The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for Aug 21, 2020

Episode Date: August 21, 2020

Doug Gottlieb filling in for ColinThe Lakers will win because of their defenseLeBron James' age is starting to showDez Bryant not signing with the Ravens should tell you somethingGuest: 3-Time NBA Champion Mario Elie 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 IHard 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 Clifers 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 I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's 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. 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. Thanks for listening to the best of 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. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. What up?

Welcome in. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be making it as part of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlie filling in for Colin Cowherd who claimed to, he's on a boat, he's on a boat, he's on a boat, he's on a boat, he's on a boat. I'm sure there will be a wake surfing video in the very near future, a not so humble brag. from our fearless leader. Colin Calhurt.

All right, I got a lot to get to. NBA ratings down. I have some, I have some hypotheses. I think it's very important that we point out hypotheses. That is those of us who paid attention in science class. I can't remember much anything, right? I don't know the sign for boron from the, was it the scientific table?

Is that what it's called? Right? But what I do know is I do know there's a difference. a hypothesis and a theory, right? A hypothesis is something that has yet to be proven. A theory is one, a hypothesis that has on some level been proven scientifically to be, to be accurate. So this is more of a hypotheses and stuff. I have thoughts on the NBA ratings.

Let's begin with this. The L.A. Lakers completely and thoroughly dominate the Portland Trailblazers. and the dude in me wants to go, ha, told you so, see! When I told Colin that Portland would be too gassed and that they didn't have a match up for Anthony Davis or for LeBron James, I was right. You know, I almost feel like the bad guy in Scooby-Doo,

and I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for those meddling kids. But then I stop and I take a breath and I try and figure out, All right, but what is the real takeaway? And I honestly, I watched a lot of basketball yesterday. And again, this is part of my hypotheses for why NBA ratings year to year are down, even on ESPN. Right. And the hypothesis basically goes like this. Basketball's on all the time.

Right? It's on all the time. And so there isn't the, there is, there just isn't the level of intensity normally reserved for the playoffs. There isn't anything special. It's not only on at night. Like literally basketball is on all the time, which is great for those of us, ball guys. And we can watch all the time. But for mainstream America, there just isn't the same sense of urgency when it's on every night.

and there's just game after game, and it's really kind of hard to tell the difference between the playoffs and the regular season, or even than the scrimmages. It literally looks exactly the same. But one of the things that has happened in the bubble happens in the regular season, and frankly, it's happened a lot in sports, mostly in basketball, is our infatuation with offensive stats. offensive stats. Stats can tell the story and especially to people who haven't watched a basketball game or haven't watched the basketball game, but they need some context. The perfect example is LeBron James, who in the first game statistically was dominant. But in the fourth quarter, there were several times in which he deferred and it was obvious

that he had to take over. what I find fascinating about yesterday, and I'll say this about Milwaukee and about Houston, but mostly about the LA Lakers, is I do feel like so many people are missing it. You have to play to your strengths, right? You got to play to your strengths. It's no different yesterday is National Radio Day. Right. What I always, what are my strengths? Hey, I believe that I'm one of the best interviewers in radio. those are my strengths. I know what my weaknesses are. I won't share them with you, but we also won't do them.

Collins' strengths are, he has really strong opening segments, a lot of really interesting business metaphors. I have some of that. It's not as strong as Collins. That's why he plays to those strengths. You listen to Fox Sports Radio and different shows are portrayed differently, right?

Play to your strengths. The number one thing I learned when I was trying to play professional basketball and if I could have if I could do it again when I played coming out of college my reputation of a guy who couldn't shoot and so you know what I set off to do proved to everybody I could shoot.

Do you know what that was? Mistake. That's what amateurs do. Amateurs try to prove to you that the scatter report you have on them is completely wrong whereas professionals go like, yeah, okay. I can't shoot. Every once in a while I'll knock down an open one.

but there's no reason I can't make a ton of plays without shooting. Play to your strengths. That's what pros do. And what is the strength of this L.A. Lakers team? It's not three-point shooting. I think that's been made obvious. Right? What's lost in the palaver about does LeBron have it anymore?

And I think, you know, I'm going to play for you a cut in a second that does kind of explain what it's like to be in your mid-30s trying to compete with guys in their 20s and earlier 30s that haven't played as much basketball as he's played aren't as big a body as he is. But forget LeBron's scoring. The Lakers have the best record in the Western Conference, which it's in arguable.

It's a tougher conference than the Eastern Conference, right? And it may not be at its peak this year because Golden State chose not to really compete. Pete because the spurs are in transition because, you know, Prisengis hadn't played in a year and a half and Luca is just in his second year. Like they're not yet there, but they're close. You can see Phoenix starting to figure it out, but it took them, you know, having three months off and in the bubble to the when they finally kind of figured out.

