WEBVTT

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Sulty A. Adam Auslin, host
of Clipper Countdown, the pregame, the

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halftime, the postgame show, joins
us in the studio. That was a

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hell of game last night. It
was. What's good guy, It's good

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to be here. Yeah. Just
uh, you know, Fred, you're

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getting called out on Twitter for Rex
Well, I mean just and again,

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I don't want to correct you because
obviously your a legend, first baut Hall

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of Famer and all that, but
thanks. Uh the Twitter account eat s

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and Die writes in and says I
always want eat S and Die writes in,

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I take it very seriously, guys. It's listen. This is credibility

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at full tilt. He writes in. You're right to call out. It

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says this to me. You right
to call out Fred Rogan about saying hard

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and waddled in. He does not
waddle. He metastasizes because he's a bleeping

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cancer. Oh okay, well,
i'll talk to you guys later in shape.

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Yeah, Adam, thanks for yeah
wow, So I didn't get that

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and Die Okay, well it was
said that you were added on that tweet

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or that x whatever they're call it
these days. So a little bit of

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a correction according to his account there
assuming it to him, Oh thanks for

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pointing that out, yeah forty second
doo. Yeah okay, So Adam,

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what did you think last night?
What did I think? What are the

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headlines? Freddy? Uh? I
think it was an exciting game and good

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for basketball, and the Lakers ended
up pulling it out when they were down

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by nineteen in that first quarter.
But to me, what changed things was

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two back to back three pointers to
end the first cutting a nineteen point lead

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down to thirteen. Then it seems
a lot more manageable. But give it

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up for the Clippers to come back
down nine with two minutes left in the

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fourth quarter, just to send it
into ot. Paul George was unreal,

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twenty of his thirty five in that
fourth quarter alone, And the problem was

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the Clippers couldn't say out of foul
trouble. They couldn't defend without fouling enough.

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Obviously undermanned on a back to back, but you don't want to make

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any excuses, but the Lakers had
seventeen free throws in the last seventeen minutes

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of the ballgame, and that was
really the difference. George fouling out as

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soon as they started overtime after he
was on an unbelievable heater. Kind of

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a game changer. Kawhi was the
only guy for them who scored in ot

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to me, they needed one more
role player to step up last night.

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Norman Powell was off, Bones Highland
was off. Obviously no Terrence Man still

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either for the Clippers. So it
was, well, I guess twelve times

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the charm for the Lakers. After
losing eleven straight to the Clippers, they

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finally figured it out. Do you
find that kind of interesting, Adam,

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that now the rivalry in the matchup
matters, and these regular season games matter

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now that the Lakers have finally whined
one one, because before it was,

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well, you don't have any banners
hanging up. The Lakers are thinking about

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bigger things. But now that they
won one of these, now all of

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a sudden, it seems to matter
a little bit more. It's weird how

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that works. Yeah, Lakers fans
hang the banner after that victory last night.

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I guess, am I doing it
right, because that's what they always

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say when the Clippers beat them.
Oh, this is your guys' championship.

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We don't care, Fred, It's
the truth. I get this stuff.

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In coming out follow out of May
on X all the time just from ed

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ses and die, yes and die, So it goes back the other way.

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Look, the Lakers were obviously due. It was the right time to

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get the Clippers second night of a
back to back, no James Harden,

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no Terrence Man. Lakers were down
some guys too. But this Clippers team

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now has seventy seven more games to
figure things out with James Harden and four

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days off, by the way,
to get him up to speed till they

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play on Monday. Now, do
you believe that what we saw last night

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from Paul George, from Kawhi Leonard
is that sustainable? Like, is this

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something to where those guys playing at
that level? Because if they're playing at

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that level, I know last night
there was the foul trouble and it was

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kind of a weird game to where
Lebron and Anthony Davis were super seemed super

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motivated to try and win that game. That was a statement game for them,

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it felt like more than it was
for the Clippers. If you get

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that sort of production though from Paul
George and Kawhi Leonard, that's a really

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tough out the Western Conference. I
don't care what their age is if you

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can get that throughout the course of
the season, and the addition to PJ.

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Tucker, Westbrook played well, and
then you see James Harden slowly get

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mixed in. When Fred's done fat
shaming him, it feels like the Clippers

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have got a legitimate shot here and
are a real threat in the Western Conference.

