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Saltier. Adam Ausland here cleared up
the playoff situation. You know, it's

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funny. I just checked Twitter,
all right, I said I was wrong,

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meaning we were wrong, but I
thought I was wrong, corrected it.

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I could have told you that stop. Then I was told, no,

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you're not wrong, We're right.
Okay. Then we brought an Adam

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who just explained it, which confirmed
what our listeners said. And now I

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go to Twitter and they go,
what's wrong with you? What's wrong with

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you? The confusion is based around
last season. It was a spur of

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the moment. They made an amendment
to the end of the season because they

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didn't think it was fair for teams
to not have a shot to get in

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because they didn't play the full eighty
two games the season. Season was unexpectedly

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cut short. So what they did
was they said, okay, Portland's the

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eighth seed right now, Memphis is
the ninth seed. The ninth seed has

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a chance to get to the eighth
seed because they shortened all those games.

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So if they beat Portland twice,
they get in. If Portland beats them

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once, they get in. That's
what happened. Portland became the eighth seed.

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They just had to beat Memphis once, all right, And I was

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of the belief that the ruling from
last season carried over into this season.

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And I believe that is where the
genesis of all the confusion started. It

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started with me, not with Fred
or with Rodney. It was for me

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and all the listeners. Again,
can you break it down one more time?

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Okay, Lakers win tomorrow night.
Let's say that happens, right,

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they're the seventh seed, the seven
and eight. Whoever comes out of that

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game tomorrow night. In both conferences, they are the seventh seed. In

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the Eastern Conference, that's Washington taken
on the Boston Celtics tonight. Whoever win,

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whoever wins, becomes the seventh.
Sea doesn't win, or Golden State

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win, never win. Whoever wins
that game, the loser takes on the

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winner of the nine ten, which
in the Western Conference will be Memphis versus

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the San Antonio Spurs. So even
if the Lakers lost the Golden State Warriors,

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it's double elimination. They would still
have another chance to get the eighth

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seed by beating the winner of Memphis
and San Antonio. All Right, they

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don't play the Golden State Warrior twice. No, no, sir, that

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was just something unique to last year. All right, since you do a

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Clipper countdown and you are the pregame, halftime and postgame host of all Clippers,

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did they go into tank at the
end of the season. I'm calling

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this sports media malpractice with what I've
heard over the past couple of days is

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they're just not enough to talk about
because the premise is built upon a lie,

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a falsehood. You can go back
and say, well, the Clippers

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did not play hard against Houston or
OKAC. They didn't play their regulars.

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Well, why should they have to? They earn the right first of all

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to rest guys. And they have
their two superstars who are both dealing with

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foot injuries in Kauai and Paul George. And oh yeah, Friday night's game

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that was the second game of a
back to back. It's consistent with what

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they've been doing over the last month
on back to backs. They've been resting

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guys. So that game makes sense
to me, even though gen Ronod still

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played thirty minutes and they were still
in it late. But the fact that

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people are saying it's further proven that
they were trying to throw the end of

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the game or the end of the
regular seasons and not match up against the

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Lakers because they lost to okay See
on Sunday. Wait a second, that

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game had no bearing on them playing
the Los Angeles Lakers. They already knew

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going into Sunday that they were going
to take on either the Dallas Mavericks or

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the Portland Trailblazers. No matter what
happened in that game, they had no

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control over that. They weren't going
to play the Los Angeles Lakers. It

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was already determined after Friday night it
was over. So to say, not

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only did they throw a game against
the Houston Rockets Friday night, then they

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lose one of the worst teams again
in the ok See Thunder. That game

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had nothing to do with it.
So either people are lying being disingenuous about

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it, just taking shots of the
Clippers because it's open season for whatever I

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guess, because they blew that three
once serious lead against the Denver Nuggets,

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or they're just completely uninformed. So
okay, so I get the Sunday but

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the Friday. Do people have a
legitimate beef about the Friday night game because

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it wasn't determined there. They haven't
been playing Kawhi Leonard or Paul George on

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back to backs recently. If you
have a chance to give both of your

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guys a week and a half off, the two guys that are most important

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to making that long playoff run,
you do that, and that is what

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ended up happening. It would be
one thing if you could gain some momentum

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and some runway going into the playoffs. Let's say the season ended on Sunday

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in the first round started on Tuesday
or Wednesday. But that's not the situation

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now because of the play in tournament. Every team is having five to six

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to seven days off from the end
of the regular season into the first round.

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So it's not even like you can
get into a rhythm by playing these

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guys at the end of the year. There's no incentive to play them.