The pelicans feel like they may be a year or two away from having full Zion. So the West is not what it's been or what it may well be, but it's still pretty damn good. Right? They had the best record in the West. Why? Why? The whole year they haven't been able to shoot. That hasn't changed.

The whole year, LeBron James has been up and down in terms of his burst athletically. The whole year they struggle with Anthony Davis finishing games and being aggressive in the fourth quarter. Danny Green has looked like the oldest man on earth all year. Kyle Kuzman's been up and down. How has the, how could they possibly have the best wreck in the West? What's their strength? Ha ha! The defense.

They've been the best defensive team in the NBA. And while, yeah, they lost Damien Lillard to get a couple deep threes and they got confused and Mello hit a couple. And C.J. McCullum hit some shots. They're just amazing in game one. The fact is that in spite of that late barrage by the Portland Trailblazers and the win by the Blazers, the Blazers who won a score in the 120 scored 100 points. And last night it was 88. we do this thing where you only play well,

you only play well by anybody's estimation if the stats say you scored a bunch of points and had a bunch of assists. And if you throw in some rebounds, meaningful or meaningless, it doesn't really matter. That's what we care about. But what's the truth? The truth is, if the other team doesn't score,

none of your inaptitude actually matters. It just doesn't. None of your inaptitude matters. and I sit here and look at the Lakers, and I feel like so many people are missing, what they did last night is the reason that they were the one seed. It's the same thing that it's what's been lacking with Houston, and granted they were playing a very young Oklahoma City team,

but if you watch that game in the fourth quarter, they decided they're not going to score. And that's what happened with the Milwaukee Bucks, who have been an elite defensive team. Yes, did Yannis get it going early, Did they get out to a big lead? And they had Orlando on their hill. Sure, all of that can be true.

But we say this all the time. Colin and I, in the NFL, you're not going anywhere unless you got a top 10 defense. And in the NBA, the truth about the Warriors during their championship run and when they won 73 games, they were the best, analytically, they were the best defensive team in the NBA. When that fell apart, so too did the Warriors. So two did the Warriors. All right. We got a bunch to get to today.

Bunch to get to today. Coming up next, I'm going to give you my thoughts. My thoughts on exactly what's going to happen. Exactly what's going to happen tonight with the LA Clippers. 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 IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. Yep, that's me, Clifford 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 where you need to be. 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. 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 with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. 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.

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 on day, but just so y'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 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 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, or 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 hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app, Search learning a hard way and listen now.

Speaking of getting the dub, this is LeBron James on why it's so much harder to get dubs in the playoffs this year. I've had some great teammates in my career. AD is one of those unicorns, and he does things that some of my other great teammates are not capable of doing. But in the same sense,

I play with Dwayne Wade, and he could do some things that, you know, the AD is not capable of doing. And I also play with Kyrie Irvin. He can do some things that D. Wade, and AD is not capable of doing. able to do it. So I've had the luxury of playing with some great players. And that's just, that's just three of them. That's just three of them. He went on to say that this is,

this season is like three seasons. And while I, I understand the logic behind it, with LeBron going like, hey, man, it's been a lot three seasons. Like, you know, you're trying to turn around a franchise. You have a new coach. You finally, finally got it going. They were the best team in the NBA before it shut down, then it shuts down. Then you got a fire back up. Then you got training camp again. Then he got like, pre-stead. season games again, then games, now playoffs. It feels like three seasons, but I actually don't think it necessarily feels that weighty for other guys.

That's your mid-30s. Wait to get to your 40s, right? You're like, man, I used to dominate that. I used to crush that. Like, yeah, dude, now you're in your mid-30s. I used to play all day. When we're kids and you're a basketball player, like I grew up playing in a place Miles Square Park in Fountain Valley, California.

my dad would get me up we'd go and play and I was little so to get in like I was like 13 years old like 12 years old and he would take me to mile square he'd call a game he'd get me in a game and they'd watch you play a little bit and then he'd leave me when after the first game he'd coach me up and he'd leave me five bucks and I'll be back later and then you know I go across the street get a slice of pie or two and a gatorade it was like 250 do that a couple times today just stay there and play ball and you could run on you I mean how many time when you're a kid you can run on fumes on anything and try that in your 30s or your 40s you're like oh my god I can't believe I played on cement I can't believe that I try to eat a hot dog and a coke and play basketball how did I do

this is just different it's just different you play three games in your 40s your 30s and it feels like six games you play three games when you're in your teens your 20s it feels like a warm up So I do think that all of this stress, all of the season and whatever, it's probably more taxing on everybody, but especially taxing when you've been doing it for 17 years and you're LeBron James and you're carrying 260 pounds of pure muscle. I think it's a lot. And I think there are times of which he's exhausted. And that's why he can't be his regular dominant self.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9-8-8. am Pacific. Doug Gottlieb, in for Colin. This is the herd on Fox Sports Radio. John Middlecalf will join us next hour. Three and out is his podcast. All ball is my podcast. He does football.

