The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 06/11/2021 - HOUR 1 - Clippers-Jazz, Bucks-Nets, CFP

Episode Date: June 11, 2021

Colin discusses the Clippers being down 0-2 to the JazzDespite their loss to the Bucks, the Nets will still win the seriesIt's time to pay players if the College Football Playoff is set to 12 teamsGuest: Jim Jackson Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast, Deeply Well with Debbie Brown,

if you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole. This podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to Deeply Well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. Score!

I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines, the biggest decisions, and the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was part of you. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come until he's like, you know I love it. you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. It is a Friday. We are loaded. We're live in Los Angeles.

This show is called The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. I know what you're thinking. Colin, you love the Clippers in this series. Yes, I do. That does not mean I don't think the jazz are good. I still like the Clippers to win this series. But the Clippers make everything look hard.

And I'll tell you why. Years ago, over a decade ago, a man did a study. He was a professor on luck. And so he went out searching for people. He sent ads out to find 100 people who thought they were lucky and 100 people who thought they were unlucky. And so he gathered them, and over the course of a year in this study, he came to a conclusion that the people that were lucky weren't lucky at all.

They were extroverts. And the people that were unlucky in life couldn't get a break were introverts. What does that mean? That means people that are big talkers and more social and smile and talk to people in the line at a grocery store, talk to people in line at a bank. those people connect. They're like human LinkedIn's. And over the course of a lifetime, you'll talk yourself into a job.

Oh, I have a cousin that works over there. Why don't I give you my phone number and you can call my cousin? You can be successful when you don't communicate. But it's harder. The jazz communication. Chemistry's great. Everybody's got a define role. Who are the Clippers led by?

Kauai Leonard never talks. Second year in a row, terrible chemistry. This is what. the Clippers are. I think they're going to beat the Jazz, but it'll never be easy with the Clippers. If you don't communicate, you have bad chemistry. Everybody fired Doc Rivers. Hey, he's the problem. They bring in Tileau. The chemistry is still bad. They're still awful late in the game. Is that the Clippers are always going to look like this. They lost the first two games at home to Dallas. They lost the first two games to Utah. This is the classic chemistry against talent.

And history shows you talent beats chemistry. It usually does in the NBA. I mean, last night's classic. They're terrible early. They're great in the third quarter. And then they go five minutes in the fourth quarter without a single field goal. Paul George was good last night. Reggie Jackson was the best he's ever been. What happened to Quay Leonard?

He was one for four in the fourth quarter. That's the clippers. They're all rowing the boat. Just everybody's going in a different direction. And because their star doesn't talk, nobody communicates it. The Clippers have had 38 different combinations on the floor in two games. Last night, Rondo didn't play. well, what happened to Rondo?

Patrick Beverly did play. 21 minutes. Now DeMarco's cousins is suddenly playing. Well, where's Terrence man? I thought he was great against Dallas. Now, he's not playing. This is the Clippers' second postseason together. They're still a riddle.

They're still bad in clutch times. Their chemistry is at times awful, hit and miss. They still too often roll the ball out and think they're the best team and they're going to win. This is what they are. There's no such thing as lucky people and unlucky people. people. People who are extroverts and talk and communicate and are verbal get more breaks. It's easier in life. People who are crusty and rigid and don't talk and introverts can be successful, but it's always harder because you've got to do all the work yourself because you don't communicate, you don't

socialize, and you don't verbalize your feelings. And when they did that study, I think of the clippers. It's always going to be ugly. It's always going to be difficult. Their star doesn't communicate. And listen, by the way, it's hard to win in Utah anyway. They hit a bunch of threes every night. I mean, with Utah, you get the same performance, win or lose. Everybody has a defined role. They communicate really well. They play really good defense.

They hit a bunch of threes. I know what I'm getting from Utah every night. I get good chemistry. I good effort. I get good defense. I get a lot of three pointers. I don't know what I get, Kauai Lenter, Paul George,

quarter to quarter half to half game to game because they don't really communicate. But the NBA's got a history where talent beats great chemistry. I mean, when the Bulls had Michael Jordan, good God, Dennis Rodman in the middle of a playoff series disappeared to Vegas. You watched the last dance. Kobe and Shaq often couldn't stand each other. Talent wins in this league. And I think it's a chemistry play against the talent play.

