The book is absolutely 100% a must read.
To get the emotion and context you've got to read thr whole thing, so if you haven't read the book maybe you won't appreciate the impact, but I read this paragraph and literally had to stop and pause.
Page 28 is talking about Giannis who at this point hasn't quite turned the corner or yet 100% bought it into being a basketball player. He's just a kid still more worried about selling trinkets to get food then play bball. He's showing effort but not much skill yet.
I read this paragraph, and I gasped out loud.
It's talking about Giannis going up against a much stronger, bigger, older more experienced player on a rival team:
One of those games Diamantakos kept posting Giannis up again and again. "Giannis was not so strong" says Diamantakos who now plays for Apollo Patras.
....
Diamantakos had his way with him. That made Giannis more determined, and he started fighting back. Started blocking shots. “That was his talent, " says Diamantakos," That's what we were afraid of: his long arms. When he jumped? That was it.“
Giannis had a passion for defense.
I read this and instantly I saw one of the most iconic plays in NBA finals HISTORY.
And I realized that moment, that block, that never giving up started right here. A scrawny little malnourished kid playing vs someone bigger, stronger, better in every way having his way with Giannis, but Giannis didn't care, just made him come back for more until he could start blocking the much bigger and better player in Front of him.
Fast forward 13yrs later, he's making those same plays in situations you aren't supposed to, but in the NBA finals.
I literally had to pause and almost teared up, I felt it was this moment or a moment like this that lead Giannis to create the play we just saw a few weeks ago for him to become a champion.