I do hoop. You can call us. I have a calling number. Colin is a calling number? 800-292-5-150. Sure, what the hell? I don't know. Will I really answer it?

Somebody don't answer. I don't know if I'll put you on, but I'll give it to you. Saw somebody tweet me. They're going to play golf at Miles Square Park. Miles Square Park is exactly what you think. It is a square mile. Middle of Fountain Valley, California. Why do they call it miles?

Because it's a square mile, which is a big, big-ass park in the middle of Orange County. Before they actually built a park called the Great Park. It was pretty great park, but just not called the Great Park. Anyway. Middle Cough, Mario Ellie is going to join us. Mario Ellie's going to join us?

I'm not sure I know the story. of him blowing the kisses every time he hits the three. Mario Ellie, Rocket's hero, former USBL alum, will join us later on the show. I want to get to this. So Des Bryant went and worked out for the Baltimore Ravens. Now, I understand, look, Baltimore is not just talented, but they're loaded up with talent that fits their quarterback and their system.

And I thought Colin, like, look, we joke about. about Colin sometimes saying things, which is like, yeah, you got to just got to roll with it. Sometimes he sees things in sports who don't see. I thought his analogy, and I sent him a text, like, this is really, like, it was really strong. He compared Janice and Lamar Jackson, and I thought that was brilliant. Now, my thinking is similar. Like, he's like, well, you can't get, either guy can get behind in the playoffs. True. And, but why is that? Because Janus lacks that one primary skill. The worst thing he does is the thing you may need most to win at the highest level, which is shooting the basketball. Shooting the basketball. The same thing goes for Lamar Jackson,

which is the one thing you need to do best is probably the weakest part of his game, which is throwing a football, consistently, accurately, just snap it to him, you know, read, read it, throw somebody open. Don't get me wrong. Hollywood Brown takes off the top of a defense. And their use of tight ends so he can throw inside the numbers is fantastic. And obviously they can run the football because he's a freak athlete and they have a stable of good running backs and an outstanding offensive line. But the reason that people were down on Lamar Jackson is not just what you see in the playoffs. You still see it rear its head in the regular season, which is there are just times in which he lacks normal accuracy. He's obviously improved

but there's just a wild scud throw. A lot of times he goes through his progressions and maybe it's his fundamentals which have improved. I don't know. But there are just some wild misses. So when there was talk about Antonio Brown joining the Ravens, I was like, yo, that ain't going to work. Antonio Brown is a lot of things.

And I think he's a incredible talent. Yes, he's a pain in the ass out the field. And yes, he's suspended half the year. And you're going to have to just hold your breath and hope he doesn't, you know, defame the name of your franchise. but he's a freak talent at wide receiver. The problem is that Antonio Brown has gotten more targets than anyone else in the NFL, I believe three of the past four years.

Obviously last year he couldn't. Like he's a 150 target a year guy. And that's not how the Ravens play. So they brought in Des Bryant, which does make sense because you're like, hey, what if if Des Bryant's going to get back into league, it's going to have to be like Anquan Bolden. You know, Bolton, his knee in college. I think he heard his knee in the pros. Like, Bolden couldn't run, but he's brilliant

as a football player. He was big, strong, tough, competitive, and he became a really good blocker. More than anything, he was just an old head who you could throw it to or not throw it to. He just kind of, he just kind of did his job and stuck in the league. Like, remember, Anquan Bolden walked away from the league like a year and a half ago for social justice reform, not because he had to, because he's like, I'm kind of done with this. I want to, he was with the bills. He wanted to do something else. And I think that's how Des wants to reinvent himself

and I think that's smart. But when you go and work out for the Ravens and they're like, that was a really good work. That was a heck of a workout. Wait, are you going to offer a contract? No, no, no, we just, it was a really good workout. It was a really good workout.

Yeah, that doesn't bode well for for Des Ryan with the Ravens, right? When you don't, you want them to come out and go like, that was awesome. Sign this paper. and we want you on the Ravens today. Look, it's good for Des to put himself out there, and it shows he's not trying to be coming,

going back to being, you know, the highest paid, the best widers. He just wants to play football. I get it. But it also on some levels, on some level, doesn't look good. Doesn't look good when you're Des Bryant, and they don't offer you a deal.

