The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - NBA Power Rankings: Nuggets "laser-focused," Celtics surging, Clippers sleepwalking

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

Jason Timpf reacts to Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks' 133-111 loss to Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers (3:30). Later, Jason reveals his Monday NBA power rankings featuring many familiar faces such as Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets and Jayson Tatum's Boston Celtics atop the list (27:20). Lastly, Jason answers mailbag questions (42:30) including why Steph Curry has struggled against Denver, how Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks can approach a series against the Celtics, and much more! (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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terms, and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody. Hope all of you guys had an incredible weekend. We've got a fun show for you today. We're going to lead off with a game breakdown of Mavs Pacers from last night. The Pacers have won six of their last eight, showing some encouraging signs on both ends of the floor. And then the Mavericks had their first test on the road in this four-game road trip that they have of their defense.

And it did not hold up super well. So we're going to be breaking that game down from the perspective of both teams. After that, as we always do on Monday, we'll have our power range. rankings. And then after that, I've got about a, that looks like about 10 mailbag questions for us to hit. I get some good content out there before I head out of town tomorrow before we come back on Wednesday. You guys are the drill before we get started, subscribe to our brand of YouTube channel. Don't forget about our podcast feed, wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight. It's also really helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Don't forget about my

Twitter feed at underscore Jason LT. I threaded some clips of Mavs Pacers there today. I also will put show announcements there. And then last but not least, keep dropping. App and Mailback questions in those YouTube comments. We're going to be hitting some later on this week. All right, let's talk some basketball. So the Pacers are a real test for the Dallas Mavericks defense. Remember, the Dallas Mavericks had won seven in a row going into that Pacers game. And they had been the very best defense in the league over that span.

Well, the Indiana Pacers have the second best offense in the league. And they're particularly potent at home. They have a 123 offensive rating at home this season. That is just completely off the charts good. And so here we have an example of, what's it, an unstoppable force versus an immovable object, and the Pacers just completely lit them up. They had a 127 offensive rating in the game. Early in the game, the issue I thought was overhelping specifically with Derek lively.

Pascal Seaccom was being really aggressive physically, especially in like semi-transition, whenever he saw a little bit of a space alongside him on the perimeter to try to hit the gap on PJ Washington. he would just like hit him with the heart in an out dribble and try to get downhill to his right hand or he'd attack him in the post. And in those situations, Derek lively is in a spot there where Miles Turner, you know, most of the time in these situations, Miles Turner was sitting in the dunker spot, although there was a couple of them where he was on the three point line too. But Derek lively is in a position there. He's got to make a decision. His decision that he has to make is, am I going to help or am I going to stay home? And that decision is one of the most important

decisions for rim protectors and defensive anchors to make. Because here's the problem. When you look at shots that an offensive player is taking in a matchup, it kind of depends on what the defense is doing, the individual defender on the ball, as to whether or not it's a high percentage shot or not. So for instance, if PJ Washington gets absolutely dusted off the dribble, then you have to help. Because if you don't help, it's a layup, which is a 100% shot. And yeah, you're going to be leaving Miles Turner, but maybe if you get lucky, you know, PJ can get back into the play and rebound or someone else on the team can rotate and, you know, clean up the miss if you're lucky. Your better option there is to take the shot away. But let's say PJ Washington is sliding

with Pascal Seaccom and he's kind of chesting him up and he's forcing him into like a tougher scoop shot over the top, which maybe in this case, a really well defended possession. Maybe it's only going to go in half the time. Well, at that point, it's your job as the rim protector or defensive anchor to make the decision that actually it's more important for me to keep Miles Turner off the glass here. Because if I sell out to try to block the shot, I might drop the percentage chance of him making it from 50 to something slightly below that. But if the shot gets over the top and misses anywhere around the basket, Miles Turner's just going to grab it and put it back in. And Miles Turner made him pay several times in the early stretch of the game just for overhelping.

There was a player where Pascal's driving along the right side. PJ's right there with him. Derek like damn near zones up goes like all the way outside the right block. and Pascal just hits Miles Turner with a little bounce pass right there in front of the rim. Miles Turner goes up and finishes with an and one. There was another one where he just jumped out of his shoes, even though PJ Washington was right there on Siakum and forced him into a really difficult scoop shot that he missed. But as a result, Miles Turner was able to just go up and get the offensive rebound. Then there was another one where I thought that PJ Washington was completely in position

and he hard helped. and, you know, it was more of a three-point look for Miles Turner because he was in the corner. And some of that is schematic. And I could tell just by watching the Mavs throughout the rest of the game, you could tell Jason Kidd kind of had them under the impression that specific guys like Miles Turner, they were kind of just going to let him shoot. Pascal Seaccom, they were kind of just going to let him shoot when they caught on the perimeter. So that one I thought was more scheme-related.

But Miles Turner was really active early in the game, punishing Derek lively for overhelping. And then in the second quarter, Tyrese Halliburton, just completely took over the game in pick and roll and was just picking the Mavericks part. This was a stretch where Daniel Gafford was on the floor, which we'll get into in a minute. But Daniel Gafford was running like a really, it was like a really weak drop coverage where he wasn't exactly bothering the ball handler or bothering the roll man. We'll get a little bit further into that in a second. But started with the pocket pass to Miles Turner right up to the basket for an and one on the left side of the rim. After that, it was a pick and pop to the top of the key, knocks down a three.

and then the very next possession, in this case, obviously Jason Kidd's asking for more help on the back line. Tim Hardaway Jr. basically abandons Andrew Nemhart in the left corner to essentially, I'm assuming help tag the roller, although I didn't think he did a particularly good job of it. And Tyrese Halliburton because he's literally the guy in the league, one of the, you know, four or five guys in the league that just makes perfect reads damn near every single time down the floor, hits Andrew Nemhart in the corner, knocks down a three. That run was what kind of built the gap because it was very back and forth. there in that first half because specifically Luca was like red hot to start the game.

