The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 06/23/2021 - HOUR 1 - Clippers-Suns, replay

Episode Date: June 23, 2021

The Clippers and the Suns are the two best teams leftThe replay system in the NBAThe final play of the Clippers-Suns gameGuest: Ryen Russillo 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. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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 iHeart radio app by searching Heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go on a Wednesday. Got so many smart things to say today. Live in Los Angeles, it's the herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening.

IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. That was amazing. That was amazing. Chris Paul Kauai Leonard didn't play. And I got that quality. That was one of the best. NBA games I have seen in five years, and Chris Paul Goyd didn't play. What's better than sports?

Oh, my God, that was incredible. I don't know if we deserve this. It was an unbelievable ending. Even with the refs taking four score and 11 years to figure the end of it out. But you know, it's funny about it where I'll get into this later today, but the delays drive all of us a little crazy, but there's a reason they're doing it. Yes. It's the second quarter replay that wears me out.

A minute left in the NBA finals essentially. I'll sit there because it was goosebumps. And that's Joy Taylor. And I want to start with this. These are obviously the best two teams in the NBA. This is the finals. And this has happened before. You ever watch the SEC?

It's like Georgia takes on Alabama. And you're like, there's like 28 NFL players on the field. You're like, that's the national championship. Nothing against the big 10 of the ACC, but that's the national championship. Years ago, Red Sox Yankees, 2004 ALCS, clearly the best two teams. Red Sox beat the Yankees, go on and sweep the Cardinals. It's like those were the two best team. We've seen it when the Yankees Red Sox were with their best or the SEC like it usually is, is loaded.

We saw it. I remember I covered a series where the Blazers played the Lakers, and that was the Shack and Kobe Lakers, the famous Alleyoop Dunk. And the Lakers went on to be. beat the Pacers. The Blazers would have beaten the Pacers. That was the NBA finals in the Western Conference. That's what you're watching. Folks, just think about what happened last night. Both teams played nine guys legitimate minutes and 18 different players like contributed. The coaching. The two best coaches left are both in the West. Coaching sort of matters, right?

Look at the quality of that game without Chris Paul and Kauai Leonard. If you took Trey Young, out of Atlanta? If you took Janice out of Milwaukee tonight, what would that game look like? Like you were missing the two best players? Let's be honest about this. This is not a shot at anybody else. But when Michael Jordan retired,

the West has been better than the East every year since. 75 to 80% of the good young players, the Lukas, the Zions, the Jha Morant, the Bookers, they're West. I mean, the Knicks, for God's sake, were a four seed in the East. Washington made the playoffs in the East. Jeff Curry's the MVP should have been, maybe wasn't. Number two, they can't get into the playoffs in the West. The all-NBA team has four out of five guys are from the West. I mean, Atlanta does not have an all-star.

They made the Eastern Conference finals. Okay, it's not a shot. Like, it's not a shot at the Big Ten to say that some years, the SEC, a lot of years. The two best teams are in the South. It's not a shot at anybody. It's just a reality of it. It's not a shot when the Yankees and the Red Sox in a no-slavery-cap sport have the best roster. They're just the two best teams. Now, I still think, let's talk about the game. I still think this is a six-game series. These are really even teams. The difference is the sons get Chris Paul back.

The Clippers probably don't get Kauai back. That's the series. I'll take Phoenix. I don't think the Clippers can overcome this team. First of all, that crowd's insane. Phoenix plays with a college intensity. It feels March Madness with pro talent, with dogs. And they don't really have a hole.

Like, you know, even the dynasty for the Warriors, bad bench, the dynasty for the heels, no size. They were small. This team is athletic. They're twitchy. They're long. They've got leadership. They've got wings. They've got young players.

They've got Jay Crowder. I mean, it's one of those things where, and you know what it reminds me of the only thing they're missing in Phoenix is big game experience. And that's a real thing. That's a real thing. They're a very young team. Well, you're watching it. It does not appear to be a problem. problem. You know what they remind me of. And I'll just throw you a football example, because I'm from

the Pacific Northwest. I want you to think about this for a second. Remember the Seahawk team, the first championship they won when they crushed Denver. Like the Phoenix Suns, they had no recent history of dominating. The year before, the Seahawks were six and five until the end of the year they got hot, made the playoffs, and then it got bounced. They weren't great the year before. And then the next year, you're watching them and you're like, the hell? That's the fastest defense I've ever seen in my life. The hell am I watching? How did they go from good to the best team I've seen in a decade?

