The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 – NBA Playoff Reactions

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

Colin reacts to NBA playoff action as the Nuggets and Pacers even their respective series. Colin says the Knicks don't have the talent to compete this year, but the future might be interesting.See 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. 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

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Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver 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, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

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or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. To Fox Sports Radio. All right. Here we go. It is a Monday. Live in Los Angeles, it's the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening,

thanks for making us part of your name. J. Mack, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, one hour, plenty of bolt from now. How about Denver, the heart of a champion? We thought they were cooked. I thought it was over. I thought it was over. Yeah. Now it's Minnesota's done, right?

You don't want to leapfrog too much with. Well, that feels over. It's what coaching looks like. We've seen this with the Warriors a couple of times. Remember the Celtics a few years ago had that where they looked like they had the Warriors on the map. Yeah, it's crazy watching that game. It looked like a totally different year than what we saw a week ago.

Plus three days off in between games. Kind of sort of helped a little bit. Yeah, let's start with that. Minnesota, this year was a great defensive team. Top of the league, great defensive team. And in the first two games in Denver, nuggets, lethargic, were not ready for the physicality and the intensity and the relentlessness of the T-Wolves. The underdogs came in through a big punch and knocked Denver down. But then they got three days off, full days, and they heard for three days from guys like us, people like us, how bad they are, they're cooked, they're terrible.

and that stuff you always find out later. You know, coaches, you know, they edit up clips and they show the team in a reel over and over and over. Denver rebooted. They're the more talented offensive team, much more offensive skill. You know, between Joker and Gordon and Porter and Murray, all those guys could drop 30 on any night. They rebooted and they turned a defensive series into a who's more skilled series, dusted themselves off, went to the corner, got to live. advice and the series

now looks like a mismatch. It went from defensive intensity in the first two games to offensive skill. And outside of Ant Minnesota really can't match up. They were not a great offensive team this year. Ant has become a great offensive player. Carl Anthony Towns

terrible yesterday has been hit and miss in his career, though he's very gifted. But there was nothing inherently wrong with Denver when they were down 02. It just looked like they weren't ready to play and couldn't match up physically. the length of the T-Wolves, the aggressiveness, but they had the same coach. It's not an old roster falling apart.

They didn't have any key injuries. They just weren't quite ready for the series. And again, it shows how valuable coaching is. You go back to that Warriors Celtics final. After three games, the Warriors look cooked. Okay, Steve Kerr, Heart of a Champion, fly cross country, a lot of time together, make some tweaks. and from that point forward, Warriors go into Boston, win the game, win the series. It totally flipped the series.

So Denver this year, 0 and 10, when they score under 100 points. So they just had to figure out, they may not be as good defensively as Minnesota. They had to get the offense right. They needed several days off, practice, film work. They're 0 and 10 when they score under 100. So they had to get the offense cooking, and they had to get the offense cooking, and they that's most notably the Joker, who has been in the last two games, unbelievable. Gordon goes 10 for his first 10 yesterday.

So we knew Minnesota is the better team in this series defensively. But we also knew offensively Denver's got four offensive players, all capable, all in their prime. It just didn't look like they were ready for the wrestling match in the first two games in Denver. So they got up from the mat and the coach said sometimes champions, Get rattled. They never quit. I think when we were leaving Denver, a lot of people, I don't think in Denver, but a lot of people were, you know,

understand it'll be so, saying the series is over. And, you know, to come up here and evened it up on the road, we've played good basketball, and we know that they're going to come out very spirited, just like Anthony Edwards did tonight. We knew he was going to do that. Hopefully we can use that momentum of winning two in a row and to go back and try to go up three to two.

Really good coaching. we saw it with Steve Kerr and the Warriors. The defensive team won the wrestling match for the first two. The last two games in Minnesota did not even look like the first two games in the series. The T-wolves, by the way, equally well-coached. So what does it flip back to now that they moved a mile high? I don't know. My guess is, though, throughout the history of the league,

defensive-led teams can win a lot of games, but it's an offensive skill league, and Denver now looks like they're in control. So the Knicks got pasted. First of all, I mean, they're missing all sorts of players. But there is something to be said that hustle is important, toughness, intensity. They really, really matter. And the Knicks have a lot of that.

