Adam Auslin is on the board today and he's also the host of the Clipper
Countdown. He'll jump in, Adam. Why do you think the Lakers have
had this success away from Staples? I think part of it is because of
the strange circumstances surrounding this season, where winning on the road isn't as difficult.
You don't have to deal with the fans, even if I think there
are seven arenas now or eight now after Atlanta opened up to eight thousand people
last night that have fans, you know, sparsely spread out throughout the arenas.
But the Lakers overall just looked really focused. And I think it's because
Lebron James and the way he's playing, and if you're talking about what happened
last season between him and Janniston then a COOPO and you mentioned this after they
beat the Milwaukee Bucks, Fred, But I do think there's some added motivation
from Lebron James to come out of the gates when everybody thought he was going
to rest. When everybody thought because they only had seventy one days off between
the NBA Finals and the start of this season, he would take more time
off and it would be well earned load management, and he's not doing it,
and he's playing some of his best basketball right now. The forty six
points or whatever it was he had the other night was just insane against Cleveland.
Some of those shots who was hitting and really all season long. You
know, you complained when he missed that shot, the three pointer against the
Golden State Warriors at the end of that game, saying that's not a great
shot for him. So far this season, he's shooting over forty percent from
three, He's been really efficient from the outside, and he hits seven of
them against the Cleveland Cavaliers. So I think part of it is Lebron is
on a mission and everybody else is following the leader with the Lakers right now.
Yeah, No, I agree with that. He's shooting the ball well,
and I was one of those guys of setting up a three pointer for
Lebron at the end of the game. But the way he shot the ball,
you can't argue with that. Are you surprised at they're coming out this
way though, Adam? And do you think that that this will come back
to bite them at the end of the season. Well, I believe they
are thirteen and four right now. Number one in the Western Conference. The
one thing we haven't seen from them though, as well as Lebron is played,
and I think this also plays into him being the front runner right now
for MVP, is the fact that Anthony Davis looks like the one who's taking
the regular season off, who's been taking it easy. Outside of that game
in Chicago where he had thirty seven over the weekend, he hasn't looked like
the same player, and he's admitted he just isn't in rhythm yet with his
shooting and his shot. So they're winning in spite of Anthony Davis not playing
that well yet. The only thing that I'm really surprised with is they are
the number one defensive team so far, and it's not that close. And
we're twenty four percent of the way or twenty five percent of the way through
the regular season, and the Lakers have been the best defensive team. They
were third last year. I openly admitted it. I think they're gonna be
worse on that end now. Some of that's going to come in the playoffs
when marcusol is out there, when Montrese Harold could be exposed defensively. But
they've been really good and focused on that end, and they're obviously better offensively.
Last season they were outside of the top ten on offense. Right now
they're seven. So the only surprise for me is defensively they're even better.
And the focus level they've had to start off this season is somewhat surprising.
But if Lebron James, if you told me he was going to be going
for the MVP, and he seems to be, there are no surprises.
Yeah, And a thing I've mentioned and I've been surprised about these guys don't
take any nights off. I really thought at this point, you know,
they'd set a game or two because of the delay or the short turnaround,
And starting this season, it's like Lebron really thinks it. Seemingly now,
I've got so many games to play in my career, so I've not decided
to play in all of them. I don't need any rest, I don't
need to take a break, I don't need any load management. I'm good
to go. And I really find that fascinating because he looks like he's twenty
five twenty six years old. Look at the block he had on Colin Sexton.
The best they ended up reviewing his head is right at the rim like
he is twenty six years of age, like he's back with the Miami Heat
in his athletic prime. I don't know how he does it at the age
of thirty six. We've never seen anyone have this long sustained athleticism prime as
we're seeing right now with Lebron James. Maybe in any sport. Jerry Rice,
I know, was putting up big numbers even at forty Rodney with the
Oakland Raiders. You could say maybe he's in the conversation. But in terms
of the NBA, I mean at this point he looks I know MJ was
thirty nine and forty when he came back with the Washington Wizards, but there's
a night and day difference between Lebron at thirty six and everybody else at this
age. Look at Marcus All he's the same age. At him on the
Los Angeles Lakers, and at times he looks like a shell of his former
self. Now, he was never the athlete Lebron is. Nobody is,
but it's still impressive, and I think part of that is just because he's
never suffered any catastrophic major injury. But you gotta give him credit with the
way he takes care of his body all the time. And I remember,
I'm old enough to remember back in twenty fourteen when he first came back to
the Clear than Cavaliers, there were times where it looked like he was taking
nights off and people thought his steady decline of his prime was ending. Then,
since then, he's won a couple more championships and he looks to be
better than ever this season. And I do really think that motivation is there
to win the MVP and to prove last season that he was snubbed and it
should have been him, or at least he should have had more votes in
this favor, which is what he complained about. He openly said he was
pissed about it. So when you have someone of his stature with a chip
on his shoulder to start off a season where they just won the championship anyways,
it's unique, but it's very Lebron. Yeah, It's almost like what
we watched with the Last Dance, right with Michael Jordan. He had to
continuously find ways to motivate himself. You know, somebody not saying the load
of him at dinner. I didn't like that very much. I'm going making
pay and I took that personally. I took that personally. So it does
feel that way with Lebron. Then it feels like they didn't think I was
in. They thought I was watched up, and I took that personally well.