And it's not. Now the question becomes is Donovan Mitchell. Now the most talented player in the series. Because Mike Conley's out, Donovan Mitchell is on fire. And if Donovan Mitchell keeps playing at this pace, then chemistry plus the best talent wins the series. That's the key. They have got to slow down Donovan Mitchell. Because if you have the chemistry and the talent, the most talented guy, you're going to win the series.

We consider Kauai to be the most talented guy, but Utah's got the chemistry. I still like the Clippers. Paul George had this to say, despite being in a hole O2. This is a tough opponent. They weren't number one in the West for no reason. This is a tough team. But, you know, we're approaching this the same way Dallas was. You know, we still feel we have a lot of possessions that we can clean up

and a lot of possessions that are hurting us. that that's, you know, our fault. I still got the clippers back. It's just going to be ugly and it's going to take a while. All right, let's go to here. The Bucks edged the nets, 8683. And that score is important. 86 points.

That was it. That was a bad win for Milwaukee. Brooklyn scored 11 points in the first quarter. Katie was as off as he ever is. Chris Middleton, and this isn't going to happen again, was clearly the best player on the floor. And you won by three at home. And you ever see that movie,

The Incredibles, the animation? This series is the Inevitables. Brooklyn's going to win this series. It's just the way it is. Styles make fights. The skill differential here is substantial. And you know what's interesting? You know how we talked about this week

that like Chris Paul's never gotten a break? Milwaukee's actually gotten over the last several years. Huge breaks. And they still can't break through. LeBron left the conference. Huge break. Kauai left the conference. He gave them trouble.

Huge break. The Celtics have imploded. Huge break. James Hardin is out of this series. Huge break. It doesn't matter. Atlanta has a better shot to get through. their series. Atlanta with a young 22-year-old star, then Milwaukee. Milwaukee's gotten breaks.

It's not like there's been these obstacles. They're all leaving. Kauai left the conference. LeBron left the conference. The Celtics were going to be this, and they imploded this year. And here's what you're left with. They're trying to make Janus a three-point shooter, one for eight last night. Can we stop? The bucks are a little like Wisconsin football. You respect them, how hard they play. They're always good. It's a great, great, fundamentally sound front office. But every time they match up with like an Alabama or a big dog Ohio State, you kind of feel like they just, they don't quite have enough guys.

And that's how I look at this series. I mean, think about this. Last night, in 2021 in the NBA, when you are Janice and Middleton are on fire, the opposing star, Durant doesn't play. Another doesn't play well. Another opposing Star Hardin doesn't play. You're at home. It's the biggest game of the year.

And you're playing kind of a poor defensive team in Brooklyn. And you score 86 points? Like this series, the last two years, the last three years, Milwaukee's actually gotten every break. LeBron's gone. Kauai's gone. Celtics implode. Harden out of this series.

86 at home? Is Middleton going to be? give you that again. He was the best player on the floor. That's not going to be occurring a lot in the series. So I look at it and it's like I can respect Milwaukee. I can respect Wisconsin football. But I mean, let's be honest about it. Wisconsin football. Urban Meyer leaves the conference. That's a huge break. It's your turn. It's still Wisconsin. They're good. I can win nine games. It's not like I don't like them. I think they're great to watch them all the time. But it's like Milwaukee, you can't win 86, 83 with all the things that worked in your favor last night.

And by the way, the second round of the playoffs tells us a lot about teams in the first round. The way Milwaukee rolled Miami, and now Miami can't, Milwaukee can't compete against Brooklyn, tells you Miami needs to blow it up and start over again. Portland could not beat Denver without Jamal Murray. Denver's struggling to compete against Phoenix with a bunch of young players. Portland doesn't have that kind of talent. The second round is telling us a lot about teams in the first round. Like Portland, blow it up.

Miami Heat, you were never that good. Blow it up. Well, the next round is going to tell us a lot about this round. And what it's telling us is, I'm wrong. I picked him to win. One of the reasons I picked him to win, I thought health. Ambedo's gets hurt Celtics

Jalen Brown was hurt Brooklyn's hurt I thought you know Milwaukee's going to get through here because all their best players Drew Holiday didn't get hurt Middleton doesn't get hurt Janice doesn't get hurt

they've gotten every break in this series Katie stinks last night Hardin hasn't played a game Kyrie by the way didn't take a shot in the last four minutes 86 83 you have met your ceiling last night was your ceiling

a narrow win when you get all the breaks the inevitables. That's what this series is. Brooklyn's going to win it. All right, college football playoff. Now, we've been talking about this thing since I've been a sportscaster. When I started covering sports, there was no playoff.