I don't know if the Ravens really need. another guy. They obviously just want to kick the tires on guys, but I think does at least a better fit than Antonio Brown. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.

Last night, the Lakers thumped, and I mean thumped the Portland Trailblazers. Now, look, it's just one game. We cannot freak out, right? Like the, like just like we can't freak out with one loss, you can't freak out with one win. You know, you can't say, well, because Portland won game one series over Portland's better. The same is, you know, the same is actually true when the result is the opposite. So I look at and, you know, you can go and look these stats up.

They're readily, readily available in terms of offensive statistics, defensive statistics. You know, it's fascinating to me how we kind of lose sight of what makes a team special. Right. Like what makes you can, in fact, break you, but you have to, on many levels, fall back on what you do best. that's the key to being a professional. That's the true key to being a professional is pros. And this is how it was described to me in basketball, but I think you can use it in your job as well,

which is, to me, the key to being a professional, all right? Key to being a professional is pros do what they do well. Amateurs, well, they just try and, you know, they just try and prove you. wrong and prove everything you have as a scanner report to be somehow incorrect. And well, that's not going to work out well for you. The Lakers in the regular season are the best analytically, you know, if you look at

defensive, general defensive advanced statistics, right, they're the best, best defensive team in the Western Conference. So when you look at the Lakers, so many times we freaked out because LeBron didn't look to score late in the game. Danny Green couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. They don't have Avery Bradley who would become a vital weapon, both ends, but finally shooting the basketball well. He'd been a bit good defender all year, but it was finally making shots, you know, before he called it a year because of his fears of COVID. All right. So I look at this and I'm telling you that what you saw from the Lakers last night is that's who they are.

They're just a very, very good defensive team. Very good defensive team. And while their ratings have dropped a little bit since they've been in the bubble, generally, okay, they're number three overall in the NBA, number one in the Western Conference in defensive rating. Only the Bucks and the Raptors are better. But the Lakers for the season, for the 71 games they played,

are a better defensive team statistically than the Clippers. And then the next closest team in the West is the Utah Jazz. Or excuse me, the Oklahoma City Thunder than the Utah Jazz. So the story of game one was, man, the Lakers can't shoot. I'm not sure if you guys have been paying attention, but the Lakers haven't been able to shoot all. year. Well, how the hell they win all those games? Well, Anthony

Davis is just better and LeBron James is just better and they stop people. And I'm going to give somebody credit who I think had the right thought, just terrible execution. Magic Johnson.

Right? Do you remember what Magic Johnson said two years ago when they were putting together a team with LeBron James and you're like those are some really weird pieces? Let's go get Rondo. and let's go get this guy. Let's bring back KCP and you're like, what? And his thing was, hey, nobody plays good defense.

We'll be the best defensive team. Now, their execution wasn't great because, and look, Danny Green can't hit a broad side of a barn. He's not the defender used to be, but the idea of Danny Green is much better than the idea of what they were thrown out there previously. But Avery Bradley fits that if he's playing. Like all of their,

Rondo's like their worst defensive. guard, but he at least reputation-wise has a good reputation defensively better than actually how he plays. Javelle McGee and Dwight Howard, you're like, why do they have these guys? Because they rebound and play defense and block shots. The thing about basketball is they actually allow you to try and stop the other team from scoring. I know, I know.

It's a really hard one because most guys who cover the NBA now, they're like, well, how many points do he have? How many assists he had? How many rebounds he had? well then he played well that's not actually how it works not actually how it works and and you know i we work in a business where i remember the first job i got nationally um i was hired by a man named dan stear now works for nbc sports dan was really really long time college basketball producer when vital was at his peak dan was in his ear he's his producer dan hired me eventually and

Fran Faschilla the same year. And his thing was like, look, man, tell me why. Don't tell me what. I can see what. Tell me why. Right. He also used to say, if you told a story once in a game broadcast, you didn't tell it. People aren't, people watching the second half,

didn't watch in the first half, et cetera, et cetera. You can't tell it enough. And, I'll never assume. That was a big thing. Never assume. All of these things you know, kind of resonated with me, you know, to have an opinion and to tell me why and all of these things. But, you know, like, listen, he really, really pushed you to not use cliches. Don't use a cliche. But, you know, sometimes cliches are cliches for a reason. Like, it's a cliche, like we use cliche. Cliche is kind of like the word mediocre.

