Appearing on the popular Bill Simmons podcast, Jared Dudley revealed that the Lakers were beside themselves with laughter following the Clippers’ loss in the second round.
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The battle for LA was the most hyped prospective playoff matchup this year. Both teams finished top 2 in the West. They have four of the best players on the planet between them.
All 4 of the games in which they played each other through the season went down to the wire. There was a sense of inevitability about the Clippers facing the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
Jared Dudley reveals the laughter and glee in the Lakers camp following the Clippers’ elimination
The forward, who’s been one of the most respected veterans across the league, has essentially played a motivator’s role for the Lakers.
He revealed on the Simmons podcast how the Lakers reacted to the Clippers getting knocked out. You can assume that he’s telling the truth, for what he says is quite believable.
LeBron James and co. quite enjoyed it when the Clippers were ousted and understandably, so as a lot of experts had tipped them to go onto win the NBA Title.
The following are some of the best excerpts from the interview where he talks about the Clippers’ loss.
“We were laughing at this thing like ‘I can’t believe it!’. I thought there was no way they were gonna lose. All on our mind was, we gotta beat the Clippers. We wanted the Clippers, they wanted us, it was the trashtalking that happened.”
“Every day we went to practice, we saw the Kawhi billboard in front of us.”
“It was just crazy to see Paul George’s shot come off the backboard like that. Kawhi having those struggles. They didn’t wanna be in the bubble, they didn’t wanna be there. And I don’t blame them, but the world needed to see the Lakers and Clippers go at it.”
Earlier, ahead of the Conference Finals, LeBron James had said that they didn’t have any rivalry to settle with the Clippers. From what Dudley said on this podcast, it was an obvious lie from him.
