In the decisive moments of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs, big man Donta Hall of AS Monaco has more motivation than perhaps any other player in the competition to stay on the path to glory and advance to the Final Four.
Donta Hall, Monaco: 'You gotta make it through'
Growing up in Alabama, Hall was a talented young prospect when his world was changed by sudden tragedy: at the age of 13, his father, Donald, collapsed and died in the arena during one of his games.
Hall's father had been a huge influence on his early life, especially when it came to sports.
"My dad, growing up, he made sure we were around all sports," he recalls. "Basketball, baseball, football, even golf. That was the drive that he gave me growing up.
"My first memories of basketball are playing in the backyard with my brothers and my dad. We were just playing, the game got a little aggressive, we were having fun, and I believe that right there I got my love for basketball. I don't even remember how old I was, I was very young. But from that moment I just had that taste of competing. I thrived on it, and I wanted to go even harder."
But far more than just playing for enjoyment, the sudden loss of his father in 2010 gave a totally different edge to Hall's approach to the sport and, of course, life in general.
"It happened in my last junior varsity basketball game," he says. "My mom wasn't there because she was out working.
"It pushed me in a lot of ways. I look at it that God does a lot of things for a reason, so I take it and run with that. Losing my father at my last junior varsity basketball game, and my mom being at work, working her butt off every day...it pushed me to make sure my mom doesn't have to go out and work anymore.
"A lot of things changed for me in that year that I couldn't possibly even imagine. I had to literally become a man, just by the age of 13, 14. Ever since that happened, my mind went from this big [gestures wide] to now just a straight line. I gotta get to where I'm trying to go. I gotta make things happen, make sure mom's good."
Hall did not have to face the tragedy alone; he was able to take comfort and encouragement from his siblings as well as his mother. "I have five brothers," he explains. "All of them are back at the crib, nine-to-five jobs, just living life honestly. My mother supported every bit of my basketball career. She's been behind me every step."
But he admits there were some very tough times along the way, especially when he left home to pursue his basketball development at University of Alabama.
"College was my toughest time," he reflects. "Late nights, hard to sleep, thinking about things. I'd go to gym at 2 or 3 in the morning, stay in there until 5 or 6, and I had classes at 8 or 9. But I would still make it to class, and then practice."
His focus never wavered; from the moment his father passed away, his full intent was to make a successful basketball career for himself and his family. And so, after a handful of games with three different NBA teams, when the opportunity was presented at the start of this season to join Monaco, he agreed to cross the Atlantic despite reservations that had nothing to do with basketball or his cultural readiness, but everything to do with family.
"I was nervous," he admits. "When I was talking to my agent, I was iffy about coming all the way here to Europe without my mom. Her health had been getting bad in the last year, so I wasn't sure if I really wanted to come over here. But I felt like it was for the best and she supported it. She didn't want me to leave but she knew it was for the better.
"When I came here, I knew very little about European basketball. But when I got here, I started quickly learning. When you have opportunities like this, you've got to take it. You're coming to a beautiful city to play basketball, everything around here is nice, and it's good to experience something other than the United States."
That doesn't mean Hall has allowed himself to relax and enjoy life in the sunny principality too much, though. He is on a mission to succeed, and he has promised himself to bring maximum intensity every step of the way.
"Every day I touch that hardwood floor," he says, "I don't care who's in front of me or what's going on, even if it's just a practice. I'm there."
And his father is never far from his thoughts, either.
"That's where I wear this number [45]," he reveals. "Because he was number five. Growing up, everybody's nickname [for him] was 'Five'. Everybody knew him as Five. So that's why I've got a brand, 'Forever 5', which is where the four [on my jersey] comes in. I have shirts and shorts, things like that. I'll be putting together a website soon."
Wrestling with the pain he endured as a teenager and the struggle he has undertaken ever since is not always easy, but it explains why Hall plays with the no-holds-barred ferocity that has seen him make such an impact during his rookie EuroLeague campaign.
And the warning for Olympiacos Piraeus ahead of the conclusion of this enthralling playoffs series is that he's not finished yet, as he concludes with a line that could serve as his personal mantra: "You gotta make it through; life goes on."