The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd’s Instant Reaction -  Nuggets/Heat Finals Game 2

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

Colin and Hoops Tonight host Jason Timpf give their instant reaction to the Heat stealing Game 2 on the road to take back home court advantage as the Finals moves down to Miami for Game 3. They discuss the narrative that Denver would roll through Miami, if the Heat can win the series, and which offseason additions would make Miami a 2024 juggernaut.  Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Herd #VolumeSee 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Clivert 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 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. The volume. Hi, everybody, and welcome in. It is great to be back. I had a long siesta. I went with my son to Iceland. It was his dream trip. I asked him, I said, where do you want to go?

Dad will take you as you get ready for college. And he's picked Iceland. and it was it was absolutely wonderful and we got about 45 minutes tonight we're going to do 30 to 35 minutes with Jason Temf of hoops tonight we're going to have a breakdown he's fantastic by the way I will say this about because I don't take a lot of weak vacations but I found as I've gotten older I sort of prune my trees my sports tree I have five things I love. I love the NFL.

I love major college football. I love the NBA playoffs. I love the World Cup. And I love a great UFC fight. I'm going to go to early July. I'm going to go to a UFC card with friends. I love those five things. I like March Madness.

I don't love it because I don't think the quality of college basketball is nearly as good as it was 15 to 20 years ago when the great players stayed for two, three and four years. I really like March Madness. I really like a great baseball playoff game on October. But I'm not as invested in baseball or college basketball as I was 10, 15 years ago. And I've said this in my private life, in my personal life, I'm the same way. I've pruned my tree. I love my family. I love my job.

And I love international travel. And I've kind of made a commitment. My wife and I have made a commitment over the next last couple years and going forward. for the next 10, that we want to do more international travel. And I'm just really into it. I've gone a mile deep in it. I've already booked my next two trips. One of them next year, one at the end of the summer.

So it was just nice. This is, if you have a chance, I ran into a lot of Americans, a lot of Europeans. And it's, I always love how efficient Europe is. When you don't have a lot of money and Iceland doesn't, right? You don't think of it as a rich country. it's amazing how smart they are with their money. You know, I live in Los Angeles where we have a subway system, and I'm sure it was a high-minded idea, but I've never met anybody in Los Angeles that has used the subway system.

Conversely, I've never met anybody that lives in New York or Chicago that hasn't used the subway system because lots of people live in downtown Chicago and downtown New York. Not a lot of people. It's not as vibrant in downtown Los Angeles. It's a huge county. It's spread out. It just doesn't feel like a subway. town. So when I, even in the city I live in, LAX, our airport is going through, is put billions of

dollars into this new tram. And I think billions of dollars, a lot of money. And I was dropping my wife off at the airport yesterday. And I said, you know, I have this feeling. I've never gone to the airport once in my life and thought, you know what I want to do is park further away. I'm like, Uber, just drop me off. I'm fine. I said, I have this feeling that, this is going to be a billion dollar boondoggle that people just do not want to park further away and take a tram to the airport. I'm sure I could be wrong. But I appreciate when I go to Europe and I see these countries and these towns and how efficient they are and how thoughtful and smart they are with their funds and Iceland qualified. Reichovic is just a fantastic place. I highly

recommend going. You know, I was, as I was watching the Miami Heat, even up the series, series. The NBA has always been a sport that, and I've noted this before, the NFL, it all kind of feels the same. There's intensity in the regular season, intensity in the playoffs. There's more of a sudden death feel, obviously, but you have to be, when it comes to hockey or football and you have a regulated level of violence, a UFC, you've got to take every minute seriously. You're going to get hurt. Basketball's different. There's playoff Jimmy Butler and regular season, Jimmy Butler. There's load management all through the regular season. There's no load management in the playoffs. They're just different. So, like, to me, you define your career in the postseason. It's why I always keep a Carmelo Anthony or a Carl Malone, they get dropped. They weren't as dominant to me. They weren't as special in the postseason.