The word mediocre isn't actually a bad word. If you say, how is that, your wife makes you a meal, how is the meal? Honey, it was mediocre. Mediocre means average. But if you hear the word mediocre, like, man, mediocre, well, thank you. Yeah, I slaved all day in the hot stove and made you eggplant parm and mediocre. Like, no, no, mediocre's average. I didn't say it was below average.

I didn't say it was dog food. I didn't say it was kibble. I didn't say, you know, you could, you, you only take out this garbage. you cooked it, you take it out. I didn't say that. I just said it's mediocre, it's average. Clices the same thing. A phrase or opinion that is overused

and doesn't have and betrays lack of original thought. Sometimes though cliches are, when the going gets tough, the tough do get going. And defense does in fact win championships. It just does. You don't believe me? What if I proved it to you?

Yeah, what if I, what have I proved it to you? You know? I mean, look, the teams, you're not winning anything without a top five defense in football and in basketball. Last year's champion, the Toronto Raptors.

The Toronto Raptors. Granted, they were helped out by Golden State getting injured. When the Golden State Warriors were peak Golden State Warriors, they were the best or second best defensive team in the league. That's the truth. Analytically speaking, their defensive ratings have always been off the chart. How have the San Antonio Spurs been able to somehow make the playoffs, not this year,

as their talent got depleted. Why? They were the best defensive team to leave. And we were waiting on the L.A. Lakers to find themselves. They have. They got to get Anthony Davis to carry them offensive when LeBron cannot and score just enough points to win. and the defense we can, the defense can happen every night. LeBron can't carry you every night.

Anthony Davis doesn't seem to be able to carry you every night, but the defense can keep you in every game so that it keeps you around for if LeBron and Anthony Davis can hit big shots. That's the working theory or hypotheses or whatever you want to call. That honestly was Magic Johnson's plan. Look, Magic didn't know what he was talking about sometimes and he didn't have a great plan with coach and execution and personnel. And I get it.

But it was what Magic said. Like, you know, and the cliche is true. You ain't went anything on a defense. So I watched last night and I could go into, well, LeBron doesn't play well. Or he doesn't play well offensively. Or Damien Liller dislocates his finger. Or was it Portland? Are they out of gas?

Probably some. Is the Lakers making adjustments? Probably some. I think that coaching staff is wildly underrated. They've done an excellent job this year. But I also think they just got, they continued. on with who they are. Hey man, the shots are going to go in or they're not going to go in. But you know what? We can stop them. That's what we are actually built for. That's why we

were the best team defensive rating wise in the West this year, third best in the NBA, to Portland and Milwaukee, right? Two other elite teams. And that's why we can win championship. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard 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 what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford 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 where you need to be. 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 a 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 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 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, 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, Keer 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? 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 personal. on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. All right, let me work in Mario Ellie, who joins us in the herd. Men, are you feeling okay?

Neither am I. If you're not ready to give up, you want to feel more energized and lean, try MDrive. Check it out at mDrive for men.com. That's MDrive for Men.com. Mario Ellie, two-time NBA champion, long-time NBA assistant coach, joins us in the herd. Mario, what's this like for you, a guy who you grinded your way to the NBA to becoming NBA champion, then you're a coach this time of year, usually Summer League or actually Summer League over, and now it's kick it.

You got playoff games on at all hours of the day. What are your thoughts on how the bubble is playing out? That great introduction, my man. I'm just super excited. I'm just super excited. Gritos to the NBA for doing an outstanding job with that creation. creativity and their idea. I mean, I think it's going on maybe a month or a half, two months with no positive

tests. The games have been outstanding. I think it's wide open to win the championship because there's really no fans there. It's just like a unified AAU tournament. And whoever's hot at that time to me can go far. You mentioned the Rockets, their defense, the first two games have been amazing. Amazing. That's what I've been looking for, especially when you have.

have a small lineup. If you have a small lineup, you got to get out there. Get out of regard, really switch aggressively. Yep. And they just load into the ball. I mean, their defense to me has been the difference in their first two games. I completely agree with you. And I am a, I am somebody that says like, because Dan Tony has never, like I was told when he's in New York, they didn't even have defensive drills, right? Like, because he's just, that's not what he's been about.

When your head coach isn't, you can say him about defense, but unless you are, and the guy you don't fool guys. But like one of the things, first of all, PJ Tucker is just a warrior, right? Like he just outplays people. But I think what they've done smartly with Hardin is you want to, he's actually a decent post-defendant. And that's where they've kind of tried to hide him defensively.

And frankly, not having Russell Westbrook, who athletically should be a great defender, but isn't really, all of that has made them better defensively. Boy, Doug, and you're right. James Hardin has even taken charges. I love this skis. they're allowing OKC to shoot the three. They're really playing boxes and elbows.