Why? Because they had this great leader, Russell Wilson. And then all their young players started peeking at the exact same moment and had the right coach and made it work. And your eyes were not lying to you. You were watching that sea out. Now, we thought the dynasty would last longer. But for that year, and then the following year, even when they lost the Super Bowl to New England, there was a two-year period where Seattle, you're like, how did they get this good this fast?

That makes no sense. Phoenix last year, at the end of the year, the bubble, you're like, ooh, ooh, then they had Chris Paul and you're like, okay, okay, I know, I know it's, but it's, come on, they're not going to win the championship. No, no, no. All their good young players are peaking at the exact. DeAndre Aiton has become a monster. Devin Booker now is a monster. McHale Bridges, then you add in these veteran players, you're not being fooled here.

This is not like lightning in a bomb. No, no, no. No, the Seahawks were faster than everybody defensively. They were so fast, Bill Belichick, in the Super Bowl in which they beat him, I'd never forget this game plan. Belichick said, when you catch the ball against the Seahawks, either go down or go forward. Do not try to run outside. all they practice for two weeks. Because if you try to run outside, you won't get there,

and Seattle will strip the ball from you. They're faster than us. We cannot run with them. Just take five yards at a time. Just take the five and six yards. Edelman, catch it, go down. Just get first down. We're not as fast as them.

And you have to just acknowledge now with Phoenix. Their chemistry is perfect. They have the right coach. All their young players are peaking. They play with an intensity that is almost collegiate. these guys aren't that far out of playing college. They're all like under 24, 25 years old. And they're deep, they're twitchy, they're long, they're athletic, they're confident.

And now, now the clippers are very good and very good at overcoming O2 deficits. And Paul George talked about that. If I know this team correctly, the fight we have, you know, going into game three and the fight that we have to believe that, you know, we're going to change the series. that's who we've been and that's who we are. And so I'm very confident in our group. And, you know, a fact of the matter is, they did what they were supposed to.

They won their two games on their floor. We got to go home and protect our house. Good luck. I'll take the sons. But I do think it goes at least six games. All right. Something can drive me nuts. But my job is to not get too emotional.

So what we saw at the end of the game last night, a lot of replays, five replays last 90 seconds. And again, baseball has these constant pitching changes. It slows the game down. NBA games fly by except for the last couple of minutes of close playoff games. I'm okay with it because they're doing it for a reason. And I want to make something very clear. Replay was created, not for the first quarter, not for the second, not for the third. Hell, it wasn't even created for the fourth.

It was created to get the call right with two minutes left and not screw a team out of a championship. That's why it was created. So this play drove me nuts. But I thought about it. Devin Booker, sideline, Patrick Beverly ball goes out of bounds. Now, 99% of the time in the season, they give it to the offensive team. Why do they do that? because when you drive on the freeway,

it's 55 miles an hour, you're going 70 and nobody gets a ticket in rush hour. Police, cities want to keep the traffic moving in rush hour, let people get home. We're all speeding. Nobody cares. But a school zone, it's only 35 miles an hour. They reduce it.

And if you're three miles an hour over, it's a $500 ticket. Why? because that matters more. Those are kids. 35 miles an hour, you're three over. It's a $500 ticket. Freeway, you're going 70.

Moving it along, let's get home. The NBA, to keep the game fluid and moving and fast, is going to give that to the offensive player. Let's not change possessions. But they go to the replay with a minute left because we're not going to take a championship from a team. It's like the TSA. Paso to Dallas, that TSA just moves right along. Vegas to L.A. I take the flight all the time.

Fly through TSA. You fly to London, Tel Aviv, Barcelona, fly abroad, 10-hour flight. You go through customs. That's different. You're going to be in line for 45 minutes to an hour. Those are big boys' lights. A lot of bad stuff can happen when you're in the air for 10 hours. TSA was truly created for flights abroad, long flights, to intellectual financial hubs. Those are the ones. They really clamped down. School zones. Now the speed matters.

