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.