And the thing that's disappointed to me with OKC, they can't attack the switches. And why do you have Stephen Adams at the free throw line catch? I don't know. I don't know. Put him at the block every time. Exactly. And throw him the ball.

But, man, he's... Why do you have him coming off staggered screens? The rockets are switching anyway. his mismatch is on the post. I just, I mean, I know Billy Donovan got coached you to hear, but I'm like, PJ Tucker last hour, I remember it's 6, 5, 6, 6, 6, Stephen Adams is 7 foot, maybe close to 300 pounds,

and you have him catching the ball at the free throw line. Then you're on the same page, Doug. Put Adams down low way. He's around the basket constantly, where he can get tippins, offensive rebounds, and he has a nice little box game, so I'm trying to figure when who Casey is don't. Well, I'll give you the opposite side to it.

okay, is the one of the things you and I both know, when you play small, you get away with a little bit more. You can be a little bit more physical. And the other part, and the two other parts to it is, one, Stephen Adams, as big as he is, he's never really been refined as score. Like he just has not developed that part of his game. And I don't know how much, you know, so oftentimes now guys are trying to develop

the ability to shoot the three, which he can't. But he's just, he just misses far too many easy ones. But then the last thing is, and I do believe this to be true, like, the thing that hurts Oklahoma City the most is Chris Paul is a great pick and roll point guard. Like he's as good at using the ball screen as anybody who's ever done it. But because Adams isn't really a roller and because they're just switching and they got guards, it kind of takes away what Chris Paul does best. So some of that is because of the scheme, some of that is because Stephen Adams just couldn't score even if you locked him in the gym. worried about the Rockets in the early rounds. I worry about when they, I don't know who they play in the second round

and see the Lakers or Clippers, I'm not sure. But you got medium to big guys on both those teams who can take advantage of mismatches. You got Anthony Davis and LeBron. You try to switch on them. They're going to punish you whether it's pass or kicking out. And then you got the Clippers, Zubox. Zubox can do stuff around the basket,

Montreal's Harrow can, Kewa, Beasts, don't matter who you switch on them. He can take you to the box. He can face your... And Paul George also. I'm with you, Doug. With OKC, they have limitation. They don't have good shooting.

And you write about Stephen Adams. He's not fresh around the box. He's just... You give it to him under there. He just goes up because he's big and stronger than you. He really doesn't have a box game. But as you go deeper into the playoffs, you got bigs who are going to punish you for these switches.

No, no question. What do you think about the Lakers? my general takeaway is like people are freaking out about the lack of shooting. They haven't shot it well all year and you take Avery Bradley off the team. We shouldn't be surprised. But what they have done well, they've actually done well in both games, which is defend. That's their calling card. But is it enough for you to win big if they can't shoot?

Yes, because you got two of the top five players in the NBA. I get tired of all these people on TV. Say LeBron need help. He doesn't need no help. You got Anthony Davis and you. two of the top five guys in the NBA. And that's what I want to see for Anthony Davis, being active around the goal, attacking,

not selling for jump shot, getting to the line, a big impact on defense. And you mentioned the Lakers are a solid defensive team. Granted, Howard, and McGee don't give you the offense, but they do give you the basket protection and the rebounding for extra possession. When you give good teams second possession

and at the end of day, they're going to make you pay. Yeah, they absolutely are. What's wrong with the Clippers? The Clippers were supposed to be this deep team, great defensive team. Granted, haven't had Patrick Beverly, but they're just getting torched by Luca. Luca's a special player, and I'm mad that he wasn't on the MVP ballot. I sort of paid attention to him when he was at Barcelona overseas. A lot of my friends looked at me crazy.

I said, this man should go number one. He should be the number one pick. Vladi Divak will still have his job if he would pick Luca at that spot. The kid is special. You know, Doug, I don't know if he played overseas. I did. If you're special, they get you at 15 years old,

and you're playing grownups like Tony Parker. They got Tony Parker, all these guys overseas who play professionally young. So when they come to the NBA, these guys are ready to go. Luca ain't missed a step when he came from Barcelona to the NBA. Now that Rick Carlisle, who's one of the better coaches in the league,

puts the ball in his hand. And his vision and his decision-making is second-to-none. Now, I put him up there with Magic and LeBron. His vision, when he goes in the paint, he knows where everybody is at on the floor. And him or Prazingis are pretty good. That was my surprise team in the West. I had Toronto and Dallas,

because those two guys are very good players. And you mentioned in the pick and roll, I mean, Prozingis, Popperny. can roll, he can mess with it. He's got Seth Curry playing some good ball. I mean, they're a dangerous team, even though I think the clippers will end up beating them, but it's not going to be easy. I mentioned you played in Ireland, Portugal, and the USBL.

