Nuggets inspired by Andrew Bynum’s comments

The Denver Nuggets got their motivation from Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum in their game 5 win over the Lakers. The Nuggets beat the Lakers 102-99. The Lakers now hold a 3-2 series lead. Before game 5 Bynum had some comments that seemed to fuel the Nuggets.

Here is what Bynum said before game 5.

“Closeout games are actually kind of easy,” Bynum had said a day earlier. “Teams tend to fold if you come out and play hard in the beginning.”

Nuggets head coach George Karl made sure his players saw this quote before the game.

“A lot of players are arrogant, man,” Nuggets guard Ty Lawson said. “That was an arrogant statement. That definitely did give us fuel and motivation to win this game. We don’t like people saying stuff about us. We all looked at each and other and were like, ‘All right, let’s go.’ ”

“We try not to put what people say into our head or into our heart,” Nuggets Kenneth Faried said. “But we just looked at it, Coach told us about it and we came out and tried to prove them wrong.”

“Did it pump them up?” Kobe Bryant said. “Yeah, probably. Were they going to come out and play with that type of energy anyway? Probably. We didn’t execute. They obviously played harder than we did.

“It was a lesson to learn. You never want to give someone bulletin-board material to begin with. But if you’re going to be a champion, you’re going to have to play through that type of stuff.”

Here is what Bynum said after the game.

“We didn’t get off to a good start and we lost, so I guess the same holds true,” he said.

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