He picked up the Ben Matherin matchup from the opening tip and just was isoing him every single time down the floor. I think he scored on him for the first five sessions of the game. So that kind of kept the game close. But that little pick and roll run from Tyrese Halliburton there in the second quarter built that like initial little gap in on the scoreboard. they end up going into the half up by seven. And then in the third quarter, kind of back and forth, the game hovers in that 7 to 11 point range. But in the fourth quarter, Kyrie Irvin gets Doug McDermott on a switch,

hits him with a nasty stepback jump shot to cut the lead to four. And all of a sudden we have ourselves a basketball game. And then Ben Shepard and Obie Toppin hit back to back, massive threes. Ben Shepard off of a coming out of the right corner, just a little kind of wide pin down where he comes up to the wing and catches and shoots a three. and then Obie Topin actually hit one turning over his left shoulder above the break, a pretty high difficulty catch and shoot shot from Obie Topping.

But both of those guys hit timely shots all night, and those two particular threes push the lead back up to double digits. I wanted to shout out Ben Shepard for a second, because I thought he had two really important two-way sequences in this game. In the first half, there was a sequence where he hit a three on the right wing, then on the very next possession as Kyrie is pushing the ball at the floor in transition, he offers smart help as Kyrie's kind of got his head down engaged on the on ball defender. And he ends up picking Kyrie clean, which leads to a dunk on the other end of the floor.

So like a little 5-0 run basically by himself, which was a big stretch in that game. I think it was tied when he did that too and it pushed it up to put them up five, if I remember correctly. And then in the second half, we talked about that huge three coming off the wide pin down. On the very next possession, he had Kyrie in an ISO. Kari was sizing him up and he, Kyrie opted for the jab step jump shot. Ben's got some long arms. Got a very good contest and forced Kyrie into a wedgey, like the ball stuck into the side of the rim.

So an ugly miss, which you don't typically see from Kyrie Irving all that often. So credit to Ben Shepard, some really good two-way sequences in this particular game. And so at that point, Tyrese Halliburton checks back into the game, and he just closes the deal, picking the Mavericks apart in pick and roll again, just like he did in the second quarter.

In this stretch, he was really picking on Maxi Kleba. And again, remember Dallas, like they run to drop with Daniel Gafford, And Derek live, but with Maxie, they do a lot more switching, depending on, you know, how successful the screen was. And Maxie just could not handle Tyre's Halliburton on the switch. He got beat to a step back three going to the right. He got beat to the basket for a scoop shot. Next thing you know, you look up to the scoreboard and the Pacers are up by 20 and the game is over.

So really, really impressive win for the Pacers to get their sixth win in eight tries. A couple of other elements on the Pacers' offense that I wanted to hit on. They ran the floor super well in transition, something they've done well all season long. their bigs were on the middle of the floor, but they always have corner shooters running their lanes on the wing. And then their guards just do a really good job of every single time they see somebody up the floor, they make the kick ahead pass.

And there's real value in that for two reasons. One, you know, if you kick the ball up the floor and the guys open, he can shoot it. Ben Shepard, actually, his third three, second three of the game, but one of the three threes he hit, we talked about the other two, was on the left wing in transition. You watch him, he's, they get the defensive rebound. He's just sprinting up the floor like head down. and then he turns around

and the ball's just in his hands. And then he's already got his feet set all game long. And I've noticed this with Ben, just really good footwork off the move at getting straight up and down, nice and balanced. But they just run the floor in transition

super, super well. And then again, I talked about the other advantage of kick ahead passes. Let's say that Ben Shepard doesn't have a shot there because the Mavericks' defensive transition defense

rotates out to him. In that situation, all Dallas defenders are suddenly looking up the floor to the corner where Ben Shepard is, right? So even if they rotate, now all of the trailing offensive players have the advantage of the ball being in a situation where their defender is going to be looking away from them. And that creates opportunities for trailers to get open. Maybe you're a trailing shooter and your defender is looking up the floor at Ben.

You might be able to change your angle a little bit and find a little soft spot for a three or maybe a catch a guy not looking with the screen. That's where you can find a lot of opportunities in transition and in semi-transition. But in order to do that, you have to make the kick-ahead pass. Now, the reverse of that is guys are running their lanes, and the on-ball guy just brings the ball at the floor off the dribble. Now the defense can essentially backpedal in transition, and everything is in front of them.

So that kind of gives you an idea of the difference between, or just an idea of the value of making those kick-ahead passes. The other big thing that stood out to me, two other things. Pascal Seacom's rim pressure. just really, really, it's another way to get the defense in transition. But I really like it because it brings a physical imposition to the game. It's something that they didn't really have before that trade. And it's something I think that translates really well to the playoffs.

That's why I put in my notes brute force. Like brute force offense is like an important thing to have in your bag when you get to the postseason. And there were a lot of possessions where they got great shots, not by running some sort of action, not by using Tyrese Halliburton's offensive genius, but just by Pascal Seacom being bigger and faster than the guy guarding him and able to just kind of get downhill into the lane, make the defense collapse and make good things happen from there. And then lastly,

a lot of really smart actions from Rick Harlila, they were running to take advantage of specific issues in Dallas's defense. One thing that I noticed a lot in the first half is they were screening Luca and then using Luca's man, it was Ben Mathurin in this case, to then set the ball screen. So a very common basketball action that we see is what's called a RAM screen, which is basically where you screen the screener to go set a ball screen. And usually it involves big men.