Give me your best story. Give me your kind of go-to. You can tell me on the radio story. I'll share with you. Oh, man. Ireland, Doug. Ireland. Go.

We'll practice once a week with my teammates drink on warm pine. and Guinness at 11.30 in the morning. The bar is packed. People are just getting hammered over there in Ireland. All times of the day. Great teammates, great people. I just remember my teammates after practice. Hey, Mary, let's go

to the pub and have a warm pine and Guinness. That's what we would do. We end up being there maybe three or four hours longer than we expected but just fun, great people. I had an outstanding time out there. And I want people to go out there and visit Island. People are great. Dublin's great. Cork, Belfast. Just an amazing country. Just had a blast. But just the drinking, though, Doug. These people drink all the time. The pub is packed all the time. And you rarely see accidents out there. So I had a blast. That was my first European experience playing. And the people were great. I had just a great time.

Okay. Can I give you my best USBL story? Is that okay? Yes, absolutely. Okay. So I'm playing this is in 2000. I'm playing. What team are you playing with that? It's the Oklahoma Storm. Oklahoma Storm. Brian Gates, who's an NBA assistant, was our head coach.

Oh, Brian Gates? That's a good friend of mine. Yeah, he's great, dude. He's got some, you have triplets, and I think he has triplets as well. I think there's... We both have triplets, yeah. See, I'm pretty good at what I do. So, B. Gates is our coach, and we had some gems on this team, right?

We had Willie Burton. Okay? Oh, Lord. Willie was I mean just a professional score. We had Willie Burton We had Gosh, what's my man's

name? He played at Louisville. He gave Jordan like 31 and then Jordan gave him 31 the next The Bradford Smith. We had LeBradford Smith. We had LeBradford Smith. We had some dudes on this thing. Okay. So we play one night

in D.C. Okay. And in D.C. it was nuts. We had, Darren McClinton was another, it was the other point guard. He was from D.C. A couple of the other guys were from D.C. So it was, we played at George Washington University. He was wild. It was like something out of a and one mixtape. Dude's running out in the floor. Right. So we go back to the hotel like, hey, we got a game tomorrow night in Philadelphia against Daryl Dawkins team, the Philadelphia dogs, right? Valley dogs. So like, all right. So all of a sudden, Brian Gates wakes us up with a phone call and the drive from D.C. to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Lehigh University. where they played was, I think, like, two hours.

We get a phone call like eight, like panic. Like, hey, the game's at 11. We're like, what? Yeah, the games at 11 is to get like summer camps in to see the game, whatever. We got to go. So we all come downstairs. We get our stuff. It's like 815.

We roll out. We go to Bethlehem PA. We roll in. Now we, this is 2000. I had not yet taken home. I don't know if Starbucks existed then or didn't. Duncan Don't. Nobody eating.

So we're like, hey, yo, we got to get something to eat. We got to go play. this game. And the place is packed with a bunch of, you know, little kids that are in summer camp and they're whistling and they're yelling and throwing it anyway. So they bring in Snickers bars, hot dogs, and coax from the concession stand to feed us for the game. Now, it'd been a long time since I had a Coke and a hot dog and played hoop, but everybody's done it when they're growing up. All right, fine. We go out, we win the game. We come back afterwards and we're flying out that night from Philadelphia, and we got to get our per diem, which in the USBL at the time was

$25 a day. And I kid you not, Mario Ellie, that I look into my envelope for my per diem, and there's like $8, $18 and $75. And I was like, yo, where's my $25? They're like, well, you had $25, but then you had a Snickers and two hot dogs and a Coke before the game, and so we took that out of it. I was like, what? Wow.

That is not exactly NBA per diem stuff that you lived on. We did the same when I was with the Albany Petrus. We got stuck in Chicago, and we were flying to play Grand Rapids. So we got there hour and a half before the game. And we're busy eating at the concession stand, just like you did. They're making hot dogs for us, nachos, coat. So we had that before the game. And just like you, Doug, we went on and kicked a bar by 20 after eating hot dogs and nachos.

for the game, man. CBA, USBL, it's all the same story. It is all the same story. You're famous for your kiss of death after making big threes, part of two NBA championship teams. Marielli joining us. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is the herd.