I didn't think they, I know Utah got to a couple of finals, but I feel like playoff basketball is where legacies are built. And I think we're seeing it right now. I wrote a list down who I think are the 10 best players in the NBA. And I think there's like two groups. I think the four best players in the league right now are Yokic, Janus, Luca, and Steph. And again, Luca hasn't had a ton of playoff success, but I think they're just different. I don't have any questions about their talent. Then there are six guys in the next group.

And I have a question about all of them somewhere. A.D., his health, Tatum, his ability to close. in big games. LeBron, age, KD, brittle, M-Bed, health. And then Jimmy Butler tends to play great in big spots, but can be sometimes just a good regular season player. So I think there's, I think, and now I think by the way, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, Deeran Fox are really, really special players. But I kind of, after watching these playoffs, I think there's just 10 guys that feel to me different in the league. And Yokic, Janice, Stefan, Luca,

even though this was not a great ending to the season for Luca, he's going to end up being a top five score in league history. He is the best get a bucket guy currently in the NBA. I think Yokic is a fascinating player because there's a Bill Russell quality to him. If you really think about Bill Russell got to 11 finals, Magic got to 9, LeBron 10, that's 30 between those three. Michael Jordan got to six is that

I feel like with Russell, LeBron, and Magic what was really special about them and it's something I see with Yokic is the ability to not only be great but to elevate others. And that's how you consistently get to the finals. Doesn't mean you're going to win a ball like Michael.

But Michael didn't necessarily make other players better. Never forget, when Michael left the Bulls, they went from 57 regular season wins to 55. If you took Yokic off this Denver team, they're a borderline playoff team. Borderline. So I think Russell, LeBron, Magic, and Yokic feels like that a little, that his ability to take B guys and make him B plus guys and take a C plus guy and make him a B guy. It's a really special, special gift.

And I didn't watch Bill Russell play, but you know, you watch the old highlights, you read about him, you go look at his defense and his scoring and his rebound. he was worth so much more than just points. In fact, I thought Miami reduced Yokic basically tonight to just a score. And he's not the same player. They're not the same team when he's just a score. And we reward that and credit that and give MVPs to great scores, James Hardin, Russell Westbrook. I think it's the elevation of others, Magic LeBron Russell, is really the difference maker. you will consistently get to more finals that way.

So I know Denver feels like the world is disrespecting them. They've never won. They just lost home court advantage in the finals. They're not being disrespected. We're waiting to see if the Denver Nuggets are very good, or are they great? And right now they're very good. Getting to the finals does not make you great. Miami got to the finals in the bubble.

Wasn't a great team. It's very good. Boston got to the finals last year. Very good team, not great. So I don't think there's any disrespect for Denver, but we have a precedent of young surging teams that they get close. Steve Nash's sons, the early Sacramento Kings, early 2000 Sacramento Kings,

the KD, Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder got to a final. Very good teams. Great is winning that championship. I still like Denver, but, you know, I have so much respect for how Miami does business. that I know a lot of people are saying this is going to be a boring finals. I thought the game tonight was great. I thought it was fantastic.

I don't know what you want. I thought it gave you everything you want. A close finish. Rallies. One team was doing twos. One team was doing threes. I thought there was clever coaching on both ends. So years and years ago, people thought the Chicago, Utah Jazz series would get low ratings.

And the truth was, it's the highest rated NBA finals, I think, ever. It was a great story. So Denver and Yokic going for their first title versus Miami's culture and precedence of history. I think it's a fascinating final. Let's bring on Jason Timp at the volume Hoops Tonight podcaster. Does a marvelous job for us. Let's bring him on. Do you have some home projects you need to get done?

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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. Colin, what is going on with the Miami Heat right now? Well, if you're a believer in analytics, this was great analytic basketball. They hit 49% on threes. And despite Denver, dominating points in the paint where they had a 54 to 32 advantage, they dominated twos.

