The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - The Pacers have a chance

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Jason McIntyre fills in for Colin to make the case that the underdog Pacers have a real chance to pull off the upset against the Thunder. He points out the media coverage surrounding Shedeur Sanders as he fights for reps in Browns OTAs and why people need to accept he will struggle to make the roster, let alone start games this season   Guest: Anthony SlaterSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. and we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear.

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, it's sending me a final Thursday, everybody. Are you as excited as I am? Yeah, everybody. I'm back. It's the herd on Thursday. It's me, Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowherd. Although Colin will make an appearance here in the opening segment.

Oh, you're going to love it. You're going to love it. I'm here today by Alex Curry. Alex, I know you're geeked. I mean, last night, apparently the Stanley Cup happened. Yeah. Oilers taking it, game one, and O-T. Wild.

So that's who the Kings lost, too. So I always kind of like ask myself, is it better if you lose to the team that ends up winning it all? Like, then it's like, okay, that's okay because they ended up winning the whole thing. So it's like they're the champions. Yeah, I was on a nice team. You kind of feel that way.

So, like, as a Kings fan and used to cover the team for a while, it's like, it's okay. It was the champs. Last time, I got into the show, Young Sheldon. Have you seen it? I never really knew about it, but I guess it's old. And my kids started watching Young Sheldon. Listen, no NBA last night. I'm sorry, I'm not watching hockey.

It's Benson's about with the kids. Young Sheldon, good show. I highly recommend it. It's funny. That's funny. We have a great show today. So Tom Pellasaur, NFL Network will come in in the final hour. You're going to want to hear some of his stuff, especially on the Vikings.

who I gassed up this week. And what's happening in Cleveland, which we'll get to shortly. Eddie House. You guys don't want a big Eddie House guy? Eddie House mysteriously ghosting me since the Celtics got bounced by the Knicks. We'll talk to him next hour.

But I've got to start the show, obviously, with the NBA finals, Pacers, Thunder, feel the excitement. Listen, folks, to say O'KC is an overwhelming favorite is an understatement. They are minus 700,

currently to win the series. It was minus eight, some money came in on the Pacers. But essentially that means you want to win $100. You got to bet $700 on OKC. It's dumb. They are massive favorites. Game one, I saw the line was 10.

Are you kidding me? Now, don't just run to bet the Pacers in game one or the series. I will make a case for Indiana. But it kind of sort of feels like a coronation has already begun. I mean, everybody online, anywhere you go, radio, TV, on the internet, everybody's picking O'KC. I haven't seen anyone take the Pacers yet, and why would you? I mean, O'KC won 68 games.

And frankly, did you hear Tyrese Halliburton yesterday at Media Day talking about O'KC? Take a listener to Tyrese Halliburton of the Pacers. They're historically great on both sides of the ball. They have the MVP. I mean, there's so many different things that you could name down the list of why they are so great at what they do and why they're such a great team. You want to go through the best team. You want to go through the best challenge.

So this is the best challenge. And this is the best team of the NBA. It's been the best team of the NBA all year. They're well-coached. They just do everything so well. So there's no shortcuts to beating this team. And we know the odds are stacked against us, but, you know, it is what it is. Geez, the way you hear that, I mean, it's like they could take down the 97 Bulls.

They might sweep the KD Curry Warriors at this rate. Everybody loves OKC. By the way, did you hear OKC 29 and 1 against the East this year? Hello? There's going to be a bloodbast. right? You know it. This is right where the Pacers want to be. Nobody really gave them a chance against Cleveland except this guy. I was one of the few out there who picked the Pacers to take down the calves. Now, I didn't pick them to beat the Knicks. Few did. They were underdogs. And what did they do?

They just went into Cleveland first two games. Give me those. Then they go into New York first two games. I'll take those. And they won the series. And folks, let's just put things in perspective. have you seen the fallout when you lose to the Indiana Paces in these playoffs? So the Pacer's beat the Bucs in the first round. Obviously, Dame went down, obviously not great. And Milwaukee Bucks, all we've heard from them since then is, so where do we trade Janus? Where do we start over? Where do we hit the detonation on this team?

Pacers wiped him out. Then the Pacers beat Cleveland. And there was basically a fan mutiny in Cleveland. Cleveland was the number one scene in the east almost all season. They run away with the conference. Everybody thinks, oh, we can make the finals. And now it's like, oh, my, we lost to the Pacers? We got embarrassed by them.

Do we blow it up? Do we fire the coach? What do we do? Trade Donovan Mitchell? The Pacers are in disarray. And my Knicks, of course, after losing to the Pacers, within three days, Tom Tibino is fired. Wait until you hear some of the reports coming out about Jalen Brunson's dad.

We'll get to those later in the show. Oh, my gosh. Carl Anthony Towns, a scapego. The Pacers do this to you. They shocked the world by shooting 40% from three in the playoffs. Nobody's sniffing that. And they were just a good three-point shooting team this season. I think they were like ninth or tenth in the league.