But those minutes add up, and we kept saying, when's the damn going to break? Like, how long can you be led by a dominant, ball-dominant point guard who's playing virtually all the minutes? How long can Josh Hart play with this much heart and produce double his career averages? Like at some point, when does it end? That was yesterday. That game was never competitive. So, listen, I don't even think Nick fans think they're a great team. They're a great story, and they have a lot of heart.

But again, you need talent and skill. The Eastern Conference is bad. This is about as bad as it's ever been. And then you add on the fact that players like Dame, and Janus were hurt, and they scraped and clod their way to a couple of wins. But again, when your scoring comes, almost all of the key points come from a ball-dominant point guard. I've seen it with Damon Portland.

I've seen it with Westbrook teams. I've seen it with hardened teams. The Warriors were different with Steph. It wasn't about Steph being ball-dominant. That was never the issue. It was about ball movement, off-ball movement. That's where Steph's a legend along with his show. shooting. And so the Warriors never got into that ball dominant stuff. It was always about moving

the pieces. Draymond Green could have the ball. He could be the catalyst. So it didn't wear down Steph Curry. There were other scores. There was Clay Thompson. You know, at one point, there was Kevin Durant. It wasn't all. By the way, in the last year or two, it's become too much about Steph and the Warriors don't do anything. So Brunson was averaging 35 a game in the playoffs. Number one usage rate, you just kept asking, how long? It's not being a hater to say, yeah, this thing doesn't feel like it's sustainable. That's being realistic. Now, the good news for the Knicks, the really good news, because this wasn't the case for the last two decades.

They look really well run. They actually have a culture, like a Miami Heat culture. They have a Villanova culture. They play hard. They've got to be very careful when they go to get the next star that they don't give up too many pieces. Can you keep OG? You'll keep Brunson, but could you keep Josh Hart? You're going to have to give something up to get another high-end player.

They'll move off Randall, maybe Mitchell Robinson. Maybe they'll get different size. But in the end, they look well-run, they've got a culture, and maybe they beat Indianapolis. Maybe they beat the Pacers. But working really hard matters a lot. You can work as a comedian all day writing jokes. At some point, you have to get on the stage and be funny.

you can work really, really hard as a basketball team. At some point, skill and talent takes over, and the Knicks don't have a ton of it. But they're well run, they've got a culture, they fight like hell, they're fun to watch, they're easy to root for, and maybe they win the series. But they're 6 and 0 when they win the rebounding battle, and they're 0 and 4 when they don't. So that's a pretty good indication. Resilience, toughness, working hard is sort of their thing, Jalen Brunson, after an ugly loss. I mean, we can talk about

fresh our legs and we can give us all the the pity that we want yeah, we're short-handed but that doesn't matter right now. We have what we have and we need to go forward with that. So there is no we're short-handed.

There is no excuse whatsoever. If we lose, we lose. Also, J-MAC sent this to me last night. The NFL over and unders are official. Now, Jay-Mack and these are my favorite things in the world. I sat there. I was going to go to bed last night, and I sat there and went to sleep.

I came out, I got myself a drink, and I just did over and under talk to myself for about 45 minutes to an hour. I'm sorry for setting that in. No, it's absolutely great. So we'll have that before the end of the hour. Colin Wright, Colin wrong, top of next hour. And the NFL did announce their opening game, didn't waste any time. Ravens, Chiefs, opening game of the season.

They're not going to subtly move into it, you know, hold off on the good games. The NFL's like, yeah, here's the Super Bowl champs or any MVP. You guys square off game one. Very, very much like NFL football. Not a bad way to start the season, yeah. Did you see where they had the jets, by the way? I did. Yeah, they were a little light.

A little heavy. I don't know about that. I've got three teams you should strongly consider betting the over and three teams bet the under. I have a crazy jet stat or two from a Jets fan. I had to run these up the flagpole, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is real. I'm not going to hit them with you this early in the show. We've got to pace ourselves a big week, but I'm starting to get excited about the Jets. I'm sorry.