And the main reason why is big guys struggle to navigate screens, right? And the reason why you do that is if you can create a separation between the big man and the big man's defender, it makes it easier for you to get an advantage in the ball screen. Imagine I'm the big guy who's on defense. and there's the big guy that's not on offense next to me. He runs up to go set a ball screen, and it's Tyrese Halliburton. So you have to be up at the level because he's such a good pull-up shooter.

I'm just going to run right up there behind him, right? And whatever my coverage is, whether it's a hedge and recover, whether it's a high drop, whether it's a blitz, whatever it is, I'm just going to run up and go get into my spot, right? Then I'm going to communicate, call out the angle of the screen, and it'll give us our better chance to defend the action, right? but let's say someone screens down on me as the guy is running up to go set the screen. I don't have to navigate a screen to get to my spot in the pick and roll coverage.

And so a lot of times you can find openings there by creating a gap between the screen defender and the screener. And then that guy can set a ball screen. Now when Tyrus Halliburton comes off the screen, he's coming off into open space instead of coming off into where that help defender is supposed to be. So they were basically doing that with Luca. Now, the reason why you do it with the big typically is with the big, they struggle to navigate screen. Well, Luca, especially in this game, and I thought Luca and Kyrie, who have been pretty good defensively for the most part this season, were both pretty bad in this one. Luca just dies on the screen. When he dies on the screen, Ben Matherin runs up, and he's now setting a free and clear screen on Tyre's Halberton.

He's able to come off and get to his pull-up jump shot or get to the next help defender in line to try to make a read. So really smart actions there. Last thing I noticed that they were doing was they were doing a lot of back-screening the roll man in their Spain, in their pick-and-roll action, a variation of Spain pick and roll. So Spain pick and roll is basically you have a shooter underneath the basket while the big man's setting the screen and then they basically roll and replace. So as the big man's rolling to the basket, the shooter is relocating to the top. And the two variations of it are sometimes the roll man will intentionally run into the

shooter's man to try to get the shooter open. And sometimes the shooter will intentionally run into the screener's man, which will get the screener open. Right. So like, that's like the two variations that you'll see. But they were able to get downhill and get. to the basket for easy layups, there's by back screening lively and back screening Daniel Gafford

with whoever it was that was under the basket. Sometimes it was Tyrese Halliburton with Andrew Nemhart on the ball. Sometimes it was Andrew Nemhart with Tyrese Halliburton on the ball. A lot of really, really smart stuff from Indiana to keep their offense humming. Again, 127 offensive rating in this game against a Dallas Mavericks defense that has been dominant over the course of the last or the previous seven games. Pacer's last eight games. There are six and two.

A couple of quality wins in there against the Knicks and the Mavs. fourth in offense, 13th in defense, and 18th in defensive rebounding. So some of the best defense and rebounding stretches that we've seen from the Pacers this season playing some solid basketball. They have a tough schedule coming up, though. They have the Pels in a home and home, and then they go to Dallas for a rematch, and then they're home for Minnesota, and then they're at Orlando and at Oklahoma City. So a bunch of bigger, more physical front lines, it's going to be a good test for them.

On the Dallas front, they were scoring well enough to keep pace with Indie for most of the game, but then they went ice cold in the fourth quarter. They had a six-minute span after Kyrie's pull-up jump shot. They cut the score to four. They had a six-minute span after that where they scored just four points. Missed a bunch of good looks from three, had some bad turnover. So their offense just kind of stalled out. I was more worried about them on the defensive end of the floor in this particular game.

I'm not worried about Dallas's ability to score, especially against a team like Indiana. They were never even really able to slow down Indiana's offense. they gave up at least 32 points in every single quarter. They could not find a coverage that worked. I wanted to kind of dive in on the Gafford and Lively thing. They're both very different. I think Lively is actually a better pick and roll defender than Daniel Gafford right now. Daniel Gafford, you know, I talked about this after the trade.

And I used the comp of like a Montres-Harrell type of guy. Daniel Gafford, in my opinion, is bigger and stronger and longer and a better athlete than Montres-Harrell, so it's not like really that clean of a comp. But the reason why I use that comp is, I mean, Montres Harrell's an excellent role man with great hands who goes up around the room and actively is good offensive rebounder, right? But on the defensive end of the floor, the dude was just tissue paper. Now, Daniel Gafford has the potential to be much, much better because he's got the physical tools that a guy like Montres didn't have. But that is like the archetype that I look at. It's like a really good athlete, like pick and roll guy who's like an excellent score on the role who has really.

real vertical spacing, but is kind of problematic on the defensive end of the floor. And one of the specific things that Daniel Gaffer will get himself caught into in terms of trouble is he'll get caught in no man's land and pick and roll. So imagine, in a ball screen, there are two threats, right, in the two-on-two action that's taking place. Obviously, there are threats all, but the two threats that are on the ball are the guy coming over the top of the screen and you have to worry about a pull-up three. You have to worry about a floater and you have to worry about him getting downhill all the way

to the rim, right? And then there's the roll man that's coming off the other, after he sets of the screen, he's rolling hard down the middle of the floor. There you're worried about, you know, maybe a pocket pass and a little floater or a mid-range jump shot or any sort of lob pass at the basket. You know, if you step up too high, Tyrese gets the pass over the top. There's dunk there, right? So you kind of have to do one of two things.

You have to either concede whatever the ball handler is doing to take away the roll, or you have to take away whatever the ball handler is doing and concede the role man, right? And it's a difficult job. Some of the very best defensive players in the world can do both, the Gober's and the Anthony Davises and Bametabios and such, Victor Weniam. Those guys, they cover so much ground that sometimes they can like stunt up and bother the ball handler while also getting back and making plays at the rim.