What? Oh, three championship teams, sorry. But two with the rockets, but famously, like, making threes. Obviously, you would be a great player today because your ability to guard multiple positions and make shots and just kind of space the floor. But what is that like? Like, like, I wasn't. a shooter and you see and now guys are shooting

at such an unbelievable clip but what is it like in the playoffs to be sitting there knowing when it comes to you, you're open, you're supposed to step in and make it how do you process the emotions of it taking me back to when you were a player? Just put

parks in New York thinking of magic 5, 4, you know, envision in that, trusting the work and it also helps Doug when you play with one of the top 50 greatest in the world and Akeem Elijah won. He allowed all of us to get open shots because he couldn't be guarded one-on-one. Rudy

implemented that offense when we all came saying, myself, Robert, the four-in and one out. I mean, the one-in and four-out. So, Dream was that one guy. She didn't double him. He was going to get 50 or 60 points. He was back there. So

when you doubled him, we had our spacing great. It was either me, Maxwell, Kassel, Kenny Smith, or Robert already just out there salivated. waiting for the ball to come out. Because we know once Dream gets off to a good start, they're going to send a double.

So we're in all our positions. So if it goes to me, they close out to me. I'm swinging. If they don't close out to me, I'm shooting. So we had a great system. And Dream was the key part of that system because he would punish the offense because you couldn't guard him one-on-on-one.

So once they doubled, our spacing was great. And Dream was a willing passer at that time. He trusted his teammates. So he would kick it out to us. And we didn't want to let him down. And then that kiss of death you mentioned, Doug, it was Danny Ains doubled off me in the back court because we were holding the ball for the last shot. So I shoot to the corner. They're not leaving Clyde.

Robert flashes to half court. So it's me in the corner, Danny Shays and Elijah won. So I get the ball. And I know Danny Shays are not leaving drink. So I'm a set shooter. So I got time to set my feet. And when Danny Shays saw me about to release the shot, he closed out a little too late. And as a shooter, Doug, me and your shooters, you know when you shoot a shot and you know it feels good and it's going to go in.

So everything about that shot felt good, did nothing but the bottom of the net, looked at my buddy Joe Klein. We've been blowing kisses to each other since game five. And of course, I got the last kiss called the kiss of death. Just basketball question. Did you watch the ball or do you watch the hoop? What was your, what was your mom? I was watching the ball. The rotation was great.

I didn't want to Kauai Leonard that hit the rim nine times before going. I wanted a nice all-nettor. And it did go all-nett. And it was funny after I made the shot, I really didn't feel my teammates jumping on me. I was so caught up in the moment with Joe Klein, staring at him and blowing him to kiss of death. And I watched the video, Sam, Robert, everybody's jumping on me. But I really just locked in at the moment of Joe Klein over there mad as hell. and turning red after I made the shot.

When we obviously you played in the Jordan area, you coached in the LeBron era. There are some that believe like LeBron, game one, a little passive down the stretch, right? Like driving in and looking to kick out. Do you hold that against him, that sometimes he's passive as opposed to Jordan, who is seen as the ultimate alpha. Now, Jordan, in order to win championships, as those of us who remember, he actually had to learn to pass, whereas LeBron seemed to have to learn to take over. but do you hold it against LeBron

that there are times in which he's passive in terms of scoring? I do. And that's to me the difference in the two players is the mentality. I'm Jordan all day as the greatest of all time, competed against him, guarded him plenty of times. Love LeBron. He's on my all-time fine. But when you're alpha dog, Doug,

and your team needs you to just ratchet it up, I got to go with Michael Jordan because Michael Jordan knows how to dig deep, deep, deep in his soul, whether he's sick, whether he's hurt, whether he's had a bad game, he just goes to a place where I see no other players go, where he's just so mentally tougher than everybody. And that's my thing with LeBron. LeBron got all the skills, 6-9, 250, just graceful, don't miss games.

But it's the mentality that, to me, Joe had never been to a game seven in the playoffs, I think, in the finals, they said. Yeah. That's pretty amazing to me going against magic, bird and all this great talent back in those days. But to me, I have to go with Jordan. I love LeBron. To me, he'll do whatever it take to win.

You know, LeBron, to me, is just nice. Okay, I got the shot, but this guy got a better shot, so I'm going to give it to him. No. If it's the shot, Jordan don't care who's open unless he gets double and triple team. He's going to take that shot. And sometimes, yeah, it's a great point.

Mario, great stuff, man. Awesome to catch up. Love to do it in person. The meantime. Thanks to meet you, Mr. Hurt. Thanks, Doug. Keep up to good work, buddy. All right. The pleasure is all mine. Three-time NBA champion, of course. Kiss of Death author.

Mario Ellie. Ireland, Portugal, USBL, to CBA to NBA, to NBA. This is crazy. Crazy. 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, Nell'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 super. 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 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 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. On the Look Back at a podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam Jay. 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. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.