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Imagine for a second you could combine the greatness of the most iconic locker room speeches in cinematic history. What if you could merge Al Pacino’s impassioned monologue in Any Given Sunday with Herb Brooks in Miracle and Rudy’s recitation of “Win One For The Gipper.” The result would likely be the most motivational pep talk in the history of mankind.
Now, try to think of the exact opposite of that. What you’d probably get is the pregame speech temporary BC Vytautas coach LaVar Ball gave to LaMelo, LiAngelo, and the rest of the team prior to their matchup against Jonava in Sunday during the latest exhibition game in the Big Baller Challenge currently taking place in Lithuania.
https://twitter.com/Ballislife/status/957692208345333760
It’s almost impossible for me to pick my favorite part of this video, but that’s not going to stop me from trying to rank the best parts:
- LaVar spending as much time writing “Operation Beatdown” on the whiteboard as it took him to deliver the actual speech.
- The total lack of reaction by basically every single person in the locker room
- Ball using the marker as a microphone
- LaMelo just wandering off in the middle
However, it appears his sons managed to overcome the sheer awfulness of the pep talk. LaMelo ended the game with 40 points and a triple-double and LiAngleo followed behind by putting up 31 points in their 151-120 victory over Jonava.
Maybe the guy translating can come up with a speech of his own next time and just give that instead of telling players what Ball is actually saying.