Adam Auslund on the Clippers Winning in 7 Over the Mavs + Lakers offseason with R&R

Adam Auslund joins Roggin & Rodney to talk about the Clippers moving on to the 2nd round against the Jazz and what the Lakers will do this offseason.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, Well, joining usnow the man that hosts Clipper Countdown,
the halftime Show, the postgame showas well the salty a Adam Austlin here
to talk all NBA brought to youby Honey. The money Browser. He's
getting closer. What was it,the money Saving Browser extension? Okay,
well it's close. Lest I hada browser which is much better than I

(00:23):
used to do. Fred is alwaysdeferred to the guy that knows exactly what
it is. Fred. Yeah,but I mean he wants me to introduce
it properly. Honey, the MoneySaving Browser it down, Well, I
could do that. I hadn't consideredthat, but I could do. The
steel trap ain't working as well asit used to. It's my new sinister.
Look. Yeah, the Wolfman overhere. Let's go keep me that

(00:45):
little raspy voice. Man, comeon, you know what, remember Wolfman
Jack? So I worked in radio. When I started in radio, and
this was I started a Kiko inGlobe, Arizona. Then I went to
Cablue Radio in Yuma, Arizona,and the program director there was Lee Pool,
but his name on the air wasRufus Coyote, And what he was

(01:07):
was kind of a Wolfman Jack wannabe so he talked like Wolfman Jack.
Everything he did was Wolfman Jack,except when you talk to the guy,
he sounded like me. I don'tknow why I thought that he was a
faker of the funk. He wasa knockoff brand. He was a knockoff
Yeah, the Safeway don't do thatto the wolf all right, Adam.

(01:29):
So it was a series they obviouslyhad to win. Has Kawai decided to
assert himself now? Is this theguy we're going to see all the way
through? Well? I don't knowif he can put up this level of
efficiency moving forward. It's going tobe difficult to Utah Jazz top five offense
but also a top five defense.And what Kawai did against the Dallas Mavericks,

(01:49):
who were almost a bottom ten defenseon the season, was really unbelievable.
We haven't seen efficiency like this sinceShaquille O'Neal in the two thousand NBA
Finals. The only two guys inthe last what twenty one years now to
average thirty points per game in aseries while shooting sixty percent from the field

(02:10):
have been Kawhi, Leonard and shackBack. In the year two thousand and
Shack for all point blank. Yeah, and yeah, we're talking about the
MDE. We're talking about somebody who'staking all those shots within three feet of
the basket. Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonardis hitting those big time jumpers. Has
the forty five points carried them inthat game six back against the wall victory

(02:31):
in Dallas. And that's the thing. He was even better in Dallas when
they needed him to be. Hedidn't shoot less than seventy one percent from
the field. And any of thethree games in Dallas that they had to
win, you think about it,the Clippers really had three elimination games because
they had the Game three where youcan't go down three games to none.
They were down by nineteen earlier inthat game, they come back to win.

(02:53):
Kawai and PG were magnificent. Thenthey have the literal must win in
Game six, down three games totwo, and then yesterday a winner take
all games seven. So to Rodney'spoint in what he was talking about,
this can't propel them forward. Thisis a great learning experience because it reinforces
that belief and that faith that they'vehad all season long. This is a

(03:14):
resilient bunch. They've been great allyear. Whenever they needed to bounce back
in games after poor performances, theydid. When they were down big down
twenty two against the Atlanta Hawks,they came back and won. They won
a game without all five starters.They just have been a team that has
stepped up when they've needed to.And it carried over obviously in the series.

(03:35):
No, it did. It didat him. And I guess the
thing when you look at game sixand game seven, Game six, especially
because you pointed that out, butKawai was, you know, and and
I don't know if it's because Lucawas going off so much and everybody was
in awe and as Luca he's nextgame, he's the best player on the
floor. It felt like to me, game six and seven is it.

(03:59):
I'm about to show you who thebest player on the floor is. No
one has been better in the playoffsso far than Kawhi Leonard. I mentioned
those numbers, but he's also playingdefense. Luca shot forty percent in the
series when he was guarded by KawhiLeonard, who was the primary defender.
It wasn't always easy. He hadto fight through screens and they did a
better job in tightening the screws defensivelyas the series went along for the Clippers

(04:21):
because Dallas was otherworldly to start thingsoff with that three point shooting. And
Luca lost a game yesterday where hewas one point shy of the all time
scoring record in a game seven heldby Dominique Wilkins back in I want to
say it was eighty seven in theEastern Conference final series against Larry Bird.
He had forty seven in that gameseven yesterday, Luca had forty six.