And one of the problems that Daniel Gafford was having a problem with today, or last night, when he would come up high out of his drop coverage on a guy like Tyrese Halliburton, he wasn't coming up high enough to actually bother Tyrese at all. And so Tyrese was able to make easy over the top passes. But then at the same time, he's not back far enough to do anything to the role man. And again, like, if you are active on the ball, like if he steps up higher and he uses his length to get up more into Tyrese Halliburton, he can force that pass to either be deflected or to take a functional. angle or to maybe he has to double pump or throw it super high, like something to disrupt

that pass to make it so that it's easier for the backline guys to rotate. Let's say P.J. Washington's your low man in this sort of situation. PJ Washington has a better chance to get over and blow that play up or even a guy like Tim Hardaway Jr. who they were using as a low man during that stretch, he's got the athleticism that if you buy him enough time, he might be able to jump up high and try to make some sort of play on the basketball. But if you're not bothering Tyree's Hallibur Ball, the pass is easily getting over the top. At that point, if you're also not bothering the role man at all,

you're effectively in no man's. There's like no man's laying in pick and roll coverage. If like the best in the world can kind of do both, but like your job is you've got to make something difficult there. You either have to get up higher on the ball handler to bother him more or backpedal to take away the role. and hope he misses his floater, right? Like, you got to do something.

And too frequently, and again, I want to be clear with Daniel Gafford, he's got the tools to be a lot better than he has been. It's just more often that it's just schematic, him being in no man's land. And then two, just a little bit slow to kind of read and react to some of this stuff. And so, but just by upping his activity and then just by being a part of a better defensive team where he can like kind of pick up what's happening around him, I think he can get better. And then again, the Claibus switching didn't work.

That's an important anchor of Dallas's defense. And then their transition defense was bad. Indiana was just running out on them all night long. For the record, Dallas's transitions defense, I want to say they're 23rd in defense. Transition defense points allowed per possession according to synergy. So that's pretty bad. This road trip was always going to be a test for Dallas. And this is just the first test, but they failed their first test.

And so their next chance is at Cleveland tomorrow night to write. the ship. 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 podcast. 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, 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 Clivert 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 Cliverts Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or we're at you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford

and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush

didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a 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 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, so. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. Let's get to our power rankings like we do every Monday. So we had two teams drop out this week. The Suns dropped games to the Mavs and the Rockets coming out of the break. Offense has a tendency to stall out for them when Bradley Biel is out, although they did have an encouraging fourth quarter against the Lakers the other night. But they are out of the, or yesterday, I should say, but they're out of the power rankings for this week.

And then the New Orleans Pelicans, every time I swear that I feel like I'm about to jump on the Pelicans bandwagon, they go and drop a couple of games to mediocre teams, and they just dropped back-to-back games to the heat and the bulls. So they're out of the power rankings for this week. Number 10, the Dallas Mavericks, the additions of Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington have up to the athletic profile of the team. They are also healthy now, and they are competing better defensively and on the glass than they have all season last night, notwithstanding. but they did fail the first test of their road trip in Indiana, and their defense got absolutely shredded. Two more tests on this trip in Cleveland and in Boston.

Number nine, the Indiana Pacers. They've won six of their last eight games, capped off, like I said, with the big win over the Mavs yesterday. They are also like Dallas defending and rebounding better than they have most of the season. Tyree Taleb is looking a little bit more like himself with each passing game. I've been talking about this, but like soft tissue injuries and then like bone issue. in like feet and knees, or bone or ligament issues in feet and knees, there's always like a two phase recovery. There's recovery once, which is like getting healthy. But then recovery too is like

actually trusting your body again. Because when you make really explosive moves, it takes a certain amount of confidence in your body to hold up. And a lot of times you will kind of hold back if you don't trust your body to hold up. And so I just remember this personally happening to me when I broke my foot when I was in college. Like I just, I went through half the season where I just didn't even trust myself to take off off my right foot. Right. And I had a, any of you guys who have had hamstring issues, I had a hamstring issue when I was younger. I was like 19, 20 years old. But like hamstring issues in particular, like, you're so nervous, you're going to re-injure it that like it causes you to kind of play with a

certain amount of hesitancy. Played on a minute's restriction in his first six games coming back from the hamstring, only 14 points and six assists per game on 15. 50% from the field, 35% from three. Halley's last five games, back to playing big minutes, 20 points and 12 assists per game, 48% from the field and 42% from three. So looking a little bit more like Tyreys Halliburton with each passing game. Number eight, the New York Knicks, they're still in a free fall without their front line all down because of injury. They did beat the Sixers, but they got handled by the Celtics the other night.

Most of, or yesterday I should say, most of the data in film that we're getting out of the Knicks right now is completely useless as it pertains to their playoff potential because this whole team is about like incredibly physically imposing front line plus Jalen Brunson. And right now it's like Jalen Brunson with none of their frontline guys. So it just it just doesn't really give you much to work with in terms of learning about this team. A couple of silver linings though. I think Precious Situ is actually doing a really nice job filling in at power forward. And then Dante DiVincenzo shooting the shit out of the basketball in super high volume. He's scaling up his offense with guys out with injury and he's doing well, he's really been a great pickup for them this season.

Big shout out to the Knicks who've just completely turned around their fortunes over the course the last couple of years. Number seven, the Cleveland Cavaliers. They've lost three of their last five. Donovan Mitchell missed two of those games with an illness. It was good to see him back out on the court against the Wizards yesterday. In this five games, though, ironically, it's been their defense.

That's been the issue. They have a 120 defensive rating in their three losses. Here's their silver lining, though. Jared Allen has been absolutely crushing as of late. his last 15 games, 19 points and 11 rebounds per game on 60% shooting from the field. And then Derry Scarlin, he's another guy who's really rhythm-oriented and typically when he comes back from injuries, it can get to a slow start. First five games coming back, 11 points and five rebounds per game, or excuse me, five assists per game, on 46% from the field and 30% from three.