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It doesn't make sense. Laker fans
are just unhappy because they ended up being

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in the play in tournament. Go
get upset with the Portland Trailblazers or Denver

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Nuggets. If that's the case.
That was the ultimate game that determined whether

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or not they were going to get
in or not. Yeah, I mean

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I think yeah, maybe Laker fans, they can feel, you know,

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maybe superior, like the Clippers are
scared of them. But I think it's

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more than just Laker fans that felt
that way. I think it's across the

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country that people were like, whoa, the Clippers kind of kind of adduct

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it. But to the real point, if you really think about it,

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if you're the Clippers, well,
when do you want to face the Lakers?

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You want to face them early or
do you want to face them in

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the finals where they've had a couple
of series under their belt. If you're

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the Clippers, don't you want to
face them in the first round when they're

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the most vulnerable. I think the
Clippers right now, based upon the last

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three weeks, they are also vulnerable. I don't think they've been playing their

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best basketball since Kauhi returned from his
foot injury. They just haven't looked the

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same overall. So I've heard a
lot about this where well, you could

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catch the Lakers slipping right now,
it's perfect time get them in the first

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round, take them out. They're
reimplementing Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Well,

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it's not like Paul George and Kawhi
Leonard have been playing in a ton

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of games recently. They're also banged
up, and they just got Sergebaca back,

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who is going to be necessary going
up against Anthony Davis. He just

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played his first two games in the
last two months, so they need to

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get into a rhythm too. Now, they could still see the Lakers,

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by the way, in the second
round. If the Lakers end up losing

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to the Golden State Warriors tomorrow night
and then they win against whoever comes out

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between the Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio
Spurs, they're the eighth seed they'll take

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on the one. If they upset
the Utah Jazz in that case, and

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the Clippers won against the Dallas Mavericks, they would match up in the second

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round. So the fact that the
Clippers could have won both games and the

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Lakers still wouldn't have got in to
the playoffs, that tells you all you

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need to know. Why would the
Clippers be worried about anyone else but themselves?

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All right, what do you think
about Lebron's I thought he looked pretty

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good with the burst on a Sunday
against the Pelicans. Now it sounds like

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he had a minor tweak at the
end. But they're all saying, I'm

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fine, Everything's fine to me.
The play was telling where he had the

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steal and took it coast to coast
for the underhand layup. He looked like

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the freight train. Lebron James.
He looked as fast as ever. And

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I don't think it takes a lot
of time for someone like him and for

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the guys around him to get back
in sync when you're talking about Lebron James,

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because he's that ultimate connector out there
on the floor. He makes everyone

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so much better, and in his
eighteenth year or whatever it is, I

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don't think it's going to take him
long to get back and rhythm. Individually,

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he looked good. Anthony Davis has
looked really good at times over the

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last week two. The Lakers are
in a pretty good spot considering how many

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games have been missed by Lebron James
and Anthony Davis. I think Lebron has

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missed twenty seven eighty has missed somewhere
around thirty five. And they're coming together

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just at the right time, and
they have a team in Golden State that

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doesn't match up well against them.
I'm expecting the Lakers to win by fifteen

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to twenty points tomorrow night. Yeah, all right, So what do you

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think assuming that it all stays the
same The Lakers beat the Warriors, Warriors

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beat whoever San Antonio or Memphis,
it stays seven and eight with Lakers and

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Warriors. What matchup in this first
round of the Western Conference are you excited

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about or should be the most exciting
matchup? Most exciting, I mean it

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could be because of the likelihood of
an upset. It could be that two

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seven matchup between the Phoenix Suns and
the Los Angeles Lakers, because Phoenix has

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done all this work to be the
two seed and the reward is getting to

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play the Los Angeles Lakers, who
they don't have the personnel to match up

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very well against. They don't have
enough size. And that last game without

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Lebron James, where the Lakers won
handily, where Ad looked like himself going

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for forty plus points out there,
that could be a preview a sign of

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things to come. As good as
CP three has been this season and Devin

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Booker and DeAndre Aden, they just
don't have a lot of answers for the

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Lakers size. That would be a
really good matchup for the Los Angeles Lakers.

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People have talked about this. The
fact that they can still be the

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seventh seed going through the play in
tournament could actually benefit them. I talked

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about all the other teams dealing with
being out of sync and out of rhythm.

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Because they're going to have a week
off between the end of or from

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the end of the end of the
regular season into the first round. The

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Lakers might actually have some momentum.
If they win big tomorrow night, they

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may feel really good about themselves.
And Phoenix that is just a really tough

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draw for them. I said this
earlier on the FA podcast, But it's

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just it is the undefeated bad luck
of Chris Paul. It's always been like

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that for him in the playoffs.
If they end up getting the Los Angeles

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Lakers and get bounced in six games
in the first round, it is going

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to be devastating for Phoenix Jones fans
who really thought they had a chance at

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least to get to the Western Conference
finals. Adam appreciate the infol today.

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Thanks for jumping in all right,
love you guys, Even new Fred