Listen, that drives me nuts. And 99% of the time, yes, we give it to the offensive guy to keep the game going. But it would be kind of ridiculous, right? if you did the replay and it went off Booker and you said, so what? So what? We're going to give it to Phoenix. Why did you create the replay?

Well, somebody on my staff went to a Reddit board last night. I tried to stay away from those. It said the ball may have technically went off Booker, but that's not how the game is meant to be played. No, no, technically, technically. This is why we created replay. So we get the technicalities right very late in games. And I know there's a lot of replays late.

But NBA games, unlike baseball, unlike college football, NBA games fly by. But they ask you at the end, we're going to get this stuff right. Because there's shoe deals involved. There's contracts involved. Coaches get fired when they lose these games. You get fired. Rick Carlisle's out of work lost to game seven. Probably not if he wins a game seven.

When you're firing coaches, when you're getting shoe deals, when guys' contracts are getting extended based on winning these game sevens, and that's how the league works. We're going to get it right. And yeah, it drives me nuts. But I'm in the business to observe, take a deep breath, and then deliver an unemotional response. That's what officials are asked to do.

that's what replay people are asked to do. They're not fans. Take a deep breath. Get it right. We didn't create these replays for the first quarter. Coaches get fired at the end of games, not in the first quarter. Get it right, they did. All right.

I drove Nick Wright crazy. I'll play that later. It drove him crazy. So I want to talk about the Alleyoop out of bounds. It's fascinating. The herd, by the way, brought to you. you by Jersey Mike subs, be a sub above. It was so much goodness last night.

You know, it's funny, even though baseball is crazy town right now, it is fascinating. We are happening, like, stop and frisk moments in Major League Baseball right now for star pitchers. The stuff happening last night in baseball because of this tack, which has been, weightlifters, I guess, use tack. And now baseball pitchers to get a grip on the, that's why baseball pitchers always licking their mouth. They're trying to get grip on the ball. That's why baseball actually puts dirt on all the baseballs before they go out.

Otherwise, it's like grabbing a cue ball. You need something on it. Baseball pitchers are using tack. The problem when you use too much tack, the spin rate on the ball increases, and baseball hitters are like, nobody can hit the ball anymore. Pick the curve ball looks like Bugs Bunny cartoon. It's flying all over. So baseball steps in.

You can't use the tack. And they decided mid-season to put it into it. And it became a circus last night. A complete utter circus. We'll talk about that coming up. today as well. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast,

The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream,

this is right what you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jette. And I'm Alex English. We pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan, Ryan, Korn, and I'm talking. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you here on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Tanklessmadesimple.com. Tankless made simple.com. That's where you go to get a Navian tankless water heater. Saves your space, saves your money, saves the planet, saves your time, 15-year limited warranty. So the end of the game,

The end of the game last night, they did, you know, it's kind of a rarely used play. I remember years ago, Dwight Howard and Orlando did it over Tim Duncan and the Spurs. That's the one I remember. I don't remember the Tyson Chandler one, which happened a few years ago. That one doesn't stick in my mind. The Dwight Howard Duncan one does. That was years ago. So DeAndre Aiton, on the out of bounds, people think, oh, that's goaltending.

And we can show the play. Just think about, this is the easiest way to think about that play. It's a live ball. it's considered a pass, not a shot. So that's a live ball. You can go over the rim for it. That's the easiest way to explain it. And it even is confusing to officials.

One official immediately said, that's good. That rule books long. And the other officials had to get together. All right, what exactly is this? Yeah, that's essentially a pass, not a shot. That's what it is. It's a live ball. So therefore, you can go inside the cylinder.

And it happens so infrequent. that it's confusing. Now, a lot of people are complaining. The last 90 seconds took 33 minutes of real time. And as I said earlier, it doesn't bother me. College football stops the clock after every first down. So the games take forever. And I love college football.

Games take four hours, sometimes four and a half. That bothers me. I don't have four and a half hours three times a day on Saturday to watch football. I don't have 13 hours to watch games. You know, baseball with a constant pitching changes in the fifth, six, seventh, eighth innings, it takes forever. Think about the NBA like, because the NBA is like soccer. The games fly by.