The threes won the game. In fact, I would argue when Miami was down about eight to nine late, I thought Denver waited way too long to shoot threes. It's like, guys, we got a minute 40 here, threes only. And I mean, Denver can give you threes and certainly wasn't bad from beyond the arc, but this is this is the way to win you can see in terms of length Denver's going to get points in the paint Denver's going to Denver's just long Gordon and Porter but again if Tyler Hero comes back and Duncan you have elite three point shooters so this is Miami's way to do it they're built for analytics their center Bam out of Bayou runs the floor they're a classic analytic team they're the Warriors East they're not real big a lot of grit a lot of culture can play really good defense, especially situationally. And when they hit threes, they're hard to beat.

They really remind me, I was thinking watching them is that for years and years, when I lived in Connecticut, I would watch New England. And I rarely thought they had top two or three talent. But I was always like, they're so much smarter than everybody. Well, we found out that they had a rare combination of a brilliant defensive mind and the great offensive mind in Brady. When Brady left, they don't look nearly as smart. But Miami, I always feel that.

Like, why can't anybody else find Caleb Martin and Max Truce and Duncan Robinson? Like, why aren't these other teams doing that? The difference is when they're Tom Brady, Dwayne Wade left, they're still great. So it's more truly about the coach and the culture. Whereas, you know, and we, that goes against the grain. We think basketball is the player sport. Football is the coaching sport. But New England really was more about the player, Brady, than it was the coach.

and I think Miami is more about the coach than the players, is that they won with Wade. They're winning with Butler, seven undrafted guys for a playing. So tonight, this was classic culture. This was classic analytics. We're not as big. We're going to surrender a lot of twos.

We're going to shoot a lot of threes. And on this night, Miami looked like they had much better energy for a team that plays at sea level, that extra day off, they looked energized late. That extra day off really helped Miami. I'm glad you brought up New England because that's exactly where my brain went. There's the Belichickism, which is do your job. That, to me, is the embodiment of the way the Miami Heat play basketball. It's funny because a lot of times we talk about coverages and, oh, they should do this coverage.

They should do this one instead. And like every coverage in and of itself doesn't fail under its own, you know, tactical approach. It fails under execution. So, for instance, one of the most criticized coverages in the NBA is drop coverage, because a lot of dribble pull-up shooters will get good looks as they're coming over the top. But if you do it right, like if the dude who's guarding the ball does his job and chases over the top, he'll funnel him to the big man, which allows the big man to stay in a position where he can guard the roll man and the ball handler. If it's done properly, it does work.

The problem is, is 90% of the time it falls apart in execution. The guard dies on the screen or the big man can't dissuade the lob pass or whatever it is. Miami, and what's so fascinating to me is we saw the Lakers completely incapable of even making Denver work hard for baskets, which is wild considering how good they are defensively. They had a 122 offensive rating against Lakers, which means they scored 122 points per 100 possessions. They had extended stretches the Miami Heat did of good defense against Denver tonight. They have found two different schematic approaches that allow them to get stops. one, moving Kevin Love into the lineup, allowing him to guard Aaron Gordon so that Jimmy Butler can guard Jamal Murray. And Jimmy Butler and Bam at a bio guarding the Yokich Murray action two on two so they don't have to send help,

which is making it so Michael Porter Jr. is not getting those wide open threes that he's used to getting so that KCP's not getting those wide open three. So their rhythms getting disrupted. And then the zone, which once again, the exact same sort of thing, zone requires such fan. fantastic execution to work, which is why most NBA teams don't use it. And Miami's zone works against the team that it has no business working against with that kind of shooting and with Yokic scoring from the high post. And you pointed out the two versus three thing. And that's a really interesting dynamic that took place down the stretch of this game.

Yokic was scoring every damn time. He caught it by the rim. But that was two. And on the other end of the floor, Denver's guarding Miami's actions three on two. so there's constant open looks on the backside that are worth three. And the math was working very heavily in Miami's favor. It just, they're doing the impossible. I watched what I thought, that Laker team, I thought was the best defense in this playoff field.