It was basically the AP poll. A bunch of sports writers would decide the national championship. And then over time as a BCS and then you got the playoffs. And now we're going to have a 12-team playoff. I've got two, only two, really strong opinions on what's going to happen here on the 12th team plan? Because it's going to happen. I made a prediction about six months ago.

Joy was with me on the air. Alex is here today. I made a prediction. We were going to get a playoff because all these college football programs couldn't have fans in the stands most of last year. They're taking out bank loans. This is a money grab. And I'm okay with money grabs.

I'm in a business with a big corporation. I get the money grab stuff. We can all cry and whine about that. All the print journalists. hate money grabs. If you had more money in your industry and could make more money, you wouldn't complain about it. I mean, the reality is I'm in TV and radio.

Money dictates the day. And college football now is a big business. It's a billion dollar business. Lord knows why they don't have a CEO. It's amazing to me. It's a $10 billion business a year and has no CEO. Everybody's going in their own directions, every conference's own directions. But two things are going to happen with this playoff once it's formed.

And it will be, and it's coming real soon, that. is coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I gather. to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective

on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night to night basis on offense.

And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball like. After you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone, it's Ryder Strong and Will Ferdell from PodMeets World. And now the Pod Meets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show.

I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some survivor. I obviously haven't watched enough. Did people not like it? Yeah. Just because we? Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion in the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay

to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of who. Ha, ha, ha, who. Again, we are experts. So make sure to tune into Pod Meets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirled on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Agency. The ability to know that we're the experts in our own body. On the podcast, cultivating her space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard.

I wholeheartedly think, you know, you hit 30. You shouldn't have to share one with anybody. Mm-hmm. from navigating friendships and healing to setting boundaries and prioritizing your mental health. These are real honest conversations. We don't always get to have out loud. Totally unreasonable with different parts of life, right? Like, oh, have all three meals and make sure you're mindful during all of them?

Absolutely not. During one meal, I'm standing. I'm standing and handing my children food. Because healing, empowerment, and resilience aren't just ideas, their practices. And this mental health awareness month, there's no better time to pour back into yourself. Listen to cultivating her space on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. More than sunshine and blue skies, summer's great because of grilling. Butcherbox.com slash herd, free box of bacon in life of your membership if you sign up.

Butcherbox.com slash heard. Alex Curry will have the news she's filling in for Joy Taylor today. So college football is moving toward a 12. team playoff. And I'm for it. I've been watching college football for 40 years. I've loved it for 40 years, regardless of how we determine the national champion. I like the quality of the content. I like the teams. I like the stadiums, the fans. I think it's a little bit of an alternative to the NFL, even though it increasingly looks a little like the NFL. I have two strong opinions on this college football playoff. Number one, this playoff is going to mean some teams, will play 17 games. It's officially time to pay the players. I've always been somebody that believes name, image, likeness, you know, write the kids a check if they're Tebow popular,

Johnny Mansell, Reggie Bush popular, end of the season. The aesthetics are going to be so bad if you don't pay the players now, and players are going to see it, and they're going to stop playing in big games. Why? Because you're going to have multiple networks now bidding on this. Right now, ESPN owns the rights. What college football is finally figuring out, is they're going to put this up for bid for all the major networks.

And every network's going to have a little bit the way the NFL works. That's why the NFL is the smartest league with the smartest commissioner. They spread the league to every network's got a piece of it. College football goes, oh, that's how you make money, not give one network all the money. So you're going to have Fox is going to have some, ESPN is going to have some, CBS is going to have some. They're all going to be paying billions of dollars. and it's going to look absolutely ridiculous, not paying the players for 17 games. This is also going to knock out a bunch of crappy bowl games.

College football is going to be big boy business. And if you think the chorus is loud now to pay the players, I will jump on it with all my fervor and voice from this point forward if the sport is a $32 billion sport and you're not paying players for 17 games. I would tell the players, play one year, sit it out, just go get a trainer after one or two years. Don't risk an injury. You got to pay them. Beyond just name and image likeness, this is the kind of deal that's going to get all the college kids at some level are going to get paid.

