All right, so we've got both the Lakers and Clippers playing tonight. The
salta Adam Austlin joins us brought you by Honey, the money browser, brought
to you by Honey, the money saving browser. Better than I usually am
plenty of the money browser. Why do you say it with a little cheesy
smile on your face. You wouldn't know why, because I thought I nailed
it. I thought, there, you gonna take that. I got that.
Well, that face looked even stupider than it really did because I did
not name. Okay, let's start with the Lakers, and to me,
there are two overriding issues here. The first one is what everybody knows,
Anthony Davis. The second one is Frank Vogel and whatever rotations he's going to
use or try to adjust. Does this all come down to the way ad
place tonight? Well, he said so himself. If I play like this,
we're not going to win a game this series, let alone win four.
So he understood it. He took it. The accountability for not playing
well in that game one I don't think is just about Anthony Davis though,
because even though he only had thirteen points on five of a sixteen shooting,
Lebron took just thirteen shots. And I know he didn't play heavy minutes.
He didn't get to forty minutes because he's still coming back from that ankle injury.
But he's got to be more aggressive than that. Somehow, some way,
he's got to generate more points than that. But yes, Anthony Davis
has to be better and Frank Vogel in those rotations. It is curious that
he hasn't played Marcusol much at all lately. And I do think there was
some promise to Andre Drummond that he would be their starter if he came to
Los Angeles. I can't think of any other reason why you wouldn't play your
second best center behind Anthony Davis when he actually wants to play the five in
Marcusol. Marcusol is a better floor space or obviously he can shoot from the
outside. He's a better defender. Even though he doesn't have the athleticism of
Andre Drummond of Montrese Harold, he has better instincts out there. Even though
he's lost a step or two or three, he's still a big body.
He still knows where he has to be defensively, and he's a really good
pastor on offense. He doesn't hurt you. He's a plus out there.
And Andre Drummond just helps clog up the paint. And I'm not sure why
the Lakers have waited this long to go to their best lineups, and maybe
they'll wait even longer depending on what happens tonight. They should be optimizing lineups
better and they haven't been doing that. And I feel like at some point,
if they lost night and they go down two zero, I think there's
gonna be big changes. But I would not be surprised if Marcusol gets some
run tonight, at least a few minutes out there. Two things, First
of all, how much do you think the fact that the Lakers beat the
Sun's earlier in the season quite handily and that they probably underestimated DeAndre Eighton in
that first game number one? And then how much do you also chuck up
Game one sons? I mean, Lakers didn't play well, it's that's that's
a given. We know that. But the Sun's game, first game,
first playoff game, eleven years, crowding the stadium, wild atmosphere, it
was an uphill battle for the Lakers no matter what. Yeah, the Suns
were hyped, and as Lebron always says, a Game one is a feel
out type of game in a seven game series. They lost Game one to
Portland. Last year in the Bubble, they lost game one to the Houston
Rockets. They had no problem after that. But this Sun's team is better
than both of those teams. It's closer to where that Denver Nuggets team was
in the Western Conference Finals. I would say, depending on if Chris Paul
is healthy. We don't know what's going on with that right shoulder. I'm
just guessing it's more than a contusion a bruise for him to be dribbling the
ball off of his leg like he was fred back in high school on the
basketball team. That was brutal, the Bill Cartwright type of shot he took
where he brought the ball all the way back, that shooting form. I'm
sorry. CB Three's got a beautiful shot. It did not look like that
after the shoulder injury. So a lot comes down to that with him.
But Devin Booker, I've been telling you guys about this for a while now.
I thought he had it in him, he had that it factor.
He was gonna step up in the postseason. Once he finally got there,
and he did, he was the best player on the floor at those thirty
four points. That's the guy they really have to shut off because he is
someone who at his age I think he's only twenty six now or twenty five.
If there's an upset in this series, it would be Devin Booker taking
his game to that next level and like he did in Game one, but
staying there consistently averaging thirty points per game or near there in this series.
That's what the Lakers should be concerned about. Yeah, I would say this
though, Adam, I get it Devin Booker, for you know, we
saw him emerged last year and he's just continued that he's gonna get his I
think he's one of those and will be one of the all time great just
scores of the basketball and in the NBA. He's gonna get here. Chris
Paul, if healthy, will get his. I think you just much like
we talked about with Steph Curry, when you play him, he's gonna get
his fifty sixty, but everybody else can't do it. Andre Wiggins can't go
for thirty. So in this situation, I think they're gonna get theirs.
But but Bridges can't get twenty five thirty and Aiden can't go off like he
did before. I think you can't concern yourself too much with that because I
think Devin Booker's gonna score on anybody. Well, it's a fair point.
I mean, DeAndre Aden getting twenty one and sixteen boards, that's a problem.
But the bigger issue there is he's doing it basically off of offensive rebounds.
He's not exactly going into the post and backing guys down or anything like
that. He's catching a lots in that game. One. Oh, Fred,
you're against Aiden. Oh, he doesn't like him at all because of
what Because you know what, I think he's overhyped, and I think when
he plays against somebody that can really play, I think you see what he
is. I saw him playing college, So the Lakers can't really play.