I just want to let you know about that. All right. Coming up next, would everybody stop freaking out? Ant looks a little like Michael Jordan. Let's get over it and enjoy it. I'll talk about that coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays, noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app.

Hey, it's Ben, host to The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor. It would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mallor show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture, if you will, a world, when we chat with captains of industry, in media, sports and more every week, explore some amazing facts about human nature and my life.

Listen to the Fifth Hour with Ben Mather on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're 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 Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here. unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

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

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, We get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway.

Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. I do think it's interesting sometimes the media spend so much time trying to protect people that don't need protecting. If you're going to be the face of the league or a star quarterback, you're going to get criticized. It's not going to help them coddling them. This is why the NBA has so many of its problems like load management. Stop coddling. Coach K is the latest to join on Aunt Edwards. Let's slow down on the Michael Jordan comparisons.

Nobody's saying he's going to go six for six. But they do share some qualities, and that's okay. The league would like another MJ. The fans want it. The TV networks want it. The sport wants it. Everybody's craving another Michael Jordan, especially now the league's gotten European.

The TV ratings aren't very good. And we got a little bit of another Jordan. It was called Kobe Bryant. They sort of had the same gate the way they walked, initially how they talked. I mean, it was like Kobe was imitating him and it was about 85, 90 percent of Michael Jordan. Brilliant, offensively, aggressive, could talk a little trash, intimidating. But Aunt, similarly, like Michael Jordan, burst onto the scene after a quick college career and is impossible to stop, is fast, is vertical, but like Jordan in year four,

runs into a much deeper roster, the nuggets like Jordan ran into the Celtics and the Pistons, and Michael just could not get through those rosters until they got the right coach and the right teammates, and that's probably what Ant will deal with as well. Carl Anthony Towns is probably not the teammate that he holds a trophy with. But NFL general managers who I've known through the years, I've asked them a lot of questions about the draft, and one of the things they often demand from their scouts, who's a player's comp? Who does he play like? They demand it. So this is discussion being held everywhere.

There's no reason to be afraid of it. You know why Wemby doesn't have a comp and we haven't tried to force one? Because there's nobody like him. And Shaq didn't really have a comp. and Magic, a six, eight and a half point guard, didn't really have a comp. And LeBron, the Swiss Army knife, ball handling, passing, scoring. LeBron didn't really have a comp. He's been compared to MJ because of his accolades, because of his productivity,

because of his dominance. Their games aren't much alike. In fact, LeBron, I would argue plays at times more like Magic than he does Michael. Nobody's forcing this. We don't have comps. I don't remember a comp for Tiger Woods or Bryce Harper or Wayne Gretzky. Some people are unicorns. Tom Brady was not a unicorn.

He was efficient, prototypical size, arm, not super twitchy. But Kobe and MJ shared a lot of qualities. It felt like at times Kobe was imitating MJ, and Aunt isn't. But his vertical nature, he's aggressive, he'll talk trash, he's got a great first step, he can finish at the rim. He just looks a lot more athletic than everybody on the floor that's also an NBA player. And that's okay. That's okay.

He's trash talking with Jamal Murray. And, you know, Michael had those with Isaiah and the Pistons and Larry Bird and the Celtics. And that's what we loved about Michael. And it's what people kind of see in Ant. And it's okay. Andy Reid said when he was looking for a quarterback, I got to find my next Brett Favre. I got to find the next guy that's a guy that's a guy. gunslinger and he got it in Mahomes.

Mahomes didn't need protecting. Either does Caitlin Clark or Caleb Williams to get to this level and to be this great you're tough, you're focused, you're defiant. You can handle Twitter.

Here's Ant. Anthony, did you have any words with Jamal or any of the nuggets at the end of the game there look like? Oh yeah, yeah. I just told us that as that's what we love that. Keep Keep talking that. That's what we like. Well, I love it.