Men, women, boys, girls, whatever, gymnasts, football players. This is a, basically it's March Madness on steroids. It's going to be a massive deal. It's time to pay the players. The second thing is, for God's sakes. It's not going to change the landscape. Bama's still going to be good. The SEC is still going to dominate.

You're going to have eight teams with a chance to win the national championship. What about the exposure? What about the exposure to those teams? Exposures only valuable if you're good. If you go on Shark Tank and you're an idiot, the exposure's not good. If you go on The Voice or America's got talent and you have no talent, people make fun of you. Exposure is only great when Alabama is winning 40 to 8. It's great for Alabama.

It's bad for coastal Carolina that gets rolled. This idea that exposure is going to change the landscape. You can only win in college football, usually one way. You got to recruit the best players. And if you ever noticed who's got all the national championships, it's schools that are within 75 miles of hot recruiting bases. Bamas and Clemsons and USC's and Oklahoma's and Ohio State. They're around a bunch of players.

They have massive brands. It's not going to, the exposure is not going to change anything. They're not going to change anything. If Alabama, Alabama is already beaten people by 20 in the semis now. Now they're going to have two other games to steamroll people by 40. You think I'm going to sit there as an 18-year-old kid and go, Alabama just beat Cincinnati by 38. Boy, that makes me want to go to Cincinnati.

No. College football has got the same exact teams winning now that won forever. There's a couple of programs over the last 25. years that have snuck in Oregon. How? Phil Knight, the richest college booster in America and the most brilliant. All the marketing with Oregon. So Oregon was not a top 15 program 25 years ago. Phil Knight's money and influence is the only reason they're there. If there's no Phil Knight, Oregon's win in seven games a year like they were pre-fill night. That's about the only way to sneak in. Or you get this legendary coach. Kansas State for years had a guy named Bill Snyder,

who was just absolutely brilliant and he made them relevant. The minute he left, they think again. So exposure doesn't mean anything. The same teams are going to win. College football has always been a have-and-have-not sport. Look who's winning today. Who's winning was 50 years ago? Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma. Same teams. By the way, Clemson won a national championship when I was a kid. Now they're good again. So my two big strong opinions, this is going to get players paid and they're going to, they should be. You can't ask people to pay 17 games. You're going to watch those kids start skipping games, bowing out of bowl games,

bowing out of stuff if you don't pay them when they see it's a $9 billion annual sport. And the second thing, it's not going to change who's good and bad in college football. There may be a program that sneaks in, like an Oregon sneaks into the top 10 and they weren't years ago because of a booster. They get a great coach. But don't kid yourself. This sport has always been about a handful of power brokers, and they'll continue to dominate it. And exposure is so overrated. It's such, oh, folks, everybody's on TV now.

Boise State gets nine games on television. BYU's on TV, 10 games. When I first got a job at ESPN, 15 years ago, they had 60 to 70 college football games on a year. Now they have 500. Everybody's on television. everybody's getting exposure to same eight teams winning. Alex for the news. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Colin, I'm with you that the players need to get paid. Are you hearing anything? Are there any rumors? Is it actually going to happen? No, I mean, again, I am projecting when the bids go up for this, the aesthetics. This is going to be a billion, multi-billion dollar deal. And you're going to see even.

The NCAA is going to get guilty. Yeah. I mean, when the money goes up for companies, employees see it. They go to their unions. They form unions. There's lawsuits filed. So it's going to happen. And by the way, I've not always been on the pay-all-the-athletes thing because you do get

education, promotion, marketing. There's a lot of advantages to be in a college athlete. But when a sport becomes a $72 billion sport over four years, somebody's going to get paid beyond executives. I hope so. Well, Russell Wilson joined the Seahawks for OTAs after working through issues with the team during the offseason, and he is setting the record straight about whether he really wanted out of Seattle. You know, in terms of the trade talks, I think anytime you play professional sports, there's always a possibility of something happened, right? And I think that's just a reality.

I think that there's a lot of teams out there that people were saying that I was going to or would go to. I requested a trade. I did not request a trade. I've always wanted to play here. you know and the reality is you know I think calls were getting thrown around and this and that and I think that's just a reality but I think at the end of the day the real reality is that I'm here and I'm here to win I'm here to win at all yeah I mean by the way there's you always hear the grass is greener sometimes it is but he's got a well-financed team a Hall of Fame coach a coach that has been willing to shake things up all the time. Russell's aspirational, Pete Carroll's aspirational.