(04:44):
They still lost because we talked aboutthis before the series. Luca can get
his you gotta stop everybody else.And Tim Hardaway Junior finally slowed down Dorian
Finney Smith, all these role players, and Chris DAPs Porzingis had a really
poor series for the Dallas Mamber.What happened to him? Yeah, that
meniscus injury has really staffed him ofa lot of that athleticism that he used

(05:05):
to be when he first came out. I mean, he was an elite
defender. He was really a goodrim protector. That's why he was a
Unicorn. He was in the samevein of Anthony Davis. He was that
type of player, but he wasn'tas aggressive offensively and defensively. The Clippers
were going right at him. Yeah, I'll tell you, he looked like
a liability out there. He was. Yeah, he did him no favors

(05:28):
and I was wondering watching it,why is he playing? I mean it
looks terrible. Well, they tookhim out at times. The second half
of the series. Bob was BobieBall. He was great in the series
him. It had Clippers fans beinga little bit whistful out there reminiscing of
the Bobie Toby days from a coupleof years ago. Because Boban is the

(05:49):
most lovable player in all of sportsright now. It doesn't matter if he's
going against you and dunking on youand getting easy buckets, you can't help
a smile. Yeah, there wasthis picture post game with Kawhi Leonard and
him hugging. It was just like, oh, they're adorable or as cute
as Freddie with his new facial hair. Thank you. But isn't that,

(06:11):
Adam, isn't that the key?I mean for all of us because with
the performance of Kauai and obviously thiswin Game seven. You just mentioned his
efficiency throughout the whole series and whathe did on the road in Dallas and
all those things. And even PaulGeorge had a pretty good series. I
would say he did. But ifnot for Reggie Jackson, if not for
Marcus Morris, they still don't win. And if and and the Lakers.

(06:34):
You can look at the flip sideof the Lakers, they don't. They
didn't have that any kind of thatconsistency, which is why it was always
going to be kind of an uphillbattle for them this year. I saw
a tweet from our friend Zach Olcaldywho works here at AM five seventy,
and he said, Lakers fans werehoping Dennis Shrewder just did what Reggie Jackson

(06:55):
has been doing for the Clippers.Yeah, they were looking for that type
of performance at Dennis Shooter. Itnever came and the Clippers after And the
guy who deserves the most credit forthis turnaround in this series is coach lou
He really does, because he injectedReggie Jackson into the starting lineup in Game
three, That's when the series changed. Then he put Nicholas batoumb into the
starting lineup. They went small sothat it had that switchability against Luca Donchage

(07:20):
out there. But those two threepointers that Reggie Jackson hit in the fourth
quarter of Game seven to really bedagger shots to put the game away.
Along with that big three from MarcusMoors. That was the difference. But
the Clippers just had to wait outthe Law of averages going against them all
series long. They didn't shoot theball well from three after being the best

(07:41):
three point shooting team during the regularseason, until Game seven, where the
shots finally started to drop from themopen threes from the outside. Think about
this, Marcus Morris started off thisseries z of nine from three after he
was the second best three point shooterin the entire league at forty seven percent
during the regular season. So hestarts off or nine yesterday in Game seven

(08:01):
he goes seven for nine from distance. So they hit twenty three pointers,
most ever hit by a team ina game seven before, and the law
of averages is undefeated. It's snappedback in their favor finally, because early
on this series, the basketball gods, we're not gracing the Clippers with their
presence. They were not helping themall right. So now when we look

(08:22):
at Utah and Rudy Gobert, Donovan, Mitchell Conley Jr. The Crew.
What do you see how they callhim the crew? What do you anticipate
and what will the Clippers have todo Utah. Not only are they the
best team in the West record wise, they're the best team in all of
basketball record wise. They would havehome court over anyone if they got to

(08:43):
the NBA Finals. They've been thatgood all season long, and they've been
really balanced. And you know,I've been talking about the Utah Jazz going
back to last season because if BoyanBogdanovitch hadn't got hurt, I don't think
the Denver Nuggets would have been ableto come back on them in the Bubble
down three games to one. Theywere missing one of their key pieces.
And also last season, Mike ConleyJr. Wasn't shooting the ball well getting

