"The biggest thing mentally is I'm just always focused on when I get a chance to be out there to help..." — David Lee

I have always been lucky enough to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family.

My parents were born and brought up in New York City. My father was trained as an electrical engineer, and my mother was an elementary school teacher. They were the children of Jewish immigrants who had come to the United States from England and Lithuania in the late 1800s.

Following graduation from high school in 1948, I attended Harvard University where I became a physics major. Having grown up in a small town, I found Harvard to be an enormously enriching experience. Students in my class came from all walks of life and from a great variety of geographical locations.

I'd been a guy who's made last-second shots in regular-season games or played big down the stretch for periods of times, but until you're in that experience on the grandest stage possible, you hope you're mentally prepared for it and able to produce but never really know until you get there.