Miami Heat forward Jae Crowder says the Lakers' choice to wear their "Black Mamba" uniforms for Game 5 of the 2020 NBA Finals served as motivation for their win. The Lakers were previously undefeated when wearing the jerseys.
“You’re hearing how they’re putting the black jerseys on and shit and how they haven’t lost a game in those and people start talking about that,” Crowder told Yahoo Sports. “That is motivation, and it’s always going to get under your skin a little bit. You obviously funnel that in the right direction and use it as motivation and it definitely helped tonight.”
The Heat won 111-108, forcing a Game 6 and keeping their title hopes alive.
"It's only four days left," he said, regarding the team's energy moving forward. "To throw it all away just because it's at the end and you want to get out of here, it's not worth it. We put a lot of work into this. We're four days away. If we've been here for 90-plus days, you can do five more days."
The Lakers had an opportunity to win with 7-seconds left on the game clock, but a vital missed 3-point shot from Danny Green and subsequent turnover form Markief Morris ended their chances of winning.
Game 6 will be held Sunday, at 7:30 PM.
[Via]