(09:05):
acclimated with his new team. He'shad a bounce back year, but he's
dealing with a hamstring injury now andhe's actually been a Clippers killer going back
to his Memphis Grizzlies days in thoseseries against the Clippers in back to back
years in twelve and twenty thirteen.But they need him. But I think
one of their biggest advantages is alsoone of their biggest flaws. I've talked

(09:26):
about this before. If you gosmall account against Rudy Gobert, that is
a big time problem for the UtahJazz because he's so important to what they
do and if you can bring himaway from the basket, and the Clippers
are going to try to do that. They did that in the last game
against them in the regular season withNicholas Batoum. It worked. They were
one and two against the Jazz inthe regular season, but they won that

(09:48):
last game when they went small andthey took Rudy Gobert in that size away
from the basket. He could bea liability as a perimeter defender. Even
though he might win Defensive Player ofthe Year, it's because of that paint
protection and will you have the versatilityin the shooting that the Clippers do.
That's going to be the matchup.That's what's going to determine this series.
How effective is Rudy Rudy Gobert goingto be for the Utah Jazz out there?

(10:13):
Is that it for them because Ilike you mentioned, you know,
Rudy Gobert m protector. That wholesituation, if they do go small,
is the best chance for the Clippersin the series. I'm looking at the
guard play too, from from Conleyand Donovan Mitchell. Is that going to
be an issue? And guard playaround the league has been phenomenal in this

(10:35):
in this whole playoff situation, SoI'm impressed by that. But you're right
about Conley. He's picked his gameup. Yeah, he picked his game
up. Is he going to behealthy though? In that Game five where
they took out the Memphis Girls Lasin five games in the first round,
he was spotty. He has somemild hamstring injury. Who was in and
out of the lineup. Now,Donovan Mitchell has been an absolute stud in
the playoffs, going back to hisfirst series when they took out the OKC

(10:58):
Thunder I think it was back intwenty seventeen or twenty eighteen with Paul George
and Russell Westbrook. It was DonovanMitchell's kind of coming out party where people
started to make these comparisons to DwyaneWade. He is that guy. He
is very good in big moments,and he is coming off a series where
he didn't even play Game one thatwas the only game they lost. Agains
the Memphis Grizzlies then they won fourstraight with Donovan Mitchell out there, who

(11:20):
was getting an efficient twenty eight pointsper game in that series. So he
is a handful. But when you'recoming off having to car Luca don Chich,
who isn't just a score He's obviouslya great playmaker and sees things out
there on the court that nobody elsedoes, it better prepares you for a
series like this, and I thinkgoing forward that could be the springboard.

(11:45):
What happened in this seven game seriesagainst the Dallas Mavericks could end up being
a blessing in disguise and could endup being exactly what the Clippers needed to
get over the hump. Finally,all right, let's switch to the Lakers
now. And if you're Rob Polinkaand you're looking at what you have and
eight ships you have going forward,what do you have to do? Because
you really kind of have to Iknow he said he wants to keep the

(12:05):
core together. Well, the coreis truly a d and Lebron everybody else
is expendable. What do you do? Well, the problem is salary cap
wise, they're Hams strong. Theyhave issues because a lot of fans have
soured on Dennis Shrewder I told youthis guy was moody and spotty in the
playoffs throughout his career, and hewas awful in Games five and six,

(12:26):
couldn't even score in Game five,And he was supposed to be that third
player when you needed him. Butwhen during the regular season Anthony Davis went
out and Lebron James went out,he didn't step up. Kyle Kuzma didn't
step up. Montrez Harold, justlike I thought, was going to be
unplayable in that series. They couldn'tget him out there because of his size

(12:48):
and because of the liability he isdefensively and they weren't going to risk that.
And then when Rubbert met Road,Frank Vogel even decided, we're not
going to play Andre Gumman, We'renot going to start him. Finally,
they started Marcus all in Game six, too little, too late, but
it was telling. It was revealingthat they did not play Andre Drummond at
all in a must win situation whenhe had been playing consistently, And I