But then in the NBA, playoff games, last two minutes, it takes a long time. Think about it like this. You fly across the country, L.A. to New York. It's amazing, really, especially in the winter if you get a jet stream. You can fly L.A. to New York in like five hours and 15 minutes. It's remarkable. You fly across our country in five hours and 20 minutes. It's frustrating when you sit in the tariff.

for 15 when you land at JFK. It takes you 17 minutes to get off the plane and then it takes you 45 minutes to wait for your luggage. It is frustrating. But would you rather drive and it takes three days but you can

unload the trunk in 90 seconds? I'd rather fly and deal with the end of the flight and sitting on the plane because it's fairly remarkable how fast and how great aviation is. I'll deal with the crap at the end.

I don't want to drive cross-country, right? NBA games move very well. The ratings are great this year. The games, it's like it just flies by the first half. You're like, first half, my wife, you know, she wanted to watch a movie last night. And I said, we're not to half yet. And she goes, oh, and I'm like, three minutes later, I'm like, boom, it's over. It's done for the games fly by.

But they want to get stuff right at the end. And so they go to the replay. And I'm okay with that. What bores me is going to sporting events, which can't figure out the first six innings or seven innings of slow play or college football still stopping the clock on first downs. NFL just keeps that puppy. NFL games like NBA fly by until you get to the end of the game and they've got to get it right. So it doesn't bother me. To get stuff right, I'll sit around and wait.

I mean, it's not like they're not doing it for a reason. They don't do this and blow out regular season games, which they're, There's a lot of those. They don't do them in blow out playoff games. You don't have the replays. This only happens in big games, mostly in the playoffs, when they're super tight, which is about 30% of the games. Joy with the News. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. I, too, would rather them get it right. I think fans were just a little, they're a little frustrated with that officiating group. Yeah, I mean, last night really was. That was 33 minutes of real. time. So like last night it was excessive. And then at the end that, well, it was

fine for me up until after the inbound pass to A.m. And then they couldn't figure out who was supposed to be on the court. There was like, point seven seconds left. I'm like, guys, the game's over. Like, figure out who was on the court. Not that hard. Monty Williams is running up. Like, he's not supposed to be in.

It was a little bit of chaos. So the Eastern Conference Finals between the Bucks and the Hawks kick off tonight. Both teams are looking to get back to the NBA final. after decades of postseason frustration. The Bucks last reached the finals in 1974, and the Hawks haven't been back since 1961 when they were still playing in St. Louis.

So a lot of history on the line for these two organizations has been quite the journey back. There was a series, the series I bet money on in early was I picked the Sons over Denver. There was a fan duel. There was a very good line on that. I thought that was the best bet of the playoffs. I look at this series,

and I can't talk myself into Atlanta keeping it close. Now, Atlanta will shoot their way to a win, I'm sure, at some point. This feels so lopsided. I think Milwaukee is a bigger team, more experienced team. They're a more physical team. They're a better defensive team. I don't know if Atlanta's got an answer for Janus. It feels like such a mismatch to me.

It does, and yet the Hawks just continued. to find ways. So I'm hoping it's a long series. We've been really blessed with some amazing series in this postseason. Yeah. And the bucks are favored by eight and a half in game one tonight, which is a lot of points. But that's what Foxx bett has him at right now. Trey Young is averaging 29.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists per game in this postseason. It's been a really incredible postseason run for Trey Young. Like he has arrived. nationally. Listen, the NBA, you and I talked about this. I love LeBron, but there is a LeBron fatigue, I feel sometimes. The NBA playoffs isn't about as much stars as everybody think. It's about

stories. The Knicks were a good story. The Suns are a great story. I don't care about Phoenix's market size. I am emotionally into the Suns. Yeah. So I, you know, everybody, oh, the ratings will go down if LeBron's gone. I can only speak for myself. The stories that Simmons, imploding. You can't take your eyes off it. It's the NBA's car wreck. You can't stop watching it. Well, this was the question all along, right?

Because fans are always yelling for parody. And are you guys actually going to watch if there is parity in playoffs? And fans are watching. And it's great. What we've also had really competitive series. I think on top of, you know, maybe a little bit of fatigue in the postseason, there's also this like the first round. It's like sweeps and gentlemen sweeps.