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We'll get back to the fat shaming
in a little bit, but yeah,

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Kawhi Leonard and Paul George being healthy
and playing at this level the efficiency

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I think PG. Thirteen, Paul
George had the thirty five points on just

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seventeen shots, maybe it was sixteen. That's absurd. But Kawhi Leonard comes

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out in the first quarter and had
the best first quarter of his career,

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starting seven of eight with eighteen points
in the first and that's why the Clippers

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got up by nineteen. Now,
is it sustainable for them to combine for

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seventy three points every night? No, But as I mentioned, some other

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guys had down nights. Once they
pick things up, once they get back

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in their groove, I think the
Clippers will be fine. And there's gonna

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be a lot of adjustments with James
Harden coming in now they're gonna have to

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figure this out. Post game,
it was Russell Westbrook talking about it.

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It's gonna take some time. There's
gonna be a process, some ups,

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some downs, a learning curve.
With James Harden in there, all of

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that is understandable. But the point
is these guys I think are willing to

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sacrifice to try to win a championship, and James Harden is really backed into

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a corner. Now this could be
his last opportunity to really have a chance,

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not just to win a championship,
but to get that last big payday.

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He's in a contract year. He's
gonna be an unrestricted free agent.

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That's all part of this. The
Clippers have his bird rights, so they

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can go over the cap to re
sign him. But we'll see how things

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play out. But I think the
fit works on a couple different levels because

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James Harden has become much more of
a playmaker the last couple of seasons.

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If you saw him in those games
when Kyrie and KD were actually healthy in

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Brooklyn, he was setting the table
a lot and it worked, and they

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looked unreal and unbeatable. The Clippers
had to play him a couple of those

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eighteen times they were actually fully healthy, so I saw it firsthand. But

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also when he's not doing that,
when he's not just facilitating, and Kawhi

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Leonard or Paul George are both are
out, we know there's gonna be nights

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where that happens. He's insurance.
You can then make him the focal point

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of the offense. He can run
the show. He's that regular season floor.

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Razer, I believe where you have
to navigate this tough schedule of the

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Clippers having twenty five three games and
four nights, so seventy five of their

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eighty two games are coming within those
parameters. They have by far the toughest

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schedule in the NBA because they have
third billing at Crypto dot Com. Hence

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the into It Dome coming next season
can't come soon enough. But you got

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to survive the regular season. You
gotta be a top three seed outside the

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ninety five Houston Rockets. I say
it all the time. Nobody else in

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the modern NBA has won that was
not a top three seed. So they're

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stacking talent, they're bringing insurance in
so in case Kawhir Paul George are out

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for an extended period of time,
and neither of them have played seventy games

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so far as a Clipper in a
regular season, so it's big for them

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in a multitude of ways. But
it's on coach lu to figure this out.

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And I actually think he's the perfect
guy to make guys sacrifice and also

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put them in the right spots to
succeed having all this talent. And by

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the way, it's not like James
Harden and Russell Westbrook haven't played together before.

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They did it in Okay. See, they did it in Houston,

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so it's not all new and unfamiliar
for this team. I just thought last

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night was great. Everybody was going
all out. Everybody was going one hundred

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miles an hour, fifty to fifty
balls. It was a battle, great

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hustle place. It was just a
really fun basketball game to watch. Well.

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And as Jonas mentioned, with the
Lakers needing, it more wanting to

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make a statement. I think the
statement the Clippers made is, oh,

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Kawhi Leonard just played forty one minutes
on the second night of a back to

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back. When's the last time that
happened. Paul George, I think played

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thirty seven. Paul George was this
good. He was a plus twenty two

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in a ballgame they lost by five. What does that tell you? In

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the sixteen minutes he was on the
bench, they got outscored by twenty seven.

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That's how good he was last night. They looked unbeatable when he was

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out there. It was exciting.
Kawhi had the big throw down. Late

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Austin Reeves started to find himself.
If you're a Lakers fan, he had

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some big plays. Did some say
there was some foul baiting going on,

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but some big plays. Nonetheless,
I don't be tracking. It was hillbilly

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Kobe out there, a little bit
more than we had seen so far this

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season, but an exciting brand of
basketball nationally televised. That's exactly what the

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NBA wanted. They're superstars out there
playing. But now the Clippers have four

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days off to get things right with
James Harden for Monday when they're on an

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East Coast trip starting in New York
against the Knicks, and we will have

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that game on the radio STA pregame
at three thirty on Monday. I'm sure

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everyone's gonna remember that by the time
it comes. What was the crowd split

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like last night? Look, if
you had to guess uh, well,

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full disclosure. I was back in
Burbank because damn technically a Lakers home game,

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and if you just go off the
three clutch free throws Paul George had

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to make late in that fourth quarter
to tie. It was seventeen left.