(13:13):
do think to me, that juststrengthens the fact that I believe the whole
time they promised him that starting roleand that's the only reason he was out
there. So often, but itthrew the front court rotations for a loop,
and they didn't have any consistency orchemistry there even when Anthony Davis and
Lebron were back. Now, ifthose two guys were healthy, do I
believe they were going to beat thePhoenix Suns, Yes, I do,

(13:35):
but it might it might have goneseven because DeAndre Ayten, who was a
word about eight and again, theman shot eighty percent from the field in
that series. I think that's anall time record. He was ready.
He's a big body, he movesyou out of the way. It's not

(13:58):
that simple. Fred and just aren'tgiving him some love. But the Lakers
are fine as long as they're twosuperstars. Come back, get healthy,
and these aren't career altering injuries forLebron James. He just needed time to
heal and that wasn't going to happenin the playoffs. And they kind of
set that up. They were buildingthat excuse from the beginning because Frank Vogel

(14:18):
said, we just wish he hada couple more weeks. He said that
multiple times, and Lebron James talkedabout how he won't be one hundred percent,
So they were building that excuse,and look, it could be an
excuse, it could be a reason, but he didn't look like himself.
Obviously, he wasn't attacking the sameway and when they needed him to without
Anthony Davis, he couldn't flip thatswitch. He couldn't do what we just
saw from Kawhi Leonard against the DallasMavericks. He just didn't have that in

(14:41):
him, I think because the ankleinjury. But they're hamstrung with the salary
cap because they can't really go outand get guys. They'd have to do
a sign and trade with Dennis Shrewder, but you'd need the other team to
play along and him to do thesame. And he comes out after taking
the Lakers off his Instagram account andsays, well, I want to be

(15:01):
back here. My thought is tobe back here, saying all these things
of how gratefully is to be playingnext to Lebron James and they're going to
come back and win the championship nextseason. He was saying, I guess
all the right things, but it'skind of a mixed message. When he
already took away the point or hisTwitter or yeast Instagram profile saying that he's
the Los Angeles Lakers. He scrubbedit immediately after the game. So I

(15:24):
don't know what to make of him. But the problem is, I think
they gotta pay him because they can'tget anyone else of his level that they
can pay to go outside the salarycap. You can keep your own guys,
but you can't do anything else.So I think they might keep him
in Andre Drummond. It could totallyhappen and they run this thing back and
say, well, we were neverfully healthy. We never had a chance

(15:46):
to build that chemistry. This timeit's going to be different. I don't
know. Adam with and Fred talkedbrought this up earlier. It was the
reality set in with Anthony Davis.You know, it was a blessing that
he made it through the bubble andthey was great. They got the championship,
but again the injury question came upthis year and he was out and

(16:07):
then couldn't perform in the playoffs.To think that they can come back as
constructed or maybe one more piece,I just I don't know. Even with
those two guys, as they getolder, especially Lebron, like he said,
can't take it over like it usedto be. They need that,
and they need another guy that theycan you know, we talked about shrewd
or not stepping up, but theyneed another guy that they know they can

(16:30):
count on, they can go andstep up, because I don't know where
they find it from. If thoseguys, if one of those guys is
hurt, they're in trouble. I'mnot disagreeing with you. I think they
need to have some roster turnover,some major roster turnover because all that depth.
And remember going into the season withpeople saying, well, the Lakers
got even better and they just wonthe championship. Didn't turn out that way

(16:51):
because some guys just didn't show upin the playoffs. Some guys just weren't
able to get on the court becausethey were liabilities like Montrese Harold. And
they never found that replacement for JaValeMcGee and Dwight Howard and what they provided
them last season. But the problemis you can keep your own guys.
It's going to be very difficult forthem to make major changes unless Dennis Shrewder

(17:11):
wants to play ball, unless thatteam that they try to sign and trade
him with wants to play ball.And I don't know why anybody's gonna go
out and help the Los Angeles Lakersin that regard, and it sounds like
Shrewder wants to be back. AndI think Rob Polinka is saying that we
want to keep our core together,means he knows they can't really make that
many big drastic changes. The onething they could do. And here's another

(17:32):
guy that didn't show up and whowas absolutely abysmal was Kyle Kuzma when they
needed something from him offensively. It'sfunny because he got better in other areas
this season. He was a moreconsistent defender, just a better all around
role player, but his offense gotmuch worse. And then when guys were
out, he couldn't raise his levelof play offensively. And I think he