And the other reason I think they're playing so well is the roster is
better constructed for long regular season this time around, because you have more energy
guys with Dennis Shrewder in with Montrese Harold, who on nights when you can
We've talked about the dog days of the NBA season, Rodney on those nights,
those guys have basically one of the best or two of the best motors
on the Los Angeles Lakers, with the energy that Montrese Harold especially gives you
and how infectious that can be throughout the team. But they already had that
culture built last season when they played hard during the regular season. Now you
bring in somebody who also does the same thing in Montrese Harold. That was
a perfect pairing for them during the regular season. I still think they're going
to be flaws exposed with him in the playoffs, but right now that's a
huge reason they're playing this well this early in the year. I found this
interesting. Avery Bradley made some comments recently in a podcast, said he was
surprised that the Lakers didn't resign him. Of course, Avery Bradley opted out
in the bubble. Funny, now, hindsight twenty twenty, you were probably
safer in the bubble than you were anywhere as it played out. But nobody
knew that going in, and he did what he thought was best for him
and his family. So we opted out. He had a player option,
so we could go out look around. Miami offered him two years at eleven
point six million. He made five million last year for the Lakers. He
said he was disappointed the Lakers didn't resign him. But if you go out
and look for another job and somebody gives you more, why would you be
disappointed it. Why wouldn't you have just said, okay, I'll resign for
one year whatever and stay with the Lakers. How could he be disappointed when
he himself went out and looked for another job. He may be speaking out
of both sides of his mouth. Now, I do think you have to
respect his decision and what happened last season, and he played really well,
and it's still impressive that the Lakers were able to win it all even without
him in the bubble, but he was looking for a team I think that
had a similar culture in the Miami Heat, So that was a good pairing
for him to go there, and he got a second year on that deal.
That was the biggest difference for him. But if he also has to
feel slighted and have some of that Lebron James and Michael Jordan in him to
have that extra motivation this season, that's maybe where he's getting it from.
Yeah, no, I agree with that, Adam. What do you know
about the latest? La Paul George and Kawhi joined the team at some point
on this road trip. Are they you know, what's the latest on those
two? My friend farbought Essenshari from si now reported that they have been testing
negative. So it sounds like, and I'm not saying take this to the
bank, it's concrete. There are differing reports out there, but it sounds
like it was due to contract contact tracing. They were somehow in contact with
somebody else who had it and therefore they had to get tested. But it
also sounds like they haven't tested positive yet. So if that's the case,
I believe there's a chance. And Noah Eagle and I were talking about this
last night and going through the NBA protocol and trying to figure it all out.
But there's a chance if they continue to test negative, they could be
with the team on Friday in Orlando. But that sounds like the best case
scenario, and there's still a chance they could test positive. You know,
there's that incubation period and they could miss the entire road trip. Last night
they lost to Atlanta. I just say in aberration, Kawaii and Paul George
aren't there. Sure, you want to win every game, but when those
two guys aren't there, it's basically, yeah, it's hard to take anything
out of that. Where you don't have Paul George. When you don't have
Kawhi Leonard, but also Patrick Beverley, you're missing three starters in that game.
And I thought there was a great effort. It actually felt like a
throwback game to where the Clippers were a couple of seasons ago, during the
twenty seventeen twenty eighteen year, the twenty eighteen twenty nineteen year, where they
had to play where the hole is greater than the sum of its parts to
overcome a lack of talent and just outwork you. And they were up by
five in the first half, and they were holding down Trey Young, but
he had twenty four points in the second half, and eventually that blood of
talent and offense came from the Atlanta Hawks. But the Clippers spirit was good,
the energy was right. They just didn't have the horses to win that
ball game. Yeah, but overall they have and I've said it, I'll
say it again very quietly under the radar, a very good start to the
season. Well, they had just won seventh straight until what happened last night,
which was the second longest winning streak so far this season the Utah Jazz.
So I've been telling you guys about for a while. They're at ninth
straight right now. They've flown under the radar, and maybe that fits them
better. But there have been places that are starting to pick up on what
the Clippers have been doing. The bleacher Report recently said, or maybe it
was Yeah, I think it was bleacher Report who said they are the number
one team right now in their power rankings because that winning streak and the style
of ball they're playing, because they just look different. If you watch the
games Fred, you'll see a very entertaining basketball product where they're passing the ball
much more than they were last season, where Kawai and Paul George, their
two superstars, are leading them in assists. That's very different, and there's
that trickle down effect and everybody's kind of bought in more and guys are just
more comfortable next to one another. Nicholas Batoum was the perfect pickup. He
fits the culture, as does Sergebaka and Luke Kennard. So the way this
team is built I think will be more playoff ready. But also they just
have better chemistry all those issues from last season. So far, this team
looks to be meshing. They look to have rectified a lot of what went
wrong last year. Indeed, I know you mentioned Utah, but is there
really anybody that can challenge or beat the Lakers or Clippers in a seven game
series in your mind? I mean, I think it's very unlikely. They're
still the two best teams in the Western Conference. But Utah is that one
team I told you about last season that was starting to peak, but then
Boyon Bogdanovitch got hurt. He wasn't with them in the bubble and they played
the most entertaining seven game series in the Bubble against the Denver Nuggets in that
first round where Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray were going back and fourth with fifty
point games. And Donovan Mitchell has shown some growth this season. He's been
even better. He is a under the radar dark horse MVP candidate if they
continue to play at this level. I mean last night they were down one
to the Knicks at home going into the fourth quarter and then they just flipped
the switch and they win by fifteen. Mike Conley Junior is shooting the ball
much better than he was last season. The Utah Jazz are the biggest threat
right now to the Lakers and Clippers, but I still think there's a distance
between them, all right, Adam, Thank you appreciate that very much.