Okay, No, Well you said no, no, no, no,
no, that's not fair. If a d plays, that's going to be
a different game. Okay, I'd be a completely different game. Here's my
guess. DeAndre Aiden somehow ends up in foul trouble throughout the rest of the
series, and that's a big turning point in the Lakers favor. All right,
let's go to the Clippers now. So the issues tonight with the Clippers
are are they going to be able to close score at the end of the
game, and what do you do against Luca don Chiche. Does Kawhi Leonard
playing well? They got to score at the beginning of the Game two?
They were just bad all around offensively. People can look at the last three
minutes, but overall, they shot twenty seven percent from three. They are
the fourth best three point shooting team of all time. They did something historic.
They shot forty one point one percent from the outside during the regular season
and my biggest concern coming into the playoffs is that that wouldn't continue now.
Forty one percent. Yeah, that's lofty expectations because teams are giving maximum effort
all the time and rotating better on the perimeter and the playoffs, but the
Clippers still need to be good. They still need to shoot about thirty eight
percent as a team. Now. Regarding Kawhi Leonard on Luca dont I think
we see more of that, of course, because Tlu actually alluded to that
said, I think you'll get more of that in Game two. But the
problem is in the modern NBA, with all these great shooters out there,
guys are always an offensive philosophies that are modernized and more sophisticated than they've ever
been. They just hunt screens until they get the right matchup. They will
screen you and pick and roll you to death until they get Kawhi Leonard off
of Luka Doncicch and find somebody who's a lesser defender out there, which is
well a lot of guys because Kawhi Leonard is that good, So it's not
as easy as we'll just fight through the screen. Great, while he's fighting
through the screen, Luca dontech has a second for an open shot from the
outside. It doesn't work like that. That's why most teams have been switching
now in the league, because if you give guys an open shot on the
perimeter while you're fighting through screens, they're gonna knock it down. Here in
twenty twenty one, the three point shooting is off the charts. Look what
happened in Milwaukee yesterday with the Bucks. They hit ten three pointers in the
first quarter and that game was over against the Miami Heat. You can take
down a team that quickly because of the three point shot. Because of the
emphasis of it now. It has changed the game and we're still seeing it
even in the playoffs when the game slows down a little bit. It is
that difficult. And by the way, Luka Done, even when they got
those matchups against a Viza Zubas and he brought him out to the perimeter,
you think they would be a big mismatch. Zubos played him well, he
had a hand up in his face, a seven footer with a hand up
in his face, and Luca Donches just put in those long floater three pointers
because he's just otherworldly. He is one of the best players when it comes
to skill level I have ever seen. People have compared him to Larry Bird.
His big coming out party happened last year against the Clippers, and he's
not slowing down. He is that good. So the question is you gotta
stop one or the other, Luca don chich or the others. The Clippers
didn't do either in Game one, the others got going and Luca Done had
thirty one points. They have to commit to either letting the others try to
beat him or letting Luca don Che try to beat him by himself. And
last season that didn't always work. Luca had forty two and a loss against
the Clippers in the playoffs. He had thirty eight and a loss against the
Clippers in the playoffs. So I think it really comes down to stopping those
other guys from hitting those open shots. Yeah, yeah, no doubt.
Sometimes you chalk it up as they always say, good defense, but better
offense, And a lot of times Luca is better offense. It's just you
know, Garden Dame Lillard, where you got a guard, you know,
half of the court. Maybe a bad shot for most, but he knocks
it down more than anybody else and can't fault the defender. And also,
to your point, just because kawhi' oh Kawhi is gonna be on Luca,
like you said, they will screen until they get him off exactly, So
it doesn't matter. Okay, you can say that all you want, but
that's not always how it up, Adam. These two games Game two bigger
for who Lakers or Clippers. Oooh, I'll say the Clippers because you go
down O two at home at Staples Center and then you got to go out
on the road, and that means you gotta win two games in Dallas to
end up winning this series. Because you've got to win four of the next
five. That would be extremely difficult. I'm not saying impossible. The last
team I remember doing that, though, losing both their first two games at
home and still winning the series was the Dallas Mavericks back in two thousand and
five, so it's been quite a while. It's not an easy thing to
do, but the Lakers still have pressure on them as well. I think
both teams respond tonight. I think both teams make the adjustments. I think
Lebron and ad play much better. I think Kawhi Leonard and Paul George get
off to fast starts against the Dallas Mavericks. They can't shoot much much worse
from three, and it was still its game with three minutes left. They
were still in it. So it tells you the margin of error for these
teams that they were still both in those games and they didn't play the even
close to their best basketball. So there is room to grow. There are
adjustments to be made, but I think both teams in Los Angeles tie series
up at a type both series up at one one game apiece. All Right,
Clipper pre game on a six thirty with the Saltier Adam Austin was brought
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Maybe that's what I'm talking about, all right, Adam, Thanks,
I love you, guess