Miami's doing a much better job guarding Denver than L.A. did. It's amazing to me. I'm blown away. And they also, what Miami did is Denver's only three and seven this year in the 10 games where Yokic had fewer than seven assists. So what they made Yokic was, was a score. All right. And by the way, he's a very good score. He's not a great score.

He's not Jordan. You know, he's not Kareem. He's not even Carl Malone. On a good Yokic night, you get about 23 points. And then you get 11 assists, 12 assists. Well, tonight he only had, I think, like four or five assists. So they made him just into a score. So by the way, he was.

And they were really trailing late. It felt like it was an eight to a nine. I mean, it closed at the end. It felt like Miami was in total control the last five minutes of the game. And he's dropping 40. So, you know, I was watching Yokic and I really like watching him play. Such a pain in the butt to guard. If you'd never watched Larry Bird, if you were born, you know, at the end of Larry Bird's rain, you'd never really seen him play.

You would say he's like a forward. If Yokic was a forward, that's what he played like because his passing is brilliant. But a big part of what made Larry Bird was, Larry Bird is one of those Bill Russell LeBron magic stars, Yokic's two, that they elevate others. So magic could give you 42, but the secret sauce with magic. And LeBron is they make J.R. Smith viable as hell in an NBA finals. Matthew Delavadova can play. Like there was a time Tristan Thompson became valuable in a finals. That's the secret sauce to Yokic.

It's not the points. It's the elevation. He turns C plus guys into B players, B guys into B plus players. You know, there were people that were just out on Jamal Murray, like after the ACL injury. And like he looks like one of the best players in the world. So I thought they reduced, it's a weird way to say it, they reduced Yokic to just a great score tonight. And Denver's not as effective. They're really not.

He's going to dominate twos. They'll take their chances on that. And I will say this, though, what you're seeing is really good coaches. I saw so many people because I watched game one. I watched the full game YouTube highlights because I was overseas. And, you know, the idea of people were saying, oh, this series is over and I'm like, timeout. Miami just got out of a highly emotional seven game series. They're going as a sea level team to the mountains.

They got no chance in game one. They got no shot. It's like, everybody, take a deep breath. This is a six or a seven game. game series. I think Denver's better. They'll now adjust. But tonight in that fourth quarter, it was analytic basketball, threes versus twos, and Miami, Spoe, you know, chest match, edge, Miami tonight. Yeah, it's interesting because I fell for the same gambit that you're referring to, oh, the series is over gambit. And, you know, it's funny because I was, it was just as much about

Denver as it was about Miami. I don't think people realize how dominant Denver has been to this point. They swept to the Lakers. The Phoenix series went to six, but did you know their average margin of victory and the wins was over 17 points in that series? Like, they kicked Phoenix's ass. Like, it was,

it wasn't close. So they killed Devin Booker and Kevin Durant and then they killed LeBron and Anthony Davis. Like that, that's why I'm so high on what Denver does. And then specifically, the, what was happening in the Eastern Conference was a lot of capitalizing on weaknesses, like Boston's weaknesses and offensive decision making. New York's like literally Julius

Randall kind of crumbled. Jalen Brunson was the only guy who looked comfortable. All their spot of shooters went cold. Milwaukee obviously has a bunch of half-court offense issues. So it felt kind of like Spolstra was like just capitalizing on major weaknesses. And then you look at this Denver team and you don't kind of see them as a team that has a weakness. But this is where the genius of leaving Yokich on an island comes into play. And you broke it down perfectly. The deal yokech game is 23 points per game, bunch of assists. That's when everyone's flowing. Rhythm is a real thing in basketball. If you leave a guy on an island and you stay home off the ball, then guys that are used to touching the basketball a certain number of times over the course of the game, suddenly

go extended stretches where they don't touch the basketball. And so then when KCP gets a wide open look off of a Jamal Murray handoff at the end of the game from the top of the key, he bricks it long because he hasn't been getting shots. He hasn't even been, he's barely been touching the basketball. And So that's the genius in it, is Yokic is so damn good. He's going to get 40 on efficient shooting because that's how good he is. But if you make them play that style, it just puts everybody else out of rhythm. And there's one last thing I wanted to shout out. And actually, Colin, I think this is a really interesting kind of way to look at team building in the NBA.