His last seven games, 16 points and eight assists per game, 47% from the field and 34% from three. So starting to get it going. Three-point shots looked really good over the last. four games 40%. Number six, the Minnesota Timberwolves. They bounced back against the nets on the tail end of a back-to-back on Saturday. They had a pretty lost to the Bucks on Friday that exposed a lot of issues with their half-court offense. Bucks ran a super deep drop.

They were not able to hit the pull-up jump shots and floaters necessary to get the defense into rotation. But even above and beyond any of that, because some of that is just their personnel. I really do think that that's kind of the way that you can kind of play Minnesota into some issues. However, the other concern that I had in that particular game was just their offensive approach. As things started to kind of go off the rails for them, a lot of rushed shots, a lot of unnecessary one-on-one. A lot of like walking into a pick and roll without any sort of other action to set it up or just do something to try to put Milwaukee in the blender before you run that type of action. And again, that's been my issue with the Timberwolves all season.

There's just a little bit on the predictable and kind of inconsistent decision-making side of things when it comes to their half-court offense. And I did not think their performance against the Bucks was very encouraging on that front. Number five, the Los Angeles Clippers, they're sleepwalking out of the All-Star break. They got smacked by the Thunder. They got smacked by the Kings, although Kauai Leonard was out for that particular game. Tyloo himself said that the next few days of practice will be mainly about getting the team mentally focused. Again, the Clippers have alternated wins and losses over their last eight games, and they are 29th in defense over that span.

Think about that. The L.A. Clippers, who have been a dominant defense for most of the year, especially in the half court, they are really, really struggling defensively as of late, hitting a little bit of a lull here. So, again, this has been a team that's been really attacking the regular season. it's completely unrealistic to expect a team to do that for all 82. So I'm not, I don't think it's unusual for a team to hit a lull. The big thing to watch is how quickly they can get out of it

and how frequently that happens down the stretch of the season. Number four, the Milwaukee Bucks. They had two huge wins over the Sixers and the Wolves to start their post-all-Star stretch. Like I said earlier against Minnesota, a lot of downhill athleticism on that team, a lot of power players. They perfectly executed their deep drop coverage. Brooke Lopez dominated the game defensively. But the Sixers game in particular was a very different challenge.

I was watching some film on that this morning. Tyrese Maxie brings that downhill speed, but he's one of the best shooters in the league. And so much more of a challenge for their perimeter defense against the drop coverage. I thought Malik Beasley had one of his best defensive games of the season, specifically making Tyrese work hard to get to his spots, applying really good back pressure. He's been getting better and better each game.

Because again, he's got decent athletic tools. He's not overly big, but he is fast. Like, he does have the ability to move. He's just been a guy that hasn't been that focused on the defensive end in his career. And you're actually watching him kind of learn on the fly how to be this guy. And I thought he did a really nice job against Tyrese Maxey. I also wanted to shout out Jay Crowder. I thought he had a bunch of good possessions on Tyrese, especially in the first half.

And like, here's the thing. Like, Jay Crowder, I think, has been written off by most people as being a little too old, but like this is the best I've seen him look physically on defense in a couple of years too. And I think that that's been kind of an underrated pickup, underrated by myself too, because I didn't think he had anything left in the tank. And he's just been, he's just been particularly solid for them on defense as of late. But most importantly, the buck's offense is humming again. If you guys remember during the, gosh, I can't even remember which video it was. I think it was the, I think it was right before the break.

But I talked about how I had a goal that I hoped the Milwaukee Bucks would hit for the tail end of the season as an indicator of like, kind of like a benchmark that they need to hit to feel like they're on track. And that was a 120 offensive rating and a 115 defensive rating for those of you guys who are listening. 120 being like, we're humming on all centers off as cylinders offensively. And the 115 being like, we are a solid defense, which I think is all they really need to be if they can reach that level

offensively. Well, the defense has been incredible ever since Stock Rivers took over post deadlines so far. They have a 120 offensive rating and a 105 defensive rating. And if they can sustain that, forget about it. Now we're talking about a team that's on the same tier with Boston

and Denver. Now, we'll see it's too small of a sample size to really judge it at this point, but they are on track to hit those specific markers that I'm going to be watching here down the stretch of the season. Number three, the Oklahoma City Thunder. They had an undefeated week. They beat the Clippers, the Wizards, and the Rockets.

Over this span, a 126 offensive rating and a 102 defensive rating, that's outrageous, plus 24 net. Really impressive win over the Clippers just ran them off the floor in the third quarter. They scored 36 points in transition. All five starters scored at least 12 points. They blocked 11 shots. The Clippers had no shot guarding them in ball screens. The Thunder scored 1.48 points per possession in pick and rolls, including pass.

which is outrageous. They had 1.16 points per half court possession in that game. So just completely picked the clippers apart, big week for them. Number two, the Denver Nuggets. They look laser-focused coming out of the break. They had an undefeated week as well. Keep half-court two-way dominance that we expect from Denver and that win against Golden State last night.

They got hit with some haymakers in that game too, and it just didn't matter. Clay Thompson was red-hot earlier in the game, and Golden State's been a famously good third-quarter team, and it just didn't matter. And then Nicole Yokic, with a preposterous 32.16 rebounds and 16 assists in that game, only been done three other times in NBA history. James Hardin had a 53, 16, and 17 once, which is completely ridiculous. And then Oscar Robertson did it twice back in the old days.