Now by a mile, they're won. And I know the regular season matchups didn't go their way, but I could counter. Nobody tries in the regular season except OKC. Remember, the Knicks got broomed by the Celtics and then turned the tables in the playoffs. So, like, let's not read too much into OKC destroying Indiana in the regular season. I'm of the belief that the Pacers,

everything OKC does well, Indiana can match at. OKC, you got depth, so do we. Did you notice in the Cleveland series, the Pacers had a different leading scorer in every game? I'm telling you, they run eight or nine deep. I like how they can throw multiple bodies, knee-smith, Nemhard. Coming off the bench, Ben Shepard, the mustache dude,

who doesn't look like much of a player. And then it's like, oh, shucks, he just put the muzzle on Jalen Brunson. for four minutes. Like the Pacers got guys. They push tempo. They can hang with threes. They got depth. They got a great coach who, oh, by the way, is the guy who threw a zone at LeBron and the Heedals in the finals, who threw J.J. Brea at LeBron. Rick Carlisle's got some stuff cooked up. I'm here to tell you, give me the Pacers in six. I know that's not going to be popular in OKC, but they already hate me there. So who cares? All right. Let's move to Cleveland,

which is basically ground zero for NFL OTAs, and the Shadur Sanders drama continues. Folks, listen, you never want to overreact to, can we call it imaginary football in June? I mean, they're not playing with like real effort. It's just basic stuff. And the division that we're seeing is so, I mean, it's massive. The gulf of what you see people saying about Shadur Sanders,

you would think he's ready to start week one. I mean, you see former NFL quarterbacks on social media breaking down every pass. Oh my gosh, look at the movement in the pocket. Look at that cannon. This is why Shedur's the man. You see our very own Colin Coward, who, oh, by the way, is not even on this continent and is checking in on Shadur-Sanders OTAs. This is what Colin Coward put on social media yesterday.

No reason to overwork a future Hall of Famer in OTAs. Let's get him some rest for week one. Obviously, he's saying that in jest, but the whole overwork thing is because, despite all the hype for Shadur, he's the only quarterback on the Browns who wasn't playing with the ones. Kevin Stifansky said, you go over there and work with the backups and the guys who are, you know, off-season FedEx drivers, you know, who are trying to make an NFL roster. That's your speed, Shadour. And the more that Kevin Stafansky does this, I think it,

empowers all the Shadour guys who are putting on their capes say, why is it in Eastar? Why is Kenny Pickett getting reps over Shadour? Well, here's Kevin Stafansky earlier this week on Shadur and the other rookie, Dylan Gabriel. Those guys are doing great. They are both wired to get in early, stay late, put in whatever work is required. They're sponges in the meeting room, which I think is really fun for me. in my vantage point I get to sit there and watch the two young guys look over and there's joe 40 years old won a there's kenny picket just going into year four but first round draft pick that's been on a couple teams

won a super bowl last year there's deshawn had a ton of success in his career uh they can kind of feed off of all those guys so that's the thing i'm really uh it's fun for me to watch them uh get better sometimes just by listening. Did you see? I mean, he's framing Kenny Pickett as a Super Bowl winner who was a former first round pick. Talk to any NFL fan.

And the first word that comes up with Kenny Pickett, oh, bum, he's nothing. Well, come on, give me a break. And Kevin Cefansky says he won a Super Bowl and was a first round pick. You guys need to do some more homework before your crowned Shadour Sanders. And in the morning meeting today,

you know, I'm going all in on Shadour. I'm like, listen, He's not getting first team reps. We need to pump the brakes. And somebody smart said, you know, Shadur is like the latest iPhone that comes out, right? The new iPhone comes out. It's going to be amazing. It might even be legendary.

And then you get the iPhone and it's like, oh, this is cool. It's nothing special. It's not that dramatically different. It's not going to change my life. And I wonder if that's where Shadur is kind of trending. I mean, I mean, the guy's got BeLah. legendary is his motto. He's throwing really lavish NFL draft parties. And he's fourth on the depth chart decidedly. And, you know, the other argument is, well, Jay, they're treating him like

a fifth round quarterback. And I'm like, yeah, that's what they're doing. He wasn't a first round pick. I would have taken him in the first, but I didn't know all the Dion nonsense. Well, Jay, you know, Dak Prescott was a third round pick and he got the start. I'm sorry, Jack Prescott, round pick. This is where it gets real good. So I started looking into Dak. How did Dak start as a rookie? Dack was drafted in the fourth round in Dallas. He started out fourth on the depth chart. These are all the things that needed to happen for Dak Prescott to get started and for him to become now the richest quarterback in NFL history. Kellan Moore, who was the backup to Tony Romo, Kellyn Moore broke his leg in training camp. So instantly, it's like,

oh, who's going to be the backup? So Dak was then battle. someone named Jamil Showers. Not familiar with his work. He was a second year guy. And Dak outplayed him in a preseason game. That's it. Outplayed him in one. And all of a sudden,

Dak went from fourth to the backup. It's like, wow, what a rise. Well, you know what happened after that? Tony Romo broke his back literally in preseason week three. And Presto, fourth round, Dak Prescott, who six weeks prior was fourth string. Next thing you know, he's starting for the Cowboys. And he got his chance and he made the most of it.

that's going to be the kind of chain of events that's going to take Shador Sanders from fourth string. I'm not going to count Deshaun Watson because nobody thinks he's really going to play. The owner has kind of written him off. But that's what it's going to take for Shadour to overtake Dylan Gabriel and Kenny Pickett or Joe Flacco. I mean, I think we all agree. Flacco's a pros. Defansky loves him. Flacco led them to the playoffs a couple years ago.