You know, so, you know, he ain't saying that back, but I'm pretty sure you heard me. They hurt me. Yeah, we live for that. You think that guy's going to fold with MJ comps? You want me to run that again? You think that guy's going to fold with comps on talk shows? Nah, I'm going to take a hard pass on that opinion. J. Mack with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I just like Anthony Edwards a lot. He's very like him. And the reason you like him is that comment. He's a bad dude. Again, the media doesn't have a lot of alpha.

So the media is like, hey, you don't treat young people. Caitlin Clark's fine. Ant's fine. These are defiant great athletes. Maybe you as a blogger couldn't handle these opinions. But I think Ant loves it. He's like, come on. He's built for this.

I'm built for this. Did you see when his team was down like 15? He's like, guys, jump on my. back, I'm carrying us. And he scored like every point felt like in the second half. It's unbelievable. Nobody needs protection. Nobody's saying he's going to go six for six. Nobody's saying that Ant's shoe line

is going to be so popular that if he ever wins a title, a college football national champion will wear his shoe line. Right? Like nobody's saying that. We're just saying Kobe looked a little like MJ. And in the end, he got five titles. And Ants got a lot of the aggressive, vertical, dynamic, trash-talking nature,

mid-range game. It's like, that's a little much. He clearly studied Jordan's moves, or Kobe, whichever what Kobe studied Jordan. They look like clones on the court. I'm not saying, like you said, he's not going to win six, but his game looks a lot similar. He spent a lot of time looking at Kobe and MJ, I would imagine. His game illustrates that. So the comp was inevitable, natural, and he's probably very comfortable with it.

So I spent a lot of time watching guys shoot threes, so I would go outside and shoot threes. You're like Larry Bird minus seven inches. You really are. I'm a brown Larry Bird. That's what I am, basically. All right. Let's start with Caleb Williams. The Caleb Williams era has officially begun in Chicago.

He's taking part in rookie minicamp. Caleb will have a lot of weapons to play with. New Bears OC, Shane Waldron, spoke to how he plans on getting his QB ready for week one. I think for me the things that we're pouring into right now is just the understanding of the big picture of the game, right? And all the intricacies and the nuances that, you know, first of all, between college and the NFL, being able to start with that ground floor approach and build that repertoire of his knowledge up as we're going. And so for me, also being able to lean on Kerry Joseph

and the rest of our offensive staff, to me, this is always a collaborative effort. So it's going to take all of us to help him along the way and everyone has great individual strengths that they can bring to the table. Very exciting. They're over under... Go ahead.

Look at it. I knew you were going to look at it. Okay, let's look at the Bears over under. Remember, they won seven games last year. People think, like, because they had the number one pick, they were a dumpster fire. They won seven games. I think it's a very respectable eight and a half. But it's juiced.

You've got to pay to get, you know, a little bit extra juice to get that eight and a half. I think this is a nine or ten win team. I think that's reasonable. I don't think this is your usual rookie quarterback coming into a beaten down team. this is a really uniquely gifted rookie quarterback, almost like aunt, you know, uniquely gifted, young, but with really good weapons. And, you know, I don't love the ownership group, but, you know, the GM has proven over the last year that he knows what he's doing. So it's first time in a long time, you watch the Bears and go, oh, they could get into a, they could get into a fireworks show, you know, a track meet with the Packers. and could compete.

The Vikings are seven win over-under total. Vikings seven, so bears eight and a half. And listen, I know that's two rookie quarterback. The Vikings over under six and a half. Six and a half? Yeah, which is, you know, it's weird. Is that too low for your guy, Sam Darnold, the hero? I'll get into my over-unders before the end of the hour.

Can't wait. Can't wait. Next up, let's go with the Dallas Cowboys. Again, you know, I'm not a fan of these owners talking all the time. Well, Stephen Jones just keeps piping up. And he's talking about CD Lamb with a big extension coming up. And he suggested the team would like a deal done before the start of camp, but adds that Lamb probably has eyes on other players around the league. Sounds like Lamb maybe is waiting for Justin Jefferson to get his money.

