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After losing to the Nuggets and hearing the trash talk that followed, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers were very motivated to take on the Denver Nuggets this season.
Five months ago, the Lakers-Nuggets rivalry didn’t exist. If only the outcome of the series and Denver’s sweep win were given, one would think the rivalry still doesn’t exist.
But boy, is a rivalry brewing fast.
The trash talk during the series gave way to many, many things Denver did after winning the championship. In fact, almost all the trash talk comes from one side of the game.
LeBron addressed this issue over the summer. Daven Ham was also well aware of the conversation that was taking place. During Monday’s media day, Anthony Davis revealed how much momentum the Lakers have gained from the end of the season.
“It’s very motivating,” Davis said. “I mean, obviously KCP is my guy, so you congratulate him and be like, ‘You got this.'” But it was just a lot of those conversations, and the “Lakers dad,” a lot of stuff that happened, just Like, ‘Okay, we get it, and ‘all win,’ but me and LeBron have some conversations like, ‘We can’t wait.’ … There’s no moral victory. It’s not, ‘Oh, we have a 0.3 percent chance. Getting into (the playoffs), and then we made it to the Western Conference (finals). No. We felt like we had enough to win.
“Obviously, we have to fight hard for two months to get to the playoffs, but that’s a lot of motivation. You want to win. Any time you lose motivation, you get ready for next season and try to compete for a championship. , so that in itself was motivation. And all the chatter that went around over the summer…”
Spectrum Sportsnet anchor Allie Clifton followed suit, asking AD if he’s heard all the noise and trash talk this summer.
“Yeah. “I’m not on social media, but I hear it. “
For those counting down the days, the wait won’t be too long for Game 1 between the Lakers and Nuggets. The two met in Denver’s first game of the season, with the Nuggets receiving a championship ring seemingly in need of extra motivation heading into their first game in this rivalry.
The Nuggets will travel to Los Angeles for two more games this season, one on February 8 and another on March 2. All three games will be televised, with the first two on TNT and the latter on ABC.
Both teams will once again be title contenders this season. Basically, everything is in place for some truly exciting games this season.
Ideally, these games will also be a few more wins than last year’s playoff run.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter: @Jacobrud.
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