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It was obviously a heavy Laker crowd. They were into it. They tasted

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blood. They wanted a victory over
the Clippers, finally to get that monkey

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off their back. I know they'll
downplay it and say it's not that big

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of a deal, but I saw
plenty of people in my mentions, which

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you know, the old line methinks
the woman doth protest too much. Like

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if you're saying we don't care all
the time, you probably do. And

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that's where that's where it comes into
play with Lakers fans, and they're actually

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being a rivalry in Los Angeles,
even though they'll say there isn't. Yes,

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the Clippers haven't won at the highest
level yet, but guys, going

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into last night's game, they had
won thirty six of the last forty three

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meetings against the Lakers. That is
unbelievable domination in the regular season. Granted,

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they haven't matched up in the playoffs
yet, but still there's an edge

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to these games. They are emotionally
charged, you could say, and I

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love what we saw from PJ.
Tucker last night. It's not just James

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Harden. I've always been a big
fan of him, and he had all

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five of his boards were off defensive
rebounds. So another hustle guy reminds me

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a little bit of Patrick Beverley.
Plays with that competitive spirit out there.

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It's gonna be interesting to see how
this Clippers team comes together, this super

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team type of roster now they have. You know what last night reminded me

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of, And I don't know if
you guys remember this. Do you remember

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the game between the Lakers and Clippers
before the COVID shutdown where the Lakers were

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playing. It was like in the
same weekend, they played Milwaukee on a

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Friday night and then they played the
Clippers on a Sunday and it was a

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back and forth and the Lakers ended
up winning that game late, but it

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felt like it was a really important
game to the Lakers, and the atmosphere

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was electric. It reminded me of
that game before the COVID shutdown, So

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it was it was, to Fred's
point, really entertaining and really fun to

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watch. Whoever, whoever came out
on top of that one. Both teams

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put on a show that was truly
a battle for Los Angeles last night,

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and for the first time in three
years, the Lakers got a victory over

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the Clippers. Last time they beat
them, that was the last game outside

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of the Bubble. Then they won
in the opening night of the Bubble where

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they kind of did this hard reset
get a few games in before the playoffs

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start, and the Clippers took on
the Lakers. Clippers lost that one late

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as they didn't call foul and Lebron
James holding on Kawhi Leonard. But that's

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neither here nor there three years ago. Guys, gotta let it go right

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Well, why are you opening that
door? Jonas O mean, I'm just

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saying, like, if we're gonna
call this down the middle, let's call

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down the middle. You want everything
slanted towards the Lakers. I would like

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to give a little bit of love
to the Clippers who are making noise in

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this town. How did I slant
anything towards the Lakers? It just feels

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like, you know, that was
the greatest game ever, but the previous

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eleven times the Lakers lost to the
Clippers. You want to just dismiss those

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altogether. I just thought it was
a very entertaining game, I said to

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Kevin before we started at them,
which is completely impossible. I wish every

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NBA game was like that. Do
you think it was? Adam Solber,

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buddy, do you think it was
necessary, fred though to show up in

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a CeDell three jersey, Like,
I mean, that felt a bit much.

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Oh did I carry it a little
farre? It was a bit much.

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I thought. I saw Eldon Campbell
on his back was well, helicopter

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defense. Elton Campbell. Those big
arms just swung around in the middle of

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the key like this, kept swagging
around. Hey, Freddy, pace yourself.

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It was just game five of the
regular season, all right. The

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Clippers and Lakers are still playing three
more times. That's what I said.

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We got a long way to go, all right, Adam, thank you,

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all right, appreciate you guys,
and the pregame show Monday three thirty.

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But Adam Austlin, Yeah, that's
it. Get ready for it,

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Clippers countdown as we are just about
one hundred and twenty eight hours away from

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tip off, all right, so
you know it's going to be big all

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right, thanks Adam,