This is not a tradition-heavy franchise like Pittsburgh or Green Bay. Pete and Russ actually fit really well together. And we have a history in the NFL where great defensive coaches and star quarterbacks from Dungee and Manning to Belichick and Brady to Tomlin and Big Ben. this peak, Carol and Russell Wilson, this is a good fit. The grass was not going to be greener with the Raiders. No.

And it's good to hear he always wanted to stay there. He just wanted to be heard. And I think he thought the only way to be heard was to finally publicly let his frustration out. And it worked. Yep. It doesn't always work, but it worked for us. All right, moving on to the Patriots,

fans are hoping. Mack Jones is going to be the quarterback of the future. but those who want to see him take the field as a rookie may be disappointed, according to Ben Villan of the Boston Globe. Jones seems to have a long way to go to beat out Cam Newton for the starting job. He said Belichick still loves Cam. And in Thursday's practice, Jones went last among the quarterbacks in team drills, despite Cam being out with an injury.

Now, we know no rookie quarterback is going to be great right out of the gates. The game's faster, the players are bigger. I think it's only going to benefit him in the long run. to sit behind a veteran quarterback for a little bit. Well, and Cam is better than Mac Jones right now significantly. So Cam should play. This is, I mean, what's funny is, ideally, you don't want your rookie quarterbacks to play. Ideally, you want to do the Mahomes deal where you sit a year.

But in this instance, the gap between Cam and Mac Jones, I think, is substantial. Forget physically. Yeah. I mean, Cam, this is not an easy system. Cam's now been in it for a, this is the second year. so Cam's probably way ahead of him at the line of scrimmage, way ahead of him arm strength, way ahead of him physically. So this isn't a fair fight.

I mean, Cam's absolutely a significantly better player than Mack Jones is today in the NFL, and it's not close. And he's also physically a beast. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, moving on to another great quarterback. Tom Brady knows what it takes to win back-to-back Super Bowls.

He did it years ago in New England, but he also knows it won't be easy to accomplish that feat again in Tampa. I think that's what you got to not fall into is that, oh, this is the way it worked last year. So this is the way it'll be this year. And the reality is everything's different. Improve your routine, improve your communication with your teammates, with your coaches, not allow your mind to really, you know, fall into this position that you make this assumption that just because you did something in February that you'll do it again next February, because that's not the reality of football. It's way too competitive.

What it is, it's too close. Yeah. I mean, the bottom line is the average score in this league, it's a three and a half to four point differential. Again, I said it yesterday. The Jags beat the Colts last year. The Jets beat the Rams. So the reality is if you come in, they're, Eric Mangini, who used to, you know, be a coach on the Patriot staff said they had no idea in New England the year, after they won it the next year. He said, you become everybody's Monday night football game. You become the circle game on everybody's schedule. He goes, this coach is skiing. They stay up later. It's just, you know, so you're going to get last year in a weird way,

Tampa kind of, even with Brady snuck up on people. They slid under the radar. We thought the Packers and the Saints would be better, Kansas City. So those days are over. They are front and setter on everybody's schedule. But Tom's used to that. And if anybody can win back, to back because he's done it before. It's Tom Brady. Yep, Alex with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. Jim Jackson played 14 years in the NBA, and I still like the Clippers against Utah because I think in the NBA talent tends to beat chemistry, and Utah's a much better team chemistry club than the Clippers are, who are bad latent games,

don't communicate entirely well. But Jim's now joining us live, brought to you by Mercedes. he spends the best or nothing. But what's interesting, you know, in the NBA historically, talent beats almost every other thing. You can have the best chemistry, the best coach, talent wins. But here's my question. You know, I presume Kauai is the best player in the series. But right now, Donovan Mitchell is playing better than anybody in the series.

And so if the jazz have the best player in the series and the chemistry, then it's a walk. I still like the Clippers today. I think, Jim, they've never made it look easy. They don't communicate terribly well, but I'll still take the Clippers this morning. Your thoughts? Well, I'm biased because I cover the Clippers during the course of the year. So, of course, I'm going to say the Clippers.

But you have to give Utah a lot of credit. Now, keep in mind, you can't panic too much of your Clipper Nation because Utah is doing what they're supposed to do, which is take care of home court. Now, these games were in the balance for the Clippers to win. They were up big in game one, kind of squandered that lead. They were up late in this game, and Utah made play. So if you go back and look at it, yeah, it seems bad being down too old, but it's like, okay, how did we lose? And why did we lose? We had a chance to walk out of here if you're the clippers and saying, Colin, we had one game.

