Gabriel Deck, cold head and hot wrist: “When I lose, I get angry”

Gaby Deck poses at the Real Madrid facilities before the Copa del Rey. Sergio Pérez (EFE)

Tavares had a hard time winning the game against Todorovic, Musa was not having his day and Yabusele did not quite enter the match.

Campazzo, Real Madrid's orchestra director, understood that either he was taking the risk - he was the best in the duel - or the balls were for Gabriel Deck (Añatuya, Argentina; 29 years old), who earned his space with his body and found the ramp to the basket.

Six of seven shots from two, three of three free throws and 15 points, a mainstay player in a team that at times tangled with Murcia in the quarterfinals of the Cup. The

Tractor

, as former Madrid coach Pablo Laso nicknamed him because he did everything , was on the track.

The

Turtle

, as a friend called him when he was a child because in an air-conditioned room he covered himself up to his nose, too.

“I like that play in the low post where I fight, turn and shoot up the middle and then make a basket.

But I do everything and I also like to rebound, defend and, above all, be in the important moments,” the white forward, with a cold mind and hot wrist, reveals to EL PAÍS.

In the semifinals, this Saturday against Valencia (6:00 p.m.), he expects more of the same.

Harassed last year by injuries—knee and hamstring—Deck coped as best he could with being away from the court.

“At first I had a bad time, but as the weeks went by I became more psyched up, calmed down and focused on returning as quickly as possible.

Now I feel very good, but I did miss the day-to-day life with the locker room and competing.”

Above all compete.

“Challenges motivate me because they make me grow.

The pressure, the moments in which things are decided is the best part of the game, those tight endings to games.

That's when I bring out the best I have.

Or, at least, I try to,” he adds, winner as he is.

“When I lose, I get angry.

Sometimes at home I'm kind of bad, but it doesn't last long either because with the amount of games and trips we make…” he reflects.

But if he gets the most difficult dance partner, if it's a tight end to the match, or if his day is going badly, Deck always seems impassive.

“That's my personality,” he says, laconically.

A personality marked by a harsh childhood because money was scarce at home and she had no choice but to help her father in the field to collect alfalfa and her mother as a bus cleaner.

“There were difficult days, like when she had to clean the

buses

that were full of dust and on top of that it was very cold.

That, as a child, annoyed me.

But now I am proud because he gave me very nice values ​​for life.

That's why for me now the problems are less problems.

With health and being well with my family, everything is a bit secondary,” he slides.

But there is not a day that goes by that she does not remember his childhood, how his life changed when his father had the idea of ​​making a basket with a tractor steering wheel and some wood as a board.

Since then, also motivated by his brother's competitiveness, he dedicated himself to the orange ball.

“Without that basket I would have studied or I would be working with my family.

Although studying is still there because I promised my mother that one day I would finish high school.

And I will fulfill it.

But now with the travel, the fatigue…”, he reasons.

So he left home at the age of a cadet and did not return, capable of carving out a future on the court.

That led him to shine at San Lorenzo de Almagro and then, in 2018, at Madrid.

A long-distance race because three years later he stepped foot in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“I went to the NBA because I had the opportunity and I wanted to know the competition.

But it didn't go well, although it is one more experience that I added,” he accepts, happy because Madrid got him back just six months later.

“Now I feel very good in this club, supported,” he adds.

And he is one of the mainstays, recognized by everyone.

“Fame is nice,” he argues;

“that they ask you for photos, that they feel identified with your game… But, there is also the ugly part of always being under the critical eye.

I have social networks, but I don't look at them much, I already know when I have done it right or wrong,” he clarifies.

It happens that with that Madrid it almost always comes out heads, as it leads the ACB and the Euroleague with a firm fist.

“If we have turned winning into a routine

It is because the club requires you to be at the top, to compete for each title.

These are conditions that every player knows and we are doing a great job.

I think the key is that this team is not selfish.

He is a great teammate on and off the court, and that shows,” he points out, while not believing that it will be difficult for them to digest the few defeats that occur.

“In sport you lose and you win,” he concludes.

But in the Cup they hope to be able to win the title, the one that eluded them in the previous season, when they lost in the semifinals against Unicaja.

“It is a very nice tournament of a few days that anyone can win.

Although for Madrid it is about winning it no matter what, but we must focus on playing well because if we do, we have a good

chance

of winning the games.

I hope it happens,” he completes.

And if there are hot moments, one of those in which many people's wrists tremble—not so in a Madrid with Llull, Tavares or Campazzo—Deck also asks for the ball.

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