-year law student and has previously interned at Twenty-First Century Pvt. Ltd.
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