Lamb has already been absent from voluntary offseason activities. And June 4th, mandatory sessions begin. probably not going to be a good look if CD Lamb doesn't show up for mandatory sessions and says, I don't have my contract yet. Sorry, guys. Dallas, a lot of stuff swirling. I remember earlier this summer, well, this spring, you had the Eagles falling back. I think because of their draft and free agency, I'm back on board with the Eagles. Same with the Texans. I thought the Texans and Eagles would pull back and then they had good free agency, good drafts, and I'm like, nope, they'll be fine. Cowboys of the team. A lot of questions about Dallas.

I don't worry about C.D. Lamb, he'll be fine. But I'm saying if he's unhappy and not showing up, Dax's going to be there. It's just like, who might throw me to? And he already has no running game. Lost Tyron Smith. It's been a long time since the Cowboys had like a 6 and 11 season or, you know, bad season. You know how Jerry will respond.

Hey, Dion Sanders, why don't you get out of college football? Come on down to Dallas. Briggs Chidor with you. We'll need a quarterback with Dak done. Final story is a big game. tonight in the NBA. The MAVs, OKC, it's game four. Mavs won game two, then went to home and won game three and a good game. PJ Washington, huge monster game. Cullen, I saw a stat that he is the NBA leader in the playoffs in corner three's made and attempted. That is all Luca and Kyrie

creating for Washington. And I know you love OKC and they're a team of the future, number one seed. But you notice the usage rate by Luca is plummeting. Is that Kyrie's taking over, which is what we've said, you've got to get the ball out of Lucas' hands. You can't, otherwise he's James Harden. He's just exhausted. Well, suddenly, in their last two games, they've taken the ball to Lucas' hands. He can score 25 anytime he wants, 28 with or without the ball in his hands all game, and they're highly effective and highly efficient offensively. Well, this is scary for O'KC. I saw a stat that Shea Gildjolders-Alexander had a season

high, 29 isos in game three. Guys, we can't do anything. Let's just give it to our best play. He had 11 ISOs in the fourth quarter. And he wasn't cooking either. Okay, you got to give Jason Kidd credit. So again, Denver in the first

two games of the series was overmatched physically, and they pivoted to make it more of an offensive series. They met their physicality. Jason Kidd has tweaked. He's listened. He looked at usage rates. He's getting the ball out of Lucas' hands, letting

Lucas sometimes catch and shoot, Kyrie taking more controls, now suddenly the Mavericks are better. So the advantage to having a seven-game series is that you can be awful on Tuesday and great on Friday. You go to March Madness, you go to the NFL playoffs, you are what you are on that afternoon.

So what you do see in these, you don't see huge swings generally in a March Madness game. You can kind of feel like who the team. team is, what do they do well. But you go to these NBA playoff series and you see this a lot with the good coaches and Jason kids done it like, we have a real problem and they literally stop doing it and you see massive pivots by coaching staffs. So Dallas, well, why didn't you like Dallas?

Because I didn't like the old Dallas. This Dallas, which is we've been waiting for all year, this is a very effective Dallas. And defensively, in game one, they let the three, they were like, we got a double Shea in the lane and he's just kicking. out to guys for open threes. That hasn't been there the last two games. So OKC is kind of scrambling. And listen, I like Chad Holmgren as much as you do. This is a young kid in a tough playoff series. Gafford and PJ Washington are pushing him around. That's right. And that generally in the playoffs, young bigs get pushed around. You're talking, Holmgren came into this league. He's a fighter, but you're just... He's a good player. We like him. He's got upside. He's going to be

a multi-tam All-Star. I think, obviously, if Dallas Woods tonight, it's over, right? Up 3-1. Well, if it's up 3-1, then they win tonight, they would... It's over. OKC's not winning three straight against... Right, right, right, right. It's 2-1. It's 2-1, and if they win tonight, they go up 3-1. That's a wrap.

Dallas will win the series if they win. This feels like the series, no? Yeah, I mean, again, Denver and the Mavericks pivoted to the right side what will make them effective in the series. And so it's just, these are chess matches. Now, Pacers, Knicks, Less of a chess match because of the injuries to the Knicks? That series is, to me, a lot about health.

