On Friday night, your Los Angeles Lakers somehow mustered up enough internal fortitude to end the 11-game winning streak of the visiting Memphis Grizzlies, one of the top teams in the Western Conference.
According to Los Angeles head coach Darvin Ham, a lot of the team's late-game motivation stemmed from a deep-bench reserve source.
After the Lakers put the finishing touches on a tight 122-121 win, Ham told gathered media that bench forward Juan Toscano-Anderson served as a galvanizing force down the stretch, thanks to a concise, expletive-laden motivational speech he delivered to his teammates.
"Let's win the f---ing game," JTA advised his comrades, per Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. "How about that? F--- everything else. Just win the game."
That blunt mission statement may not have quite been the Al Pacino speech in "Any Given Sunday," but apparently it did the trick anyway.
Toscano-Anderson saw limited time off the bench (just 9:37), even with a variety of LA player injuries. The 6'6" combo forward took (and missed) just one field goal attempt, though he did ice three of his four critical free throw tries to tally three points, plus a rebound and an assist.
JTA of course is coming off a championship run as a deep-bench reserve with the Golden State Warriors last year, and despite his relative minimal minutes allocation on this LA roster, has emerged as a vocal leader for the 21-25 club.
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