We've had game sevens in the first round. That makes a big difference when you have a sense of urgency and you actually get to play out the full series and see and learn about each team to their full capacity. And you're getting a lot of bench play as well. So players that you don't normally see stepping up are getting significant pain. Unbelievable game for him last night.

Unbelievable performance. So the Pistons won the NBA draft lottery. They did. And we'll have the first overall pick this year. This is the third time in franchise history that they've had the first overall pick in the first time since 1970. So Ben Wallace was a little bit of good luck for them last night. The rocket secured the second pick in the draft, followed by the Cavs and the Raptors rounding out the top four. Then you have the Magic Thunder Warriors and then at eight Magic Kings, Pelicans, Hornets, 12, the Spurs, the Pacers, and 14, the Warriors is the draft order. So it probably, I mean, people know this more than I do, but Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State, probably going to go one. Evan Mobley, USC's way up there. Yeah. Evan Mowgli, USC's way up there. Yeah.

Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga, Jalen, and the G.League. It is, I was like, you know, I was screwing around last night, and I was like, I watched him. like he's an NBA player, catch and shoot, off the dribble. It looks like, again, I'm no expert here, but you know how we banged on last year's draft? It was like three dudes and a bunch of question marks. There's a lot of really interesting college players that I think are going to be nice NBA players. Yeah, it's a pretty deep draft. The Cade Cunningham thing is interesting because the Pistons took a point guard with the seventh overall pick,

Killian Hayes last year. So are they going to double up on that again just because of his talents? like it might not necessarily be the best fit. Well, you go Evan Mobley, USC. We saw him in the tournament. You know, long. He got significantly better over the course of the season. So you could probably, you know, they'll know what they're doing.

But I mean, generally speaking, you wouldn't go guard, point guard to point guard. Right. Now, the Warriors could also make a trade too since they have two picks in the top 14. Yeah, don't they have the seven and 14? Yeah. See, that that's, I think that is a really, really viable opportunity to give two away for one. That's really interesting.

Warriors are in a really interesting space. Yeah. Speaking of the Warriors, Steve Kerr had a front row seat to Kevin Durant's success in Golden State, but he also saw all the effects of the criticism KD was dealing with. In Matt Sullivan's book, Can't Knock the Hustle, Kerr said that in the 2018-19 season in particular, Durant was dealing with a lot of outside pressure.

He said, I could see the strain on his face every day. He was staring into that phone all the time. The way that you handle backlash kind of determines your fate. So on the court, he couldn't have handled backlash any better. But in this modern life, it's easy to get caught up and all the other stuff. And I thought that put a lot of stress on Kevin, just feeling that constant criticism. Well, I think people do stare at their phones all day. I've talked about this.

Generationally, I can watch games, not with a phone on. And just put it down and watch the game and have a corona and just watch stuff. But I didn't grow up with a phone. So for a 30-year-old, that would be insane. You're tweeting the whole time. and I look at some young sportscasters, and I think, can't you just watch a game? But I didn't grow up with it.

So when I see, when I go, I went to dinner the other night in a real boozy Hollywood place, right? And everybody there's young. And, you know, it's like phone time. And I'm just like, can't you guys just eat? But I don't like to be on the phone at dinner in general. But I am somebody who I kind of was like in that last base of the generation that didn't grow up with cell phones.

Right. I got my first cell phone when I was 16 and you had to pay for per text. So it was like I didn't grow up on the phone communicating constantly. And so I enjoy kind of like going away for the weekend and just not being on social media. Right. But I understand and can relate obviously to what he's talking about. And when you're at the level that KD is, the amount of criticism that he's getting. Brueal.

It's why like everybody can't handle it the same way. And everyone has like sometimes he fires back and I totally get that. It's just this is this, these type of. of stories are why I try to somewhat overemphasize that these are human beings. Right. And most people couldn't deal with 1% of the backlash and constant

criticism that someone like Katie, who is at the top of his game gets. And it does. It has an effect on your mental health if you don't find balance. No question. I got kids I see it every day. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. All right, my buddy, Ryan

Rosillo, the ringer. He's got a great podcast. The Ryan Rosillo podcast is joining us now brought to you by Mercedes band's the best or nothing. I got to be honest, Ryan, I sat and watched that game last night. I'm like, damn, these are good teams. Are you shocked a little? Chris Paul's gone. I'm not shocked with the Clippers because Paul George does some things Kauai does.