Number one, though, the Boston Celtics beat the Bulls and the Knicks this week to extend their streak to eight games. I really thought the Knicks game in particular was a positive step for them. We've talked a lot about the NICs offense as of late as it pertains to their kind of shot selection and them leaning too much on the perimeter and not getting enough easy stuff around the basket. Well, they had 58 points in the paint against the Knicks. They only averaged 46 points in the paint per game, which is 27th in the NBA. We did a deep dive on this just a few days ago. And if you guys remember, I talked about specific things, four specific things that they could do

to up their points in the paint, running out for layups and dives. dunks. They had seven possessions against the Knicks where they ran out and transitioned and made a two-point shot. Hosting up for bully ball shots at the rim instead of constantly fading away. Jaylon Brown is a guy who's a really good fade-away jump shooter over both shoulders. I thought he set the tone early in the first half back, like backing guys down and getting layups at the rim out of the post. And then Chris Opsborzegis and Al Horford also had post-up baskets right around the him. The third one was cutting instead of spotting up all the damn

time. So like again, spotting up, an important thing to do. Three point shots have high value, but when a defender turns back on you and helps, you can also get a 100 point shot. Or 100% shot. That was funny. Okay. You get 100% shot, which is

if you cut back door, you can get something easy around the basket. And again, like, a really good spot-up shooter, the best in the world, are going to convert spot-up possessions at like 1.5. points per possession, right? 1.4 points per possession. I think that's where Norman Powell's at this year.

It's usually in that 1.3, 1.4 range. But like a backdoor cut for a layup is going to get you two points the vast majority of the time. And so it's not something that's open all the time, but when you see those opportunities, you can get baskets there. Drew Holiday had a basket on,

I think it was a Jalen Brown post up where he cut along the baseline when he saw his man turn his head instead of waiting at the three-point line. Jalen Brown had to cut off of the left wing out of a, I think it was a Porzingis post up, just slashed down the middle of the floor. They hit him. He had an easy lay. That's a great way to generate points in the paint in the flow of the offense. Then the last one was crashing the offensive glass. They had 11 points

on offensive rebound putbacks in this game. They typically only average six per game. So just scaling up in some specific possession types to drive some more offense in the paint to add more offensive versatility. They also hit 15 threes in this game. But they also added some versatility. They were able to score in the paint more effectively than they have for most of the season. I thought it was a really encouraging game for the Celtics. They are at number one and in our power rankings for God knows how many consecutive weeks now. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

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

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

athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-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's big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all 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 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. All right, let's move on to our mailbag. Hey, Jason, can you discuss how you would suggest defending a team like Denver? You always mention about how fluent and unstoppable Denver's offenses. But if you had to strategize a defensive game plan for Denver, how would you do that?

Awesome job in the show. I always enjoy your basketball knowledge, best in the business. Thank you so much for the kind words. So here's the deal. As you mentioned, not really a good option. And most of it has to do with personnel too. Like if you are a team that has, you know, really, really bad perimeter defense and really, really bad, like not, don't have the quality of help defender,

or I shouldn't say help defender, post defender to really match up with Nicole Yokic. You might have to be just really sharp in your double teaming in rotations, right? But if you have ball personnel in the post and on the perimeter, it might reflect differently. In the event, let's just say that I have an average NBA defense. I'll just pick a particular matchup, for example.

Let's say the Golden State Warriors. If I was coaching the Warriors, and I was trying to get stops against the Denver Nuggets, what I would do is I would try as often as possible to make Nicole Yokic and Jamal Murray score. Now, here's the thing. They will do it sometimes. They did it last night in large doses.

The Boston game, the game in Boston, where Jamal Murray and Nicole Yokic just made shot after, shot after, after shot after shot. But in my opinion, your best chance to beat Denver is Nicole Yokic and Jamal Murray hopefully fatigued. at some point in starting to miss shots because tough shot making is all about leg strength and getting lift in physicality, right? And so in my opinion, I would rat that there's there's,

there's two specific reasons why I would rather try to defend Murray and Yokich one on one and two versus sending multiple defenders. One fatigue, like I just mentioned, wear them out, hopefully they miss shots, but two, it keeps the other three players out of rhythm. So if for whatever reason the ball does end up in a Michael Porter Jr.'s hand in a transition three situation, or the ball does end up in post up of Aaron Gordon on a random possession here or there. Maybe just because they haven't touched the ball as much in that particular game as they usually do, they won't be as confident as in rhythm as they usually are. And again, that strategy that I'm, the strategy that I'm pitching, which is basically defending them two on two and one

on one and just forcing them to make tough shots, teams have tried that against Denver and it doesn't work. So I'm not trying to see you're in act like I've solved Denver. But as a a, like if I was a coach, thinking about it from the standpoint of what strategy I would want to implement over the course of a playoff series, I would try to leave them on an island as much as possible. But there's another side to that. I also am a big believer in disguising coverages, flipping coverages, trying to disrupt rhythm just by keeping them off balance. So like, I would probably do a good amount of two on two, one-on-one coverage, but I probably would have Looney on the ball with Raymond roaming on the backline sometimes ignoring Aaron Gordon

to offer more help. Yokich was killing Looney with the chicken wing drop step in that. game. And it's like he needs to be chicken wing drop stepping right into Dremong Green, just like they're ready, physical, trying to get a deflection, something like that, right? I throw his own looks at him. I would, like, I would do all sorts of things and randomly blitz Jamal Murray like five times a game. You know, like, you just just try to find ways to kind of just keep them off balance a little bit. But the primary coverage that I would go with is a two on two or one on one with my best on ball defender on Jamal chasing over the top and with my most physical post defender on Nicole Yokic. And just be like, okay, yeah, that's a really tough.

shot you hit, got to keep making them. But again, I'm not trying to pretend like that's going to work. Hi, Jason, Big Fan of your show, keep up the work. We all know that Yokic is by far the best player in the world today and maybe has been for two plus years. But how does this version of Yokic compare to the best versions of other great players in the last 10 to 15 years? Hard to pick him over Prime LeBron, who would beat him in most categories apart from half court offense, but do you think this version of Yokic is better than any version of Kady and Steph?