Jimmy Butler and Bamette Abio are the two stars of this Miami Heat team. They have taken on all of the dirty work. Like, it's crazy to me. they are completely and utterly bought in to doing all of the hard things. So many stars around the league don't do. Like Jimmy Butler and Bamadabio are what kind of shut down Denver's offense tonight. Like that's crazy for your star, for Jimmy Butler, the guy who's been the guy who's been heliocentric doing all the work offensively

to then just be like, I'm going to guard Jamal Murray and chase him over screens all night long. And I think it's a really good indicator when we look at team building moving forward. Like you got to, if you're foundational players, and Eric's, Ulster said something to this effect after game one, I think, or before the finals. He's like, if your two best players don't want to defend, I don't know how you can build a good defense. And that's the truth. Like, you've got it. They are built. It's not just the execution from the coaching staff. It's the stars and them being utterly bought into the dirty work. And then all those role players

are naturally bought in because everybody above them in is. And it just leads to that well-oiled machine. Yeah. I mean, this has been something I've been on for years, is that Carmelo Anthony never want to defend. You can't build your franchise around a guy that won't defend. It's not a knock on Carmelo. But it's like Kevin Durant's a willing defender. So Steph Curry. He's just not a great defender. So they protect him with Draymond and Andre Godal and his prime off the bench and Clay Thompson, you know, pre-injuries. You protect him. And that there's a handful of players. We do this in the NBA. we fall for the dynamic offensive player. And it's interesting.

Years ago when I was a kid, I always used the example of World Be Free or George Gervin. They weren't classified as great players. World Be Free was this guy who averaged like 29 a game, 2080 a game for like the, I think it was the Sixers. He was an oddity. He had a crazy name, unique name, unique game. He was a gunner.

It wasn't an All-Star. It was okay just saying he's just a really fun offensive player. What's happened in basketball, we now give MVP's to guys like James Hardin, who does give you no effort on the defense event. James Hardin's a great score. That's what we would have called him in the 70s and 80s. He's a great score. We don't really classify him as an MVP level player. And to your point is, it's hard to find to me an all-time great player, Kobe, MJ, that either was a great defensive player in his prime, Kareem.

or was at least a willing defender, Steph, KD, willing defenders, John Stockton, Isaiah, they're willing defenders. I don't know if Isaiah was. Stockton was a willing defender. So to your point is, you know, I always think about if I was Miami, there's a lot of things you could sell players on because they do practice, you know, they work you. They really demand a lot of you. But it's such an easy sell. You can say, listen, guys, it's the best weather in the entire Eastern Conference. Yeah. The bluest water, no state tax, no chaos in the building. This is a great organization. What we're going to ask of you is to play your ass off on both ends. That's the ask. And I think Golden State's been able to do that. Like, we will outspend the salary cap. We don't care. New

arena coming. We'll, we'll pay. everybody, but you got to play on the defense event. It's not about you. It's got to be, Greg Popovich once said, you got to get over yourself if you want to be part of a dynasty. At some point, you have to get over yourself. And this is not just a shot at Mellow, but this idea that we just worship these, and I love the NBA, but we worship these players who just don't give you an effort on the defensive end. It just doesn't work. Those are non-championship players. They're fun. I loved World Be Free. I love George Gervin. You got to give me something. And when I watch Miami play, I'm like, if you told me, somebody just dived on the floor for the heat,

