Pachuria s apprentice mocking Vinban Yama

"I can now send a text message to Victor Vinbanyama, telling him that we just defeated the French team. It's a pity that he is not here. If he is there, we will still beat them."

The person who said this was Alexander Mamukrashvili, who played for the Spurs last season. Usually, his teammates call him "Mamu". He scored 13 points and 11 rebounds in the game, helping Georgia defeat France 90-80, revealing the biggest upset in the European Cup, and advanced to the quarter-finals of the European Cup for the first time in the team's history.

You should know that in the voting initiated before the FIBA ​​official game, only 5% of the fans believed that Georgia could win. Even if many main players of the French team are absent, not many people believe that Georgia can achieve an uproar.

26-year-old Mamu couldn't hide his joy after the game. This game was so proud of him because Mamu had a sincere love for his motherland.

is basketball, allowing him to travel all over the world, and it is basketball, allowing him to tell his bond with his motherland to people all over the world to listen to.

Mamu's parents were Georgian, but he was born in New York on May 23, 1999. This was actually an accident - "At that time, they happened to visit my aunt in New York. My mother gave birth to me at that time. I returned to Georgia a few months later. Our life was very comfortable and the environment was very comfortable."

Mamu was influenced by his brother David since he was a child and came into contact with basketball. He also often hears stories about his grandmother Ira Gabashvili, a former Georgian basketball star.

"I have never seen her play basketball because she died before I was born, but I have heard many good stories about her. She was the captain of the Soviet national team, so her level is very high. My father always told me about my grandmother's experience of playing basketball, which made me more interested."

When Mamu was a child, she wore the Spurs No. 1 jersey, and she had the will of heaven. When Mamu was 9 years old, the Russian-German War broke out. Fortunately, he and his brother were visiting their aunt, the famous Georgian-American pianist Etri Anjapalizer, at the time.

"Everything was in a mess at that time," he said. "If it weren't for that visit, I might have been gone."

In that summer, my aunt looked for opportunities to play basketball as much as possible and finally sent him to the summer camp organized by the Bulls. The brothers had a happy summer. They didn't know what was going on at home - they only knew that the war was mainly concentrated in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, but his parents were safe and no one in the family passed away. In the eyes of the brothers, it was just an ordinary summer.

When the brothers returned to their hometown in September 2008, Mamu witnessed the dilapidated village and the buildings destroyed by the war for the first time. He watched the news reports recording the situation of the victims and saw the scene of the war machinery passing by.

"It's hard for you to understand some things when you don't have direct contact with you," said David, who is now a high school teacher. "My brother and I didn't really understand what happened at that time, because we were just children and were not on the scene at that time." In 2012, Mamu took a photo with Paul in the NBA store. In 2025, the two became teammates

, He had not experienced the war, but he felt more and more scared. This instead inspired his idea of ​​contributing to the country and his desire to represent the Georgian national team in the future.

He can speak four languages: Italian, Georgian, Russian and English. In order to broaden his horizons and improve his basketball skills, he played high school basketball in Italy, and then went to the United States two years later, playing in the senior year at Montward Academy in Florida, and was a teammate with RJ Barrett.

And throughout this process, seniors have always helped him grow.

That is his childhood idol, Zaza Pachuria.

"Zaza is my close friend and mentor. He is like my elder brother, and has been like this for many years. In my hometown, he is an idol and a legend. His success in the NBA has paved the way for many players."

Also as an inside player, Pachuria's basket skills and one-hand passes made Mamu fascinated. Therefore, when he was a child, he had been playing in imitation of Pachuria. He said he likes Tony Kukoc and Sabonis Jr., who will study their game videos and then incorporate them into his style.

When Mamu was still in middle school, Pachuria specially invited him to visit Orlando for an NBA game. After graduating from high school, Mamu went to Seton Hall University. Head coach Willard praised his style and believed that he had great potential to tap in the future. After Mamu entered the school, Pachuria went to the school several times alone to discuss his future development with the coach. After the sophomore season, Mamu returned to his hometown of Tbilisi, and Pachuria also went back - he built a youth training academy in his hometown and then trained with Mamu 6 times alone.

"He taught me a lot of things, such as how to jump shots," Mamu said. "He told me how KD did it, how I should practice, mainly to maintain balance. We went to the strength room, and he told me how to exercise the core muscles and how to stay stronger."

Pachuria may not be a star, but he has been playing in the NBA for 16 years and has been praised by teammates of every team, which is obviously something he deserves to emulate.

