Danilo Gallinari of the New York Knicks Avoids Superstar Expectations and Just Wants to Win

“I know you expect a lot from me, and people expect a lot from me,” Gallinari said late Wednesday night, “but I’m not a superstar, I’m not an All-Star, I’m not LeBron, I’m not those great players. I’m an important player of the Knicks. And that’s what I’m trying to do, to help the team every time. Sometimes, can be these type of games, sometimes not. But as long as we win, it’s all good.”

--Danilo Gallinari, The NBA's New York Knicks' emerging star, discussing his emergence as a key player.

Gallinari just posted consecutive 20-point games for the first time this season — 21 in Denver and a season-high 27 in Sacramento — and was simply asked if he needed a performance like this for his confidence.  Danilo showed some flashes of brilliance last season including a 28-point performance, also against Denver and Carmelo Anthony.


This season, Gallinari also put up 24 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the floor (including 4-for-4 on 3s) against the Chicago Bulls on November 4.    


“He’s very secure in who he is and he’s very confident,” his coach, Mike D’Antoni said. “He can tell you one thing, but he may think another. But I think he knows he has a lot of work to do to get where those guys are. He’s not up there. I don’t think that says he can’t get there, he’s just not them yet."


D'Antoni once called Gallinari the best shooter he had ever seen.  But, Gallinari does not focus on stardom.  

“It’s not my goal,” he said. “You know me, so I never say that. It’s not in my mind. It’s not in my mind. My mind is to win with this franchise. I’ve been selected and picked by this franchise three years ago. I want to stay here. I want to win with this franchise. That’s all that is in my mind. I’ve been working with the coaches; the coaches know what I can do and I’m just trying to be the best player I can.”

What about you?  Is your mindset to be the star or to help your team be successful?  


Excerpts from the New York Times (November 16 & 19, 2010) and ESPN.com (November 5, 2010).


For more on mental conditioning, click on The Handbook of Peak Performance.  

Dinara Safina: Mental Battles

"I try to do something good, but when it doesn't go good, then I go like too much into myself, what I'm doing right, wrong, instead of thinking more what I have to do with the ball."

--Dinara Safina, #1 ranked women's tennis player in the world and top-seed woman at the U.S. Open in New York.

New York, New York (USA)-- Dinara Safina came very close to becoming the first top-seeded woman to lose in the first round of the 2009 U.S. Open. She entered the match with the best women's winning percentage (52-12, .813). She was matched against Olivia Rogowska, a 18-year-old from Australia, a wild card competitor with one single career title as a professional and one victory over a top-50 player.

Rogowska won the first set in a tiebreaker when Safina seemed to lose her chronic war on nerves.

No top seed on the women's side at the U.S. Open in the Open era had ever lost a first-round match. It's only happened four times in the majors in 41 years. The highest seed to lose in those circumstances was Martina Navratilova, a third seed in 1976.

However, Safina worked her way back into the match and she was able to subdue the No. 167-ranked player in the world. The final was 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4, but Safina was challenged by Rogowska and by her own emotions.

"A total mental battle," ESPN analyst Mary Joe Fernandez observed. "She fought herself."

Despite her overall success, Safina continues to struggle mentally.

Excerpts from ESPN.com (September 1, 2009)

For more in Choking, Panic and Failure, click on Failure: The Peak Performance Field Guide #2.

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For more on Peak Performance, click on The Handbook of Peak Performance.

Tiger Woods Continues to Add to the Legend

"I'm in serious disbelief. I don't think I've ever seen him make a putt when he had to have one. And that was the epitome of sarcasm right there. The guy is amazing. I am in awe. I don't want to say shock. I'm in awe.

"It was unbelievable drama. I tried to stay in my own world. ... It's kind of hard when you're seeing what you're seeing. Obviously Tiger, when he needs to step up, he does it. It was impressive to watch."

--Zach Johnson, PGA golfer who was in the final threesome with Tiger Woods, who Sunday won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando.

Tiger Woods came from five-shots behind on the last round. Woods is a five-time winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, yet he has never won when he was trailing going into the final round. His largest final-round comeback on the PGA Tour was five shots in the 2000 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He once overcame an eight-shot deficit in the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand.

Sean O'Hair's five-shot lead was the largest at Bay Hill since Woods led by five in 2003.

Woods came to the 18th hole tied with O'Hair after a bogey at the 17th and hit a 7-iron from 160 yards to 15 feet. O'Hair had already knocked his second shot on the green, leaving himself a 40-footer that he lagged to within 3 feet for a par that would have meant a sudden-death playoff if Woods missed.

Excerpts from ESPN.com (March 30, 2009)