I'd be like, what, Jimmy Butler? Larry Bird, by the way. I would guess, oh, Larry Bird. I love that style of basketball. I really do. I was literally thinking about that when I was watching Bayamette Abio in that fourth quarter and how I want to work on with my coverage of the league, doing a better job of crediting players who do that. Because I, like, Bayamettabio is nowhere near as gifted as Anthony Davis. And he's through two games done such a better job on both ends of the floor. And a huge part of that is he's just fighting with more physicality in position battles. And he's sprinting his ass off up and down the floor every single possession. One of the biggest ways that Yokic killed Anthony Davis was just in transition, just running. And it's, again, it gives you

the ability to demand perfection from the rest of the roster. I think, I think about this a lot with the last dance and some of the stuff from Michael Jordan. And there's a huge movement, especially from LeBron fans to try to paint Michael as this prick who just was just treating everybody awful. It's like I look at it completely differently. Michael demanded perfection from his teammates because he was in pursuit of that same thing on both ends of the floor. And so it carries more weight down the roster.

You can ask a bunch of undrafted guys and guys that are, that don't have the necessary level of athleticism and skill that your top players have, you can ask them to do a little job perfectly when Jimmy and Bam are not taking any possessions off. And they're fighting through all that stuff. Again, like fundamentally, the two of them guarding Murray and Yokic changed the way that Denver was able to generate shots. And so I just think it's a super interesting thing to look at when we're looking at team development is you've got to have guys at the top that are willing to embrace the, dirty work because that's the only thing that's going to allow you to demand from the rest of the roster. And you're like you mentioned Miami bringing in players. Like that's the next thing out

of all this because I still believe Denver will win this series, although I've seen enough from tonight to know that Miami has a real chance, which I didn't think before tonight. However, like one of the big things to take away from this series of Denver does win is what if Miami got some players? Like, what if they got some players? Because if they get some players in there with what Jimmy and Bam can do and with what Eric Spolster can do, that's where it gets really scary because they have all of the other odds and ends tied off so perfectly that they maximize talent so well that it could really be devastating for the rest of the league. Yeah. And I think there's this natural let's get Dame down to Miami. But Dame doesn't

I mean, because Bam is a willing defender, Jimmy Butler's an excellent defender, Lowry's got limitations due to age, Duncan Robbins and Tyler Hero, we're not going to defend. Adding another player that doesn't defend is not necessarily it. That's why, you know, that's why when I threw the name out with a Celtics, but I'll throw it out with Miami, Andrew Wiggins. It's a very interesting piece. A twitchy willing defender doesn't need to be the leader. Could be the second or third best player in your team, super smart. the intelligence of the Miami culture, that's the kind of guy, a willing wing defender.

So you can have Tyler Hero on the floor, and it's not. And I, and then I look at the Warriors, and I think, oh, what could you get? Well, they, they love to shoot. And so Miami, to your point, I think they could add a piece, but they don't need a flashy piece, right? They don't. the culture fit is somebody who is willing, doesn't need headlines, experienced, smart, and a guy that on the wing is a willing defender. So it's like I'm not saying Andrew Wiggins is the piece, but we tend to go, oh, let's put this guy who jacks up. That's not really what Miami is.

That's not their thing, man. They, I, I, Miami has done a really good job through the years of assessing what they are and also assessing what they're not. And I think I've always been told this in the broadcasting biz when you're building a network. Like you have to know your own talent before you can go out and find talent. Like who are our best pieces. And it's sometimes I think ESPN went through a stretch where they didn't recognize. some of their own pieces as they were trying to assemble, you know, kind of as George Bodenheimer left,

John Skipper came in. There was a sea change at the company. And I didn't think they assessed their own talent very well as they were trying to pursue other talent. And I think when I look at Miami, I think Miami totally understands what they are, get sort of right now what they're not, what they need. I mean, Tyler Hero is not exactly a perfect fit for Miami, a little flaky. Little immature, not a defender, doesn't really fit. I could see them, I could see them moving him.

I mean, they're winning. They're in the finals without him. I could see them moving him and adding a little toughness and better wing defense. Then how good would Miami be? You had a 17 point of game wing guy that defends, but then what are they? How great have the NBA playoff been so far? If you live in one of those cities and want to go to the game, there was only one place to get tickets.