But Chris Paul leaves and the suns don't miss a beat. I was a little blown away by Phoenix last night. Your thoughts? Yeah, I think because we have a series missing, Kawhi and Chris Paul, then we can see competitive teams where we're like impressed by it, but there's this other level that we're just not going to see until we figure out what's happening there. So I think Phoenix hanging with a deep clippers team still makes sense because there's no Kawhi and making up for the fact that they don't have Chris Paul. But I think the

biggest thing that we've learned, even though Booker struggled last night, but going back to game one, is that Phoenix has had these odd years, Colin, where the roster had too many point cards and it didn't have any point guards. And through that, Booker, in his early development, had to play a lot of point card where he had to initiate what they were doing. So as great of a score as he is, because he can really score from so many places on the floor, he's really good at kind of understanding and getting people involved. And he actually became a screener on a lot of the action on some of the stuff. There's a bunch of plays you could see him kind of setting this back screen under big,

and that led to a bunch of their successful possessions and even the thing that ended up getting the game winner. You know, of all my friends, Ryan, you do a great job on the combine for the NBA. You go deep on it. You know these players. You know these college guys. you really know personnel. And I remember DeAndre Aiton came out. And I loved him in college.

And then after about a year, I'm like, I don't know if that works. Now I watch him and I'm like, wow. Go back to DeAndre Aiton because I remember his first year in the league. And, you know, we make these kids, hey, go be great in the NBA. I thought there was talk of like it doesn't work. He looks like an all-star to me. I mean, what do you make of him? Yeah, you're absolutely right.

And I'll give you two kind of pieces of the time. I remember being at the combine for his class, right? And I was talking to, I think it was a scout with the Spurs. And we were just like, hey, what do you think about the top of the draft? Right? The Spurs weren't. So it wasn't like they were telling me anything. So I don't want to get anybody in trouble with San Antonio here.

And I go, you know what was weird? Watching him in Arizona, he kind of was all over the place defensively. And the scout made a great point. He goes, go back and watch because they were asking him to cover for everybody else's mistakes all the time while he was in college. And he was a freshman. And you're like, oh, wow, that's why, like some people would say, oh, oh, he's getting burned, he can't switch on smaller players,

is what you always hope to have in a big, because as we've learned the last few years, these really good regular season bigs and centers, sometimes defensively, they're just eating up in the playoffs because everybody goes and attacks them and brings him further away from the basket. So with Aiton, you're like, okay, he should be able to do that. But then the problem was, I thought in beginning of the year,

offensively, and look, this is not some, hey, we were wrong, and now, you know, now he's awesome because he's always been awesome. I think his teammates lacked confidence in him. I think he may have lost a little confidence in himself offensively. But you know what he never stopped doing? He never stopped fighting. He never stopped fighting for rebounds.

He never stopped fighting defensively. If the clippers want to go small and Aiton stays out there, it's not about him scoring. It's about him beating up on everybody on the glass. And so he has become not just a guy who defensively can do a bunch of different things, but somebody that is cleaning up in some of these other possessions. And I mean, he's just better than Zubox, who isn't a terrible player.

at all. So Aiton, I think, had a dip during the regular season and is really rebounded from that in a big way. So, you know, it's, there's a lot of NBA stuff to unpack here and you've got great contacts. The Ben Simmons situation is we tend to, I mean, he played one year of college. He got hurt and he got in the NBA. He hasn't played that much basketball. And it's easy to just say, let's get rid of him. And my takeaway is, we're paying him a lot of money. He does have value. We found out you can even move a Russell Westbrook contract. You can move contracts, okay? Chris Paul, we thought it was a horrible contract.

Now he's invaluable. What do you do with Ben? I mean, to me, I said it the other day, Hollywood marriages, we think they're going to work. They're good looking. Their careers are great. And it's like sometimes you need a big fight to go, oh, this doesn't work.

They needed the Atlanta series. Because now you cannot argue, well, if you just tweak this, it's like, okay, and Bede Simmons probably doesn't work. What do you do with him? Well, Embed Simmons has never worked. Okay? So, you know, we're on year four of this topic. And the funny thing is, is Philadelphia still could have won that series.