Our goal was to win one game. And we had that within reach. But we didn't execute our game plan consistently enough to walk out of there with a W. So I wouldn't be too, I wouldn't panic so quickly in regards to that. But there are some things that the clippers need to clean up discipline-wise with their game plan that could allow them to win the two games when they come back home. Yeah. You know, it's really interesting when you kind of look at the clippers and you do their games,

is that second year now, their chemistry can be off, they're bad in late game situations. I thought Paul George and Reggie Jackson were great last night, and Kauai, you know, wasn't. Kauai has always been very much an enigma, Jim, and that his body sometimes, you know, when you cover him on a daily basis, I'm never quite sure what I get with Kauai. When he's good, he's great. Do you think, does that create resentment in a team?

Is that why? I mean, it's weird. You saw every clipper game. Some nights he doesn't suit up, some nights mentally, last night, kind of disappeared in the fourth. I mean, what did you make of his fourth quarter last? night. How do we explain that? Well, I mean, sometimes you're going to have some bad

situations. Even Michael Jordan had against Seattle some bad shooting quarters or bad shooting games, okay? But you saw a different kind of effort because everybody knew Mike could respond to the challenge. Kauai has done it in the past. I think the thing really hurts the clippers at time is not having that playmaker on the floor, okay, to set those guys up so they can be, instead of being the initiator a lot of times of the offense, they can receive the basketball in certain situations to attack. Reggie Jackson played so well last night. It was hard to get Rondo in the lineup in order to be that facilitator

and that ball handler, that court leader. So you're asking Paul George and Gouye Leonard, who are not naturally those kind of leaders, to have the ball in their hands in those situations. Even Reggie Jackson is more of a score for first point guard. So think about it. Even within that, it was some wide open shots. that Marcus Morris would normally knock down maybe from three.

Some plays that were open off a dribble drive penetration, that shots didn't go in, that maybe when you're at home, they go in. But I agree with you from that perspective is that when you look at championship caliber teams and look at what Donovan Mitchell's doing. When the Clippers went to a two, three zone last night, Donovan was able to kind of pick that apart a little bit. The zone got them back in, but Donovan, because his game has matured, he also is now a better playmaker.

So Joe Ingalls, Jordan Clarkston, even Rudy Gobert dive into the basket, he was setting those guys up. Yeah. Even though he scored 27 points in the first half. Okay, I only had nine in the second, I believe it was. So in the second half, he was just diving people out, Colin. That was the difference to me in regard to the clippers faulting later in the game when they needed to make a big play. Either the shot wasn't there and they went through two, three possessions, two to three possessions, if they turn the ball over. Those are lost possessions that if you take care of that, at least

get a shot up, you give yourself a chance to extend the lead or whatever it was at the time. You know, the Brooklyn Nets are going to beat Milwaukee. I mean, everything went right for Milwaukee last night, and they still won by a shot. Right. Yeah. So, but it's interesting. Kyrie disappeared with about four minutes to go. And I've always felt this Brooklyn team is going to burn hot and then burn out. Like they'll be a rock band in the 80s. They'll be, they'll be on fire and all of a sudden egos step in and the drummer hates the lead singer and it's over but it'll be great when it lasts and last night's a prime example hardin's not even there katy's not shooting well and kairy still doesn't take a shot for four minutes at the end of the games and i look at it and i think

this is always to me why this thing could be great for two years but won't last is that even without hardin around kairie's not getting shot he's not getting shots late and i maybe it's just i mean what did you What do you make? I don't think Kyrie Irving's one of the great finishers under 6-3 in the history of the sport. I don't think he's going to over time appreciate that. Your thoughts on what you saw. Well, I mean, here's a thing. Two things with Brooklyn.

James Hardin is a difference maker. Last night, if James Hardin was playing, I think that's a totally different outcome to the game. Because, you know, all three of those players weren't going to be all. James Hardin changes the dynamics of the game because one thing James does besides score, he gets your team in the penalty early. So now everybody's getting to the free throw line a lot early. So that changes the dynamic. And then he's setting the table for everybody.