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Use the code, Colin, C-O-L-I-N. 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 at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Yeah, it's interesting because with Tyler Harrow in particular, I think Spolstra, and I'm not sure if he was actually ruled as available tonight or not, or if it was just like a DNP coach's decision. But like it is, our colleague, Draymond Green, actually did a really good job of breaking this down on his show,

just the general idea that like there's a rhythm and a flow to what Miami is doing right now. And to throw a new guy into that who has a lot of usage, meaning like he's going to control a lot of possessions, it just has a lot, we just have a lot of opportunity for that to, to bump the train off the track, so to speak. I do think that in the long run, like, they will have to come up with some sort of secondary shot creator. And I think that's why they've been so hesitant to give up Tyler Hare over the years. But like, you're right. I mean, regardless of whether it's Wiggins or it's a bigger fish, whoever that guy is has to be someone who's bought in. And for the record,

this is something that I think Spolster has done a really good job of, and I should say Pat Riley too. They've been very picky about who they bring in. Have you noticed that? Like, they know, they can identify pretty, like, no, you're not about what we're about, you know. Lowry is a great example of what they're about. Yeah, exactly. And so when you get the, you get the right guys, like the heat culture thing has been said so many times. It's kind of lost some of its meaning. But there is a reality to it in the sense that it's like, it's kind of like that epic rant from MJ at the, at the last dance. It's like, if this is not the way you want to play, go somewhere else. But this is the way we're going to play here. And, and, and, and,

that's kind of the Miami Heat ideology is it's like, if you come here, you're going to defend every possession like it's your last because that's how we play. And guess what? It helps you beat better teams in the NBA playoffs. And that's why we do it. We're about winning trophies here. And I love that whole idea. So as we go into Miami, Miami is a two-point underdog, by the way, at home. I think they'll split. I think they'll come back to two-two. Yeah, I think there, I think these teams, I think it's going to be a coaching chess match. I think Denver's better, but not significantly better. And they've never won this thing.

And this is new territory. I thought tonight, Spoe, chess match. I thought Spow was worth three games in the Boston series. I thought he won tonight. I thought he did the tweaking late as Denver's offense dried up. So I don't think Spow is going to be worth two or three wins in this series because I think Malone's more than capable. I thought Missoula was a little over his head.

Maybe I think Joe Missoula, it's a learning experience. It just happened to be on national TV. It's the worst place. for one, but it is what it is. But I think Spow stole one tonight. And I think, I think they'll go to Miami split and they'll come back. And that's exactly what this series is. I think Denver's going to eventually win close.

Wouldn't be surprised if Miami won. I don't buy into the Miami is going to get overwhelmed. I think Denver's longer. They're going to get more free, cheap baskets. And by the way, when you live on that three like Miami did tonight, they're going to have longer droughts. Like Denver's fourth quarter was rare. I wrote some notes down tonight.

You know, their droughts are a 6-0 run. They had two droughts. They started the game in a drought and they ended the game in a drought. Like Denver really struggled early and really struggled late. So that's chess match. That's that's Spos opening adjustments and closing adjustments. In the 80% of the game inside of that, Denver was the better team. But early and late, and that's coaching.

right? Like if you go to NFL games, the opening drive, you score first in the NFL, you win 70% of your games. That was Bill Walsh. Take the lead. Opening drive in the NFL and how do you close with two minutes left? That's coaching. That's the great coaches. Poorly coached teams never finish strong. Like over the course of an NFL season, poorly coached teams unravel late. It's like a golden rule. They just unravel late. So I thought Spow stole one tonight. Yeah, as we move towards Miami, I kind of see it the same way. I could see a split there. There's going to be a couple of specific adjustments that I expect from Denver. One, they just have to defend better.