I mean, this whole playoff season is so messed up with all the injuries in the oddity of this last kind of two years we had in the NBA. But I simply feel he could have won a title. And it didn't mean that it worked. Because when you watch when Philadelphia is running their offense, you know, there's a lot of stuff that will happen over the course of the game. But it really comes down to those last like six or seven minutes when everybody's keyed up, The scores close. And you have Ben Simmons, and I give Doc Rivers credit for this, because I've always kind of joked about Doc Rivers' offense.

He gets everybody involved, and he's not really involved. It's like fake you're involved in the offense. Ben Simmons would bring the ball over half court. They'd set some sort of screen. It'd be some kind of Seth Curry action where it was a two-man game and then beat and Seth Curry. And what you always realize on the Simmons screen is that his guy was still standing at the free throw line.

Like he was never, like, you know how you usually see four people when one guy's screen for the other because everybody's trying to figure out with the decision? With Ben Simmons, it's always three guys. Because his guy's like, I don't care. why would I go back out there? And when that happens consistently at the end of games, big playoff spots, it doesn't work. The only way Simmons works is kind of this hybrid guard center where he's surrounded by shooters. So you can't have him have the basketball on his hand the whole time when people don't respect his scoring

and when that's also clogging it up for Embed. So Embed's left with, hey, there's eight seconds left on the shot clock. You're standing in the pre-throw line facing up. Now figure it out and go do something, which I think leads to a lot of his turnovers. So, having said all those things, I think the thing you said at the top is important here. You know, the body was still warm this weekend. I mean, that was one of the most brutal social media 24 hours I've ever seen for NBA player with Ben Simmons.

And it wasn't exactly inaccurate, which is the sad part. But removing ourselves from the emotion of everybody being like Ben Simmons is the worst ever, there will be a market for him. But I don't know why you would bother bringing him back for Embed one more time. And Daryl's a really smart general manager. He's not just going to give the guy away, but to pretend on Monday that there's zero market, no one's going to have any interest because of that contract. He's still young. He's an all defensive player caliber type guy.

You just have to have a much better fit. And the Embed fit has never worked out in Philadelphia people that were emotionally attached to the idea of their success. Working out always denied it. Finally, I know this drove me nuts and it drove you really crazy because I was on Twitter last night. But I thought a lot about the Booker play in Beverly. And this is what I came to. First of all, we did not create replay for the first second. or third quarters. We have people in the NBA. Coaches get fired who lose a game seven. Players get

shoe deals based on who wins a series. You got to get it right. And it's like speed limits. 55 miles an hour on the 405 or Sillow, you and I drive 70, rush hour, there's no tickets. Move the traffic along. NBA games. I don't. I'm safe as it gets. But mostly, we're just trying to move traffic along. NBA games like soccer, they fly by. But speed limit in the school zone, you're four miles an hour over 35 to get a $500 ticket because it matters more. We created a replay, Ryan, for the last 90 seconds of these playoff games where shoe deals, coaches fired, players traded if they don't win. And so this morning it drove me nuts and I thought, okay, I got to come to terms with it. It was the right call, although it drives me nuts, your takeaway.

Terrible. Completely disagree. Replay's awful. It's always been awful. People that argue that replay gets it right, we're actually doing replay and getting it wrong. Anyone, okay, I never played in game anyone's ever cared about. But anyone that's ever played any level of basketball, if that's what we're doing now where somebody slaps it out of bounds, like if you're one of those guys that's like, well, it's kind of off Booker, the game was fine for decades, never making this call, okay? Because that also means, that means every other out of bounds play where somebody's reach. in or blocking it because if you block somebody shot, if you want to go micro processing film speed here and whatever, I'm just making up stuff, shutter speed, then it's kind of always going to be off the offensive player. So that's not the point of this. The whole thing of Repa like, oh, we just need to get it right. We're getting it wrong and we're taking too long. You just mentioned soccer, soccer, hockey. I'm a big F1 guy. You know the deal, Baku and Monaco. Yeah. Oh, yeah. hang out. The product is better than the NFL and NBA. I like the NFL and NBA better than

these other sports. But when you throw it on, you're like, all right, we're moving. We've got stuff going on. The last two minutes of that NBA game took 30 minutes, 30 minutes to actually get that call wrong. So I don't know what's up with this. Do people want more regulation? If replays got things right, I would be fine with it. But we have not, forget that play, Colin. We have plays where we see that it's actually like an offensive foul, and that's what led to the out of bounds, but we can't call the offensive foul on the replay, so we've got to do that. So I'd say get rid of all of it. It's all a massive waste of time. They're going to be mistakes. It's not about human error versus this, because the replay part of it gets it wrong, because the way the rules are structured.