If the Knicks can get healthy by tomorrow, then I have a shot. But again, this is a team that limited offensive skill. So you got Rannel out, OG, Mitchell Robinson. And then I don't think Brunson's 100%. So to me, that's a health series at this point. It's not an excuse. It's like the Knicks we're limited to begin with. Now they're all banged up.

There's only so much you can do. Plus for the NBA long series, you can make adjustments, totally tweak things. The drawback is, you know, injuries happen. Guys, we're down. Especially the way the Knicks play. Jay Mack with the News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Heard Lye News. So one of the reasons, and I know the media generally likes to have influence and power, and they don't with the NFL. The NFL basically even calls networks and says, this is what you're going to pay for our games. It's not really a negotiation process. networks would like to think it is, but the NFL basically tells you, here's the deal, here's what we want, and oh, by the way, we can change it halfway through the deal.

But what I love about the NFL is their willingness to tweak. They don't get sentimental or precious. They don't worry about the past like baseball. The best and the biggest is available. They change, they adapt, they put it up front. So they named the Ravens and the Chiefs their opening game. The Super Bowl champs against the reigning MVP. NFL's so good at the TV game.

You know, ESPN tried something called ESPN Classic, and nobody watched. People want now, people want current, people want urgent. You know, multiple networks, including here at Fox, have had to go to baseball numerous times and say, you may want to try this, don't do that, we would do this, create some urgency, create some special. You never have to play that game with the NFL. They get the TV aspect. It is a television show.

So, you know, it's that they name that the opening game. They're not waiting for the season to evolve. It's a big swing, front and center first game. And I think they're going to have Harbaugh in a big game to start the weekend. I wouldn't be surprised if Aaron Rogers returning faces the bills a game. Again, remember last year, the Aaron Rogers Bills game, first Monday night football game. My guess is they'll bring that back. barball come back.

Just look at Chicago and Caleb Williams. Doesn't it feel like they'll put them on the first weekend in a big spot? A Sunday night game, a Monday night game, and that's what the NFL does. Think about baseball. Padres Dodgers first game. They played it in Korea. And it started at 3 a.m. Pacific. Do you think the NFL is going to do that?

So it's just get to the point. get to the plot, you know, great movies, you're Christopher Nolan, Dark Night, opening scene, right? Isn't that it? First thing, out the gate, big plot, here's the hook, hit it, and we go from there. Don't make me sit around and wait for stuff. Oh, well, hold off the big series. Just get to the point in the NFL, Ravens, Chiefs, Lamar Mahomes, LFG.

And that's the way to do it. Don't make me wait around to episode six of Netflix to get to the plot. Colin right, calling wrong, top of next hour. Okay, we'll get to the over-unders. You know, you can bet week to week, but over-unders is a little like fantasy sports. You've got to wait to the end. Some of these I do not even understand.

And I will have a basic theme with my over-unders. And I'll tell you the theme when I'm done with it. See if you can spot it. But some of these, J-Mack, I've already spent the money. I've already bought jet skis. Some of these, it's like easy picking, over unders. How many games will your team win? Casinos have come out.

The people in the desert have come out and laid down the numbers. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 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.

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And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George. but you got to do a little kill.

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade. of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

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

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

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Mr. Kennell Club Dog Show continues tonight at 70s turn on FS1, with greed and group judges. then tomorrow at 7 it's best in show it's all coming your way on fs 1 my dogs love this they'll sit in the couch watch it put it on it's like NBA playoff action for my dogs they absolutely love it so the over under is in the totals the future bets so they come out and they say here's the number will your team win more or less now on average fans tend to bet the overs. Those are called sucker bets.

Generally, you're a little better off doing the under. Everybody's real optimistic. And there's, I mean, it's so hard to even get to 11 wins in the NFL and go 11 and 6. That's hard for Baltimore in San Francisco. I mean, just to give you a sense, Kansas City,

Baltimore and San Francisco have the highest at 11 and a half. And I think outside of Baltimore, I bet the under on Kansas City and San Francisco. You know how hard it is to go 12 and 5 in this league. You have injuries. You have tough road stretches. Everybody seemingly goes to a backup quarterback for a couple of weeks. But there were six that jumped out to me.