I think this version of Yokic is much better than Katie and Steph. To put it simply, Katie and Steph, neither of them ever had a point in time where you could definitively state they were the best player in the league. There were Kevin Durant fans during the prime of his career who thought he was better than LeBron. And a lot of those people were just people who didn't like LeBron. And then there was Warrior fans. Like Warriors fans think Steph is the best player in the world and has been for the better

part of a decade. But you were not finding many people outside of the Golden State fan base that thought Steph Curry was the best player in the world. That's the difference between Nicole Yokic and those guys. Like, like, I would, I'd venture to guess if I hold a hundred random NBA fans of all 30 NBA fan bases, including some casual fans that don't really have a team, I'd venture to guess more than 90% of them would say Nicole Yokic is the best player in the world. That just never was the case for Steph Curry, and that just never was the case for Kevin

to rant. So you have to go back to guys like LeBron, Kobe, MJ. Like, like, here's the thing. Yokich isn't on that level. because he hasn't accumulated the accomplishments yet, but he is on that trajectory. Nicole Yokic is very firmly on a goat-level trajectory. It's just a question of whether or not he can sustain this dominance

over the course of the next decade. But if he does, like, if Nicole Yokic sustains his dominance, and what is he, like, 26, 27 years old now, if he goes like six or seven years and wins, you know, four titles, four additional titles, and wins, you know, one or two more, MVP's like he just automatically cracks into that like top five six players of NBA history you know and Steph has gotten into that conversation because of his longevity and his accumulation of

accolades but again there was never a version of Steph Curry where definitively around the league everyone thought he was the best player in the world like I briefly got on that train in like 2022 but it didn't last it just it's just one of those things where you got to you got a you got a compliment Nicole Yokich on the dominance. The dominance is just like, like literally you watch him and you're like, wow, this dude's just way better than everybody. Now again, the dominance has to extend season to season to season. Like if Yokich goes into the postseason this year and gets outplayed by somebody and gets beat,

you know, that question changes. But I do think, I do think the overarching opinion of the basketball community is that Nicole Yokic is by far the best player in the world right now. Do you know why Curry has struggled to score against Denver in the last two years? years. I find it funny that that KCP keeps clamping his ass up and he really isn't doing anything. So

I don't think it really, here's then, KCP is a really good perimeter defender. I'm not trying to undercut that, but I don't think it's any one thing that's slowing curry down. I think it has to do with just the configuration of Denver's defense. Denver's backline, Denver's defense has

good on-ball personnel at the forward position and in the guard spot, right? Like KCP and Aaron Gordon. But the flip side of that is like their other guys, they're all just like do their job guys. So for instance, guys like Michael Porter Jr. and Nicole Yokich are really good help defenders, right? And so as long as they can stay in help, they can be a really impactful defense. But the problem is is Golden State doesn't have enough off ball offensive talent to consistently punish help. And so Steph Curry is in this predicament where Denver's defense is kind of built to slow him down because they can have

KCP just ball pressure the hell out of him, be super physical off the ball. and they can trap and hedge in all of his ball screens, and there's just not enough offensive talent to make them punish, to punish them on the back line because Aaron Gordon is an excellent help defender, and Michael Porter Jr. is an excellent help defender. Nicole Yokich is really active with his hands and ball screens and is really good at reading the Golden State off ball actions and jumping in front of them.

He had a bunch of steals last night, right? So, like, I don't blame Curry for that. I just think it's a bad matchup for the team, and it manifests in Curry offensive struggles. next one my man hates torrents um i had uh my producer uh one of our producers paul was complaining i mean joking about this last night i want to be clear i don't have any issue with torrents i actually was really excited when the lakers signed him this summer i don't blame him at all for what's happened to the season this is a textbook example of a guy who for like the better part of

a half decade was a bench player in the NBA that's what he is he's a bench NBA and darvin ham has miscast him as a high, you know, a high minutes, in many cases, starting forward. And he just has struggled there because that's not what his place. I want to be clear, I have no issues with Torian Prince. By all indicators, he's a great guy who's really coachable and plays hard. He's just being, there's, I talk about slotting a lot on this show. And this is like intentional horse slotting from the Lakers because they have better players than him that they can play better in higher minutes.

But Torium Prince is being slotted into a role. that's kind of above what he's capable of. If you slot him properly, then all of a sudden things start to make more sense. All right, four more questions, and then we're done. Hey, love the show, and I've been watching for so long that even if I don't watch the games every day, I'll still watch your show. Thank you again.

Even though you don't cover the lower teams in the league, what do you think happened to Jordan Poole? His work ethic was insane from being a terrible player's first two years to being a key piece in the finals run. He also led the Warriors as the number one when Curry was out. He can easily be the number one, so what's up with him? I love the guy, but it's hard to getting moved to the bench on the Wizards.

I am so not off the Jordan Pool train yet. I think he is a really, really good combination of like Ede with skill, but also audacity, which I think is actually a good thing when it comes to guards. I don't think his success in Golden State was an accident. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I tweeted them out the other day because I kind of had, the reason why I pulled this question is I was actually thinking about this other day. but like for three straight seasons in golden state before he went to was like a good efficient score and you're right like he led the units in most cases when step was off there were stretches

where step got hurt and he carried the team to to being good enough to kind of float the ship so like a couple of things i i attribute it to two things one he's a young guard who just got paid so like think about all the think about where your headspace was those of you guys who are older think about where your headspace was when you were in your early 20s and your priorities and all that kind of stuff. He's got, he's learning how to be a pro in a lot of ways. And, you know, like,

I just think it's way too early to jump off that bandwagon. And the second piece of it, the Warriors, the Wizards are a shit show. Like, what if we took Jordan Poole and we dropped him in Dallas in like, in like Jaden Hardy's role? And he was like the third ball handler for the Dallas Mavericks.