We need less regulation because it's hurting the product. I don't want to sit around. I love this sport. I don't want to sit around for 30 minutes at the end of these games because it completely destroys those emotional moments that we grew up on, those tournament moments, all the NBA playoffs of all of those things that we loved about the excitement, the unpredictability, being surprised, we are eliminating that from the basketball, an actual NFL product. I mean, there's game-winning touchdowns and then you sit around for five minutes going, should I be excited or bummed out? I don't know. I can't wait. I can't wait because the emotion of, I think that was a touchdown. Wait a minute. Let me hang out. That's bad for the product. And the replay is not correct enough

for us to continue with this farce. All right. That's pretty good argument. See, that's when we have to figure out over beers. So, and chicken wings or whatever. I think the replay system was, was the conception of it was over hard liquor. Yeah. Al Capone probably had a pit in it.

Okay. Rosillo, great seeing you, buddy. Thank you. You bet. Ryan Rusillo, Ringer, Ryan Rusillo podcast. So I, you know, it is funny about, I've always had one overwhelming belief. Defund replay, we do tend to think all technology is good and all technology is not good. There are things about our phone that are damaging to young people.

I'll have more thoughts on that coming out. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller, along with my trusty sidekick, David Gascone, would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Maller show, a cult hit overnight's on FSR. Why should you listen?

Picture, if you will, a world when we chat with captains of industry in media, sports, and more every week. Explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Mather on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcast, 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got? to do a little kill. Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS. on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the

mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.

Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. If Jersey Mike's turkey had a resume, it would say it's 99% fat-free

and raised without antibiotics. But their turkey already has its dream job at Jersey Mike, premium meat make a sub above jersey mics be a sub above we were talking about replay you know it we we tend to think all technology is great and there are some downsides to technology and I've always kind of had a basic belief I like replay but it should be used very infrequently you know what I mean it's it's it's like once a year when my kids were young I'd have to yell I'd have to raise my voice and it it worked but it's something that loses its power and effectiveness, the more you yell, right? So infrequently, you have to sometimes yell, raise the volume.

And I look at replay the same way. I've always believed in the umbrella rule is that you don't use a lot of replay during the game. Both sides, both coaches get one umbrella rule replay. You can use it on anything. And what it does, you can use it like three minutes left or four minutes left, NFL, NBA. and is to be used, not like last night, but on an egregiously bad call. And that's it, the umbrella rule. It covers everything.

You can use it for anything your discretion. You get one and it can only be used at the end of a game. Now, you could argue you could use it anytime during a game and I think most coaches would try to save it. But if you wanted to use it all games, you just get one, the umbrella rule. And you can do holding, you can do all. You can do anything you want that way. So there, that's my first thought. My second thought is all replay is 30 seconds.

If in 30 seconds, it shuts down. We got tech. Now, you create replays. In 30 seconds, networks can't show it. You go to your network partners and say, after 30 seconds, don't, it's over. You can't show it. We don't show it. Because if you have to go past 30, then it's not an egregious mistake.

It's the Devin Booker thing. Now, under the current system we have, I'm for, getting it right on Devin Booker. Like, just get it right. And Rosillo's got a great argument. I think mine's solid. But I think there's almost always a solution. To me, it's always been, we don't want it to be used a lot.

Nobody that created technology and replays was hoping for last night. So just create the umbrella rule. And then 30 seconds, boom, we're out. If you can't see it in 30, then it's just it. You're talking about fingernail stuff. You have to inspect line off shoe over the three. It's just a game. We all make mistakes.

We all live with it. Hour one in the books. Hour two 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. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

It was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.