Mike Malone's going to be all over them about their defensive effort in this particular game because it wasn't great. Jamal Murray in particular was biting at every single pump fake and giving up a ton of driving lanes that was leading them to be in rotation a lot. Offensibly, I think they need to do a lot. more Yokic stuff with KCP and Michael Porter Jr. To keep them in rhythm during the game while they're leaving Yokic on an island a lot. Sometimes they run too much two-man game with just Jamal Murray and Yokic.

And then it'll be Yokic post up, Yokch post up, Yokch, Poth. And it'll be Murray-Yokch, Murray-Yokch. And like, one of the ways to keep KCP and Michael Porter, Jr. in rhythm is just to give them more touches throughout the game in dribble handoff situations. Before we get out of here, I did want to ask you one thing, though. So I thought Yokic was unbelievable tonight. Like, just absolutely unbelievable. Where do you, our guy Carson from NerdSesh tweeted this out, and it got me thinking. He said it's a tier one playoff run of all time, meaning he views it on the same level as all the all time great playoff runs from the all time great players.

I tend to agree. And I wanted to ask you just because you have so much more experience watching the NBA over the years, Does this feel like all-time great pantheon-level stuff that we're seeing from Nicola Yokic to you? Well, I think his consistency. I mean, people forget, you know, it's like Michael Jordan, you never see the bad games. Michael had some really tough shooting matchups against the Utah Jazz in those finals more than one. Michael had bad games. He had a bad one against, I think Phoenix.

He had a couple bad ones against, he had a bad one against, I think Seattle in a closeout game. Michael wasn't perfect. I think with Yokic, it's the consistency. I feel like you can just write down, like tonight he had very few assists. You can just write down 24, 11, 12. Like, that's really, that's rare. The consistency. I think what we're, you know, it's very like, like you could probably don't have Bill

Russell's numbers obviously in front of me. But I feel like with Bill Russell, you would get the same defense every night when they were playing and winning the championships. It was Bill could run the floor. Bill gave you defense. Bill probably gave you 18 to 20 points. Had I watched Bill Russell, I feel like that would be Yokic. I knew exactly what I was getting.

Magic Johnson would have great nights. And then Kareem would score and Magic would be back. So LeBron, to me, feels like even different than Michael. LeBron won a decade. I didn't think he had a bad playoff game. I remember when Dan Gilbert, I think I told you this once, when he left Cleveland and they said, Dan Gilbert claimed that LeBron quit in a playoff game against like Boston. And the numbers were like 32, 11.

I'm like, oh, that's his quit game. Okay. I get it. Like, LeBron to me is even greater than Michael in terms of it's hard to find in his prime an off night in the playoffs. I mean, like a they're all good. So I don't think it, and I don't think it rises to that. But I do think there's a consistency to his game. And I think a lot of it is because he's such an elevator of others.

Because of his size, almost seven feet, he's going to get rebounds. Because of his girth and his body, he's going to give you 24 a night. Even if he doesn't play brilliantly, he just gets points. Tonight they reduced him to just a score. He generally gives you 10, 11 assists. You can almost just bank it. Like you kind of know what you're getting. And that's kind of a Bill Russell LeBron thing.

Now, again, I'm not knocking Michael. Michael mostly gave you that. But Michael had, Michael was never a great long-distance shooter. You know, Michael had two great ears shooting the three. That's when they moved it in. Then they moved it out. And Michael went back to not being able to hit threes. So I don't consider all-time stuff.

You know, it's funny listening to Denver complain about their media coverage. And I'm like, would you guys want a title first? And they spend All this whole thing They're like They're so upset With how they're being treated It's like

Do you guys have a ring? Like you have one win in the finals Like Denver's a really good team Let's wait before we call them great Let's wait before we call Yokish great It's a very very impressive Playoff run They're tied

They just lost at home Right Miami now has home court advantage Nobody's disrespecting you There's nothing I don't have any trophies to talk about The Bucks have a trophy Dirk got a trophy. You don't have anything yet.

The volume. 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. 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 IHeart 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. This is an IHeart podcast.

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