As far as late game situation, let's give Milwaukee some credit because there were possessions, three possessions in a row where Brooklyn could not get the kind of shot they wanted. Okay? And a lot of that had to do with the defense by Milwaukee. The two side out of bounds plays when KD, well, the one before KD got the shot up with 2.1 seconds, left when they couldn't get the ball in credit, you know, the Milwaukee Bucks defense,

coach Booners would put, I think it was Janus on the ball, to take the pass away from the initial open guy, which either is going to be Kyrie or KD. So there's a lot of things down the stretch of that game. Now, you go back to say, well, maybe in two years it doesn't work, but hey, if you can win two championship in two years, I think Brooklyn will be happy, Colin. I really do. But I don't think Eagles get involved. This is what I said before.

Late game situation. This is a learning period also for Steve Nash because he hasn't been able to have his full competent, especially all three players in late game situations to cause certain plays to how to get them to basketball. Maybe it's one, maybe it's two. So when Hardin gets back, he's still going to have to deal with that. So there's still some nuances that this Brooklyn team are still trying to figure out and yet and still trying to figure it out, Colin, they're up to one.

Yeah. By the way, I've said before, I'm a Chris Paul fan. I don't think we appreciate feel for the game or intelligence. And I'm watching Yokic as the MVP on the same floor with Chris Paul. And Chris Paul completely controls the game. Completely controls the game. I mean, Yokic is a great receiver. Chris Paul's like the quarterback. He's taking all the snaps, directing all the traffic. I don't know if you ever, Chris Paul's been in the league a long time. I don't know how many times you ever cross pass. Chris Paul. I don't even know who to compare him to, but in your 14-year career, did you ever play with a guy that wasn't entirely vertical, wasn't necessarily a pure shooter? But they're just the feel, the intelligence, the toughness, the defense. He just, and young people listen to him. I think Chris Paul is such a unique. Maybe John Stockton's got a little bit of that. I mean, your thoughts on what you're seeing with the sons and Paul. Steve Nash.

Now, Steve could shoot it, but he worked on that. But the way Steve controlled the game was a lot like what CP does, okay, in regards to setting the table for everybody on the court. CP is more of a communicator physically. Steve will kind of point and get things together. I mean, Steve was like that, methodical in his thinking, understood the defense, understood how to get players in the right position. Chris Paul, actually, you know what's crazy.

Think about the teams that he's really been successful with that kind of bought into him. The clippers he had to fight with a little bit. Okay, because, you know, Blake and probably DeAndre George and other guys were fighting. You know, we're fighting. But when he was with OKC, okay, he, what did he do? It was a younger team, right? They responded to him. Phoenix, younger team.

They respond to him. That's the difference with CB. He's playing kind of the same way, okay? But the surrounding components now listen and, truly listen to what he's saying. Yeah. And they buy in. Yeah.

And that's the difference. You know, he's the extension of the coach on the floor. And what he's doing with this young team in Monty Williams is just incredible. Now, keep in mind, also give a lot of credit to the team in regards to this. Those young players matured another year. Devin Booker is a much more mature player than he was last year. His shot selection is better. But Cal Bridgett is a more confident, offensive player than what he was last year.

DeAndre Ate understands his role. He's not shooting 15, 18-foot jump shots as much as he did last year. He's honing in his game. So along with CP3 being there, Monty's matured as a coach, understanding his team. The players, especially the young court, have matured another year. And now you bring in the floor leader, the captain, the guy who runs the ship, the guy who steadies everything across Paul. Hence, you put that all together, Collier, you get the Phoenix Suns.

Good stuff, Jim Jackson, Fox Sports. Good seeing you, bud. it. Always, brother. The eight teams left, by the way, have no titles in 38 years. Yeah, Sixers in 83. So it's, you know, everybody always, oh, the NBA, I always laugh at this. Oh, the NBA, it's the same teams every year. Well, here's your year. The last eight teams left have no titles in 38 years. If there's a basketball God, who would he give this to? That thought next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays and noon. Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories about what made these people love their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way. We talk to coaches. We talk to players. We tell you stories. You download it. You listen to it. I think you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't

have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nasree. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. It's Ryder Strong and Wilfredel from PodMeets World.

And now the PodMeets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, who now have covered dancing with the stars, traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some Survivor. I obviously haven't watched enough.