Six that didn't make a ton of sense. And I'm not saying they're going to go way over, but if I'm laying my cash, it's over or under. Here we go. So Green Bay, I would take the over nine and a half. This is almost like, that's the number, nine and a half. That's almost like a hedge against Jordan Love. They bring back an offensive coach who's excellent. Jordan Love at the end of last year, clearly a notch better than DAC who people like. They return every tight end and receiver of note.

They'll be better defensively under Boston College head coach Jeff Halfley, and they bring in Josh Jacobs. So they're young, they're dynamic, the NFC's the weaker conference, Jordan Love looked fantastic. this feels like to me a hedge against Jordan Love. And I know the division's better. It's not that much better.

Green Bay is still probably better than Chicago and much better than Minnesota. Take the over on the Packers, 9.5. I would take the under on Dallas, 10.5. I can't see the Cowboys winning 11 or 12 games. They're due for some regression. They've won 12 plus games in each of the last three seasons. now they don't have Tyron Smith.

They don't have much of a run game. They're very C.D. Lamb dependent. They weren't active in free agency. And I think the Eagles and commanders will be better football teams. The other thing is, DAC is 8 and 18 in his career, 8 and 18, when he has to throw the ball 40 or more times. Well, if you don't have a run game and the division's better, you're going to be playing from behind on occasion. I think Dallas under 10 and a half is one of my favorite bets. Rams, I did it last year and won, I'll do it again.

Eight and a half. If it's a quarterback coach weapons league, the Rams are A at all of them. I don't get it. They won last year 10 games with the second youngest roster in the league. And I don't think Seattle is necessarily better. I think they match up well right now with the Niners. they addressed their defensive needs.

Listen, Aaron Donald was really good, but the last two drafts have addressed it very well. They had the most all-rooky selections and did not have a first-round pick last year. It's a really good scouting and drafting organization. They find gems everywhere, eight and a half. I think they have a chance to end up in the NFC championship. That seems criminally low.

Jets, I'd go under nine and a half. offensive line is either rookies or old guys. How many offensive linemen do they have in their prime that are excellent? One, and he's always hurt, Elijah Vera Tucker. They're very dependent on one excellent running back. Sala is a defensive coach. Aaron is a pretty prickly old quarterback with maybe, maybe one great year left. I think he's absolutely past his prime. Salas 18 and 33. Again, tell me the offensive lineman who are in their prime and elite. He's a 40-year-old quarterback coming off an Achilles injury.

I would take the Vikings, maybe not by much, but over six and a half? Didn't they win seven games last year with four quarterbacks? I mean, I know. I know the division's better. But Justin Jefferson is back and he missed seven games last year. I don't think there's a team in the league that's better if you combine coach, tight end, two weapons, left tackle, running back. They're stacked.

And again, a weaker conference, Justin Jefferson's back. They won seven plus games in the last two years. And again, last year did it with four quarterbacks. You don't even have to love Sam Darnel. You don't even have to like him. If he's upright, they can't go seven and ten. with an excellent young coach, that seems bizarrely low. And finally, Saints, I would take under seven and a half.

Older quarterback, defensive coach, Dennis Allen's never proven. He can win big games. The division's absolutely better. Atlanta's absolutely better. Tampa's better. Carolina should have a pulse. I think they finish fourth. They're an aging roster on both sides of the ball.

They didn't do much in free agency like the Cowboys. because they're up against the cap. So if you look at these six teams, what do you see? My overs are young quarterbacks with offensive head coaches. Mostly young quarterbacks. Matt Stafford is just great. My unders are older quarterbacks with like defensive head coaches, except the Cowboys. So again, Jet Saints are really, really sells.

for me. I think Dallas will win about nine. Packers, Ram, Vikings. Again, this is a trend. Offensive coaches, Packers, Rams, Vikings. I like the over. Two of the three unders are defensive coaches. So there you go. Jay Mack, you can push back. I will say this on the Packers. The Packers line is so weird to me that, again, did everybody watch them go to Dallas and house the Cowboys? and then frankly, as the youngest playoff team since the Bills of 1970, go to San Francisco and go toe to toe with them

with all these Hall of Fame level players. So the Green Bay number, I thought it would be 10. I thought there was a chance they'd be in the 10-and-a-half-11 space. That seems weird to me. Are you reading too much into that win over Dallas? High profile game, massive rating. It was a big spot for Dallas. But it was the way they won.