(17:52):
shot something like eighteen percent from threein that series, thirty percent from the
field. But he is kind ofon a team friendly contract. It is
tradeable because I could see another teamsaying we're gonna unleash him as our second
or third best player and give himheavier minutes, and on a bad team,
he could put up numbers for themand put butts in the seats.
I could see that happening where ateam would trade for Kyle Kuzma. That

(18:15):
might be the one that they moveabout KCP. I mean, he came
back, he had a really goodyear offensively, but then he dealt with
an injury at the end and thathurt him. And Alex Caruso is an
unrestricted free agent and he might beout of their price range. He might
have priced himself out from returning toLos Angeles Lakers unless he gives them a

(18:37):
team friendly deal. So in someways, it's first world problems because you
still have Lebron James, you stillhave Anthony Davis, and if you have
those two guys healthy, you're alwaysgoing to have a shot no matter who
you surround them with. But theyobviously didn't have the same chemistry and continuity
they had during the championship run.They just didn't have the right mix in
the locker room or on the court. And I don't see them being able

(19:00):
to make major changes. But Icould be wrong. They could swing for
the fences somehow and make a bigmove that nobody saw coming. Trade ad
for Bradley Beal Okay, maybe notthat Okay, giving up on him already,
I'm not giving up. Yes,he's injury prone, but what he
is healthy, he gives you achance to win a championship. And you

(19:22):
could say during that playoff run lastseason, he was just as important as
Lebron James was. You can't giveup on a guy that I like that
who's still young real quick. Isaid this earlier because I just when I
looked at Kauhai in game six,in Game seven, and then you talked
about, you know, Lebron justyou know, when when it was evident
that without a d everybody's eyes are, Okay, what's Lebron gonna. He's

(19:45):
got to go off. He's gotto do this. Do you think it's
frustrating at times? And when yousee Kauai do what he did in Game
six, like Okay, I'm I'mgive me the ball, get out of
way. I'm gonna get forty onyou right now. And and by the
way, get out of way becauseI got I got Luca, I got
it. That you don't see thatall the time, and when you think

(20:07):
about it, and we were spoiledbecause we had Kobe here, and you
know, we just saw the lastDance with Michael Jordan, and guys like
that are just coming at you fromstart to finish like Larry Bird, types
like even Luca. I think that'swhat so many people are excited about Luca
is that he is an assassin fromstart to every game. He's coming to
get fifty on you. And itfeels like Kawai's kind of I'm let's see

(20:29):
how the flow goes and then ifyou need me, I'm gonna get you.
And same thing with Lebron. I'mto see how the flow goes,
and if you need me, I'mgonna get you. Well, but it's
not start to finish. I guessyou could say there's been some inconsistency,
but I think over his last fiftyplayoff games now, in thirty of them
he has gone for thirty or more. He has been one of the most
consistent playoff performers. Whether or nothe can replicate what he just did against

(20:53):
the Dallas Mavericks, that's asking waytoo much because Utah is better defensively and
those efficiency numbers were just off thecharge otherworldly. He was a basketball god
in this series. But it's notlike he waited too long to get going,
because he had eighteen points in thefirst quarter of Game two against the
Dallas Mavericks. Those are the mostpoints he's ever scored in a quarter in

(21:17):
his playoff career. And remember hehad thirty at the half in that game.
They still lost it even though hefinished I think with forty one or
forty two. He had that senseof urgency early on in this series.
Dallas was just so good and itkind of masked that. People kind of
forgot that until that Game six wherehe really cemented himself as maybe being the
best player in the game once again, something we were talking about in twenty

(21:40):
nineteen after he won with the TorontoRaptors. So he has elevated his game.
We'll see if it continues to thislevel. Against the Utah Jazz is
going to be difficult, but shouldbe a great series. Starting tomorrow night,
in game one in Utah, we'llhaving forty on the Patriot Am eleven
fifty Freddy starting at six pm withthe Clippers countdown show. That's right,
Adam Willing there in six the gamewill be on at seven SALTA. I'm
awesome, Thank you for hanging youbye. Come on, come on,

(22:03):
come on, come on, letthose hunskers go. The money saving browser
extension exactly. Thanks well done,Fred Rogan and rode la Sports,