Did people not like it? Yeah. Just because we... Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion in the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists

to a bunch of ha-hoo. Ha-ha-hoo. Again, we are experts. So make sure to tune to Pod Meets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirled on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. agency, the ability to know that we're the experts in our own body. On the podcast cultivating her space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard. I wholeheartedly think, you know, you hit 30. You shouldn't have to share one with anybody. Mm-hmm. From navigating friendships and healing to setting boundaries and prioritizing your mental health. These are real honest conversations.

We don't always get to have out loud. Totally unreasonable with different parts of life, right? Like, oh, have all three meals and make sure you're mindful during all of them? Absolutely not. During one meal, I'm standing. I'm standing and handing my children food. Because healing, empowerment, and resilience aren't just ideas, their practices. And this Mental Health Awareness Month, there's no better time to pour back into yourself.

Listen to cultivating her space on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. So the eight teams left in the NBA playoffs, no titles in 38 years. And in fact, no team left in the West, Phoenix, Utah, Denver. They don't have any titles, right? So maybe in a perfect world. So you have no dynasty right now. So in a perfect world, yeah, here are the teams on television.

The Sixers were the last to win it in 83. The Bucks won it in 1971 with Lou Alcindor. The Hawks won it in 1958. That was probably with Bob Pettett. The Clippers, the Jazz, the Nets, the Nuggets, and Phoenix have never won one. So in a perfect world, there's no dynasty, and that's usually what gets in the way of a Utah Jazz winning. It's a dynasty, right? Like it was the MJ Dynasty.

And then, you know, that's, and then the Golden State dynasty gets in the way of a Portland who has a good team. or a Spurs dynasty, so we don't have one. So if there was a basketball god, who would he select? My guess he would select either the Utah Jazz, who have been so well run for 30 years, have done a great job drafting and developing. They've had great coaches. It's a great organization.

And they always get blocked by a dynasty. Or Chris Paul, who can't get a break. He gets drafted to a team. can't play in the city for two years because of a hurricane, Hurricane Katrina. He goes to Donald Sterling, should have been a Laker, but the league nixed it. Then he goes to a tanking team. Then he goes to, the guy can't get a break. If the basketball gods had any pull, Chris Paul, the sons would win it or the Utah Jazz.

But that's not the way the NBA works. The franchise that sold their soul to the devil, the Brooklyn Nets, will probably win it. I mean, think about what the Nets did. They had a great coach. They had great chemistry. They were a playoff team. Everybody loved him. Kumbaya.

Everybody said, oh, my guys, I bet. And they said, nah, I'm going to blow it all up. We're going to get James Hardin, who held his franchise hostage, Kyrie Irving, who refused to play for coach Brad Stevens, and KD, who stunningly left all the good guys in Golden State. They sold, their soul to the devil. They blew up a good coach, a good roster, good guys, them all away because they said what historically wins in the NBA? Great players. We need great

players. And so they went and got three of them. And Utah, by the way, would do that if they could, but they can't. So it would be nice, the basketball gods, there is no dynasty. It would be nice if they gave it to Utah or Chris Paul. But they're not going to do that. This is a league. Every sport, you know, I like Drew Holliday, but he's not Kyrie. He's not James Harden, he's not KD, and that's the reality. You're seeing it in the Milwaukee Net Series. So every sport has certain advantages. People that complain about the NBA, only certain teams can win.

It's not true. We saw the Raptors win with the Dallas Mavericks. I grew up with the Sonics. They didn't have a star one. The Pistons once with a bunch of B players beat Shaq and Kobe. A lot of people can win. And this year, somebody that hasn't won in a long time is going to win. But every sport has a recipe.

be. In baseball, there's no salary cap. Just go buy the best players. Okay, that's totally unfair. College football, you generally have to be within 75 to 100 miles of a hot high school recruiting area. The South. You know, L.A., Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania football. In the NBA, it's just get the best talent. That's it. And generally, sometimes, you can draft it, but generally, you got to go get it because you didn't draft it. So I don't have any animosity toward that. Every sport, baseball, it's just who's got the most money. College football, it's where are you located.

Geography is 90% of it. In the NBA, Brooklyn's like, now we've got a playoff team, but that doesn't win here. So we're just going to blow it up and go sell our soul to the devil. And guess what? Devil's going to win this series. That's the right way to do it. It really is. Hour 2 next.

Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast Deeply Well with Debbie Brown. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole,

this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to Deeply Well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. Score!

I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines, the biggest decisions, and the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals

or potentially a great run into the semifinals. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was part of you.

You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.