Like for a bunch of young kids, to go on the road to Dallas for the biggest team. Packers, Cowboys, huge TV audience. And for on the road, and for those young players to be that ready for the moment, I don't know. Maybe I'm overvaluing that, to your point, that performance,

but nine and a half, every seat, we talked about this last week, you'll see a line and you're like, what don't I know? What am I not seeing? I don't get it. You can argue with me on all of them, but that one I don't get.

Listen, I think last week you used the phrase dying on a hill. It feels like you've got several hills here. Jets, you're anti-Jets. I get it. You're out on Rogers. I get it. Okay. Damn, I wanted to save some of this stuff, Colin.

So a buddy of mine is a big Jets guy, a big gambler, and he started to look at it. You know the Jets scored 20 offensive touchdowns last season? That's it. Lees in the league. The Jets played with the lead of seven or more points for 68 snaps last season. That's how bad their quarterback situation was. And now you're thinking about Aaron Rogers, Breece Hall, who, by the way, his numbers,

odds are plummeting in terms of, like, offensive player of the year. He was second to McCaffrey in Scrimmage Yards in the NFL, Brees Hall, with no line and no quarterback. And then you add Mike Williams, and then you add Morgan Moses to the line, and Tyron Smith, I know they're not in their prime. But the arrow should be pointing up on the Jets.

If Rogers can stay healthy for the full season, or 15 games, you're going to be way, way wrong on these guys. Remember, now you're talking about a defense, maybe playing with the lead, with an actual lead, something they didn't see last year, and they can tee off the way the Niners. Remember, Salas Niners,

when they got the lead, the defensive end just pin their ears back, and it's a jail break. Do you believe losing teams, Mets, Jets, losing teams, they bail very quickly? Right? Like, if things go sidewise, ways, oh boy, here it comes. The Jets have had eight straight losing seasons.

That's the longest in the league. So to break that culture, you need a wildly transcendent player, a culture changer. Aaron's not in his prime. Aaron's good. He's no longer great. He's good. His last year in Green Bay, he's good. Jordan Love looks better.

So when you have an eight-year stretch of losing, it's like the Clippers. The minute something goes wrong, everybody in the building's like, okay, the sky is falling. It's the opposite in Kansas City where they couldn't get their offense together for two months. Fair. But there's an optimism in Kansas City's building or the New England building when they'd have a bad September. Oh, we'll get this right because they do get it right. The jets are the opposite. The minute they have a two-game skid, hammered in Buffalo, and then get an injury and hammered in Miami,

all of a sudden, here we go again. And so to me, to break through that, the Houston Texans, you have to get a brilliant coach and a brilliant quarterback and kind of shock the world. You can't just go, hey, we're bringing the old quarterback back, eight straight losing seasons. It's not like Aaron's an uplifting sort of figure in a room with young players. Like, that's not his thing. Potentially, he did say to the new young guy that they drafted their wannabe Debo Samuel, hey, you can room with me, you know, this summer. We can get together, get on the same page. I don't know.

I sent you the Rams opponents. Obviously, we'll be able to contextualize all of this Thursday after the schedule comes out. That will be the big, like, I'm sure one or two of these will drop off once you see the schedule. Because we know the opponents, we just don't know the order. And that's huge, especially for like a Chicago, you know? Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, when I look at schedule for the Miami Dolphins, do I get to play Buffalo in Buffalo in September or December? Do I get to play the Jets?

Miami in bad weather is an issue. So the schedule I look at is when does Tua get to go north? If it's early, then I like Miami. If it's late, I'm a sell on Miami. All right. Our number two, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, coming up next. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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 tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the Look Back at it podcast. 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

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

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw,

unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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