You don't think he'd be awesome there? I think he'd be awesome there. So like, part of it's just bad organization, bad team. And then another part of it is like he's got to grow up a little bit. He's got to grow up a little bit and kind of tighten up his decision making, tighten up like his overall like shot selection and just his approach

to the game. And another big thing with Jordan Poole is like I think he makes things unnecessarily difficult on the floor sometimes. And so just by kind of like learning how to identify the easy ways that he can impact when leaning more into those and using his like, you know, that audacity that I was talking about more

as a counter rather than as like the foundational part of his offense. I think that would go a long way to turning his slump around. I had multiple comments along this line. Pretending like a deep drop will work against Boston is pretty funny. Not going to lie. I hope the Bucks try it. So I'm not going to sit here and pretend like the Bucks can't beat a deep drop. Of course they can't. Derek White can hit pull-up threes. Jaila Brown can hit pull-up threes. Jason Tatum can hit pull-up threes. Some Boston fans in the comments rightly pointed out that a great counter to drop coverage is a pick and pop with

Chris Sporzings. The reason why I talked about it is because the Celtics have a tendency to occasionally go very cold. And so, like I said, if I was coaching against Boston, and by the way, I want to be clear up front, I don't think the Bucks are going to beat the Celtics in a series. I've picked Boston ever since that early stretch of the season when Milwaukee really struggled. If Boston played Milwaukee in a series tomorrow, I'd pick Boston every single time. I'm talking about that would be their best chance to play Boston into their worst tendencies. would you be incredibly shocked

if Tatum and White just missed a bunch of pull-up jump shots and Porzingis only shot 32% on picking Pop 3s instead of 38% or 42% or something like that and they had a few cold nights and all of a sudden it's a series tied at 2 and there's a game in Boston and they start 3 for 15 from 3 and all of a sudden Milwaukee's up 7 and Janice is bullying his way to the rim

it's not inconceivable right? That's all I'm saying. I'm saying deep drop is probably Milwaukee's best chance to play Boston into their worst tendencies, which is to settle for jump shots from the perimeter, particularly off the dribble. That's all I meant by that. That doesn't mean it's going to work. It's just their best available strategy. Whereas the Knicks and the Heat in particular, they are teams that that actually kind of plays into their strengths. If you let Tyler Harrow and Duncan Robinson come free and clear off the screens all night, that's literally their favorite

way to play. And they're not a team that can beat, you know, switching coverages and things like that, because they're not great at beating guys off the dribble, right? Like, that's kind of what I meant. Jalen Brunson, if you run a deep drop of coverage against him, the dude's going to average 37, 38 points a game in a series because that's just, that's like his best way to play the game, right? That's all I meant by that. And I, Celtics fans to have real, like, Celtics fans have really struggled to differentiate the difference between like me talking about what they need to do to win the title versus criticism. Those are two completely different things. Like all of these teams have, like Denver is the only team that you guys will hear me talk about

that I don't like really nitpick. And it's because I trust them at a different level. But like all the other 29 teams in the league, I cover them the exact same way. Here's what they're good at. Here's what they're bad at. Here's what they need to fix in order to reach their individual ceiling. That's all we're talking about with Boston. For them, it's their shot selection approach trying to get into the paint more. And I don't want to be overarching because I know there's been a lot of Celtics fans that have been, that have not only been receptive to it, but that have also provided really good feedback in the comments that have helped me understand the team better. So like, I'm just more referring to a certain segment of Celtics fans, but I want to be clear.

I'm not trying to be overly negative or undercut their title chances. I think the Celtics would beat the bucks. I'm just literally talking about strengths and weaknesses, which is kind of the point of the show, if that makes sense. Two more. used to love watching you and Newman hoop back in the day. Brandon Newman was my point guard, one of our two point guards at Arizona Christian, my last year playing in college. He ended up making an All-American team the year after I left. He was kind of in and out of the lineup with injuries the year that I was there because he was coming off of an ACL there.

But Brandon Newman was the closest thing that I played with to a guy that kind of played like Chris Paul in terms of just like super methodical pick and roll play with outstanding. passing ability and the ability to hit all of those like kind of in between shots. Brandon's an outstanding player. Shout out to Brandon. If you leave another comment, tell me how you, tell me how you know him. Last one. This is a quote from Jason. The Milwaukee Bucks will never be an elite defense, end quote. Milwaukee Bucks ranks sixth in defense since the Griffin Fire. L.O.L, I think they're looking consistently solid on defense. That's a 15 game sample size for tough opponents. I have said many times on the show that they're defending way better since

Doc Rivers took over the head coaching job. In large part, they're just competing better. Jay Crowder and Malik Beasley are doing a better job on the perimeter than they've been getting early in the season. That said, an elite defense is about personnel. An elite defense is like Minnesota, who has Anthony Edwards and Jada McDaniels, like two top-tier perimeter on ball defenders,

and Rudy Gober a top-tier rim protector. The Bucks have an elite defensive front line, but their perimeter personnel is average at best and closer to below average. What that means is they will have stretches 10, 15 games at a time, where they defend better by defensive rating, but to me, an elite defense is about personnel. I don't think Milwaukee needs to be an elite defense to win the title because I think they can be a transcendently elite offense.

So it's not about what their ultimate ceiling is. I think this team, what they're doing right now in this ranking sixth and defense since the Adrian Griffin firing, they are building out the good defensive habits that will give them the best chance of being a good enough defense when they get to the postseason to beat the best teams in the league. But I think you're fooling yourself if you think Milwaukee is one of the best defenses in the league, just given their personnel. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, I appreciate you guys for supporting the show. No show tomorrow. I'm headed up to Northern Arizona to do some skiing for just the day.

We'll be back on Wednesday for some game breakdowns and probably another mailbag. So drop some more mailback questions. 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of too. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.