And while playing for the Warriors, Pachuria took him to the Warriors and introduced him to all the Warriors players, including Curry. He also instilled the trend and philosophy of basketball at this time into his younger brother.

He asked Mamu to expand other characteristics of the game, need to defend multiple positions, and need to make decisive long-range shots..

"One of the challenges I gave him this year is to defend the No. 1 position to No. 5 position. I think he is fully capable of doing this," Pachuria said. "In this way, as long as he has the chance, he can switch offensive progress himself. And even if he is a center, don't fix himself in the center position. He should be able to do everything. His passing is great, he has good shooting skills, but it is not stable enough. He can shoot three-pointers, and he is so young, he will only get better and better and better." After every college game after

, both of them will send text messages or make video calls. After each game, Mamu has something to talk to his elder brother and actively share it with Pachuria.

"I understand the NBA and understand the trends of basketball, so I want to give him some advice," Pachuria said. "But whether he can enter the NBA and how hard he can work depends entirely on himself."

Senior season, Mamu was named the Best Player in the Big East Division and was shortlisted for the Karl Malone Award (Best Power Forward). At the 2021 draft, he was selected by the Pacers with the 54th pick and then traded to the Bucks, and the No. 54 also became his later jersey number.

As a player in the second round and two-way contract, Mamu does not have many opportunities to perform, but whether in the Development League or in the Summer League, his diligence and comprehensiveness have been unanimously recognized by the coaching staff. This also made the Spurs immediately claim his contract after he was cut by the Bucks and turned into a formal contract before the end of the season.

He got along well with his teammates at the Spurs and had a good relationship with Wenban Yama. He can play in the fourth position or the fifth position, and also gives him room to perform in the Spurs system. In fact, it is precisely because of the early season reimbursement of Wenban Yama that Mamu, whose style and characteristics are similar to him, has more opportunities to play.

On March 19, 2025, the Spurs played against the Knicks at home. Mamu made only 13 of 14 shots, including 7 three-pointers, scoring 34 points and 9 rebounds, helping the team win the victory. He also made NBA history: becoming the first player in history to score 34 points in less than 20 minutes of playing.

After that game, his speech also caused a burst of laughter: "Ah? I didn't missed a shot, right? I missed a goal? Damn it! I thought my data was perfect." After the end of the season, he signed a two-year contract of 5.5 million with the Raptors. Next season, he and Wenban Yama will be opponents.

In addition to the NBA's tenacity, he is concerned about his motherland and actively participates in all national team competitions. In the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup qualifiers, Mamu can only watch the game on the screen across the ocean because of his role in the Bucks. But through the screen, he could still feel the boiling blood.

"I was in Milwaukee at the time, and I watched that game before the game," he said. "I was not on the court, but I wanted to be with everyone. The game was over, we advanced, and our Georgia really scored into the Men's Basketball World Cup. I was excited to run around the room, and I was proud of my brothers!" There were many brothers who grew up together, including the superstar Shenglia in the European arena. After reaching the Men's Basketball World Cup, Shenglia told Mamu, "We can play the World Cup, and we still have a chance to play the Olympics."

Shenglia is 7 years older than Mamu. He watched his little brother grow up and also let him see who he was.

"I love Sandro because he always desires to learn. Not only do I go to him, tell him, teach him. But he always asks."

"To me, he is like my brother. When the time is right, I will pass the baton to these young people, and I know they will do things well."

And Mamu is also trying hard to absorb more nutrients under the care of his elder brothers.

"When I was a child, I grew up watching the national team games every summer, and dreamed of representing the national team. This is an honor, a privilege, and something I devoted myself to. I just want to play, play, fight, represent my country." He was very proud.

In the European Cup in the 2025 summer, Mamu averaged 14.2 points, 7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game, ranking among the top two in all four statistics. When Georgia defeated the last champion Spain in the group stage and defeated the last runner-up France again in the 1/8 final, the first thing he thought of was the glory of representing the motherland.

"This is definitely the biggest victory in Georgian basketball history and the most important victory in my career. We reached the quarterfinals of the European Cup. What better way to represent our country and our family?"

He put Georgia's map and text on his left hand, and every time he touched the ball, he could see it and know where he came from.

But he knew better that the motherland was always in his heart.

"I came here to win, to compete, and to let everyone see that the Georgians have a strong heart. No one could predict the result of the game, but one thing is certain: every teammate present will do his best to make his last breath."

"This is the spirit of our Georgians."

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(text/text Ruo)