He's safe. Maybe you flip Pickett to another team and you can scrown. up a third or fourth round traffic. Who knows? Unlikely, but maybe. And then there's Dylan Gabriel, who Stefansky loves. And oh, by the way, O.C. Tommy Reese, Notre Dame legend. Not a legend, but I'm throwing around legendary because that's what Shador likes. Anyways, here's Tommy Reese on Gabriel, Shadour Sanders, and the hullabaloo. You can see them all winning the job, I think, right? And so in terms of the competition, we're so early in the process. We're so early in evaluating that. But yeah, I think, you know, we have a good group of guys that continue to push one another,

and by the time September rolls around, we'll be ready to go. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Not a lot of love for Mr. Shador Sanders. So my guess here, and I haven't seen this line hung anywhere in Vegas, how many starts for Shador Sanders. Like, again, it's way too early to hang a line like that. But I've been lower than the market, lower than everyone else out there. I'm on like a one and a half. I think it's over under one and a half for Shadour.

that's in June. Could that easily change? Should there be an injury, a trade, yada, yada, yada? Is there a world where all of a sudden should do or maybe starts five games? You know, I don't see it, guys. I'm just going to remind you. Drake May was a first round pick last year for the Patriots. He didn't sniff a start in September. Now, obviously, the coach had no clue what he was doing. They run him out of town, and Drake May is really, really good.

I don't quite think that's the case, was to fans. and Shador. Now it's June, I'm not trying to overreact, but man, you got to love the quarterback drama in Cleveland. Coming up next year on the herd, finals get underway tonight. Big point spread, big love for SGA. Can we stop putting his name in the same sentence as Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan because of the mid-range? I'll tell you who SGA is next here on the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name?

Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, a pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers.

This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

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. Last night, a blown

call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian went. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, Good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

You are now entering the no bowl zone sponsored by Credible. Great rates with none of the bowl. Definitely no BS coming here, folks. SGA is an incredible basketball player. he is currently minus 600 to win the NBA Finals MVP minus 600 guys that's come on nobody else is winning the award it's SGA unless he gets hurt or the Pacers win right that's what the market's telling you and a great producer Ryan music had an amazing stat today so if SGA wins the finals and the finals MVP he will become the fourth player in NBA history to lead the NBA

in scoring in a season, win the MVP, win the title, and the finals MVP. Only three guys have done that. These three guys are kind of a big deal. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, my dad's favorite player, who I loved for the few years I could see him before he retired. This guy named Michael Jordan, the second greatest player in NBA history, and Shaquille O'Neal. That's the company SGA joins if he wins a title and a finals MVP, which,

according to the gambling market seems very likely. So instantly we're putting SGA in this hallowed territory. We're going to do that. That's what the media does. They need to crown somebody. We need the next guy because KD's old. Yeah, KD, I saw your comment online. LeBron's old.

Curry's old. We need that next dude. And it may not be Anthony Edwards. You know, maybe it is the Canadian SGA. Or, as I like to call him, the Canadian James Hardin. because I'm here to tell you, as good as SGA is, to me, he's James Harden 2.0. Okay? That's not a knock.

James Harden, you guys forget seven, eight years ago was eviscerating the NBA. He was unstoppable offensively. There were credible discussions, started by Daryl Morey, but nevertheless, that James Harden was the best score of the NBA has seen since Michael Jordan. He was averaging 35 a game, led the league in scoring, I believe, four straight years, led the league an assist once. And this is my favorite stat, courtesy of someone in our,

one of our great stat guys. James Harden led the league in free throws seven times in eight years. James Hardin was a free throw merchant before SGA. And some other interesting stats. And you've got to kind of drill down on these, but there's now a billion stats in the NBA, right? There's all this tracking data.

James Hardin was like leading the league in isolations, drives to the basket. All these stats that have, are basically like, I'm a ball hog, nobody can stop me, and I'm going to the 10. SGA is doing the exact same thing. Nobody isolates now more than SGA. Now, the big difference in their two games on offense is Hardin would hit the three, usually the step back.

SGA has made the mid-range. He's not as good of a three-point shooter. That's the only difference. Otherwise, they're the same. Pound the ball. I can take you to the hoop, and I'm going to do the theatrics and flop. You guys think LeBron flops? Take a look at the free throw merchant.

He is always drawing the foul. He does that hook move. I'm just telling you, saw this herky, jerky stuff. There's a good comedian, Sebastian Manuskullo, who does all these theatrics. That's who kind of SGA reminds me of sometimes when he's driving to the basket.

And he gets these calls, and you could see the Timberwolves were pissed. Jane McDaniels got so frustrated. He just outright shoved him at one point. Now, I know this isn't going to be popular, and I can already hear people say, well, what do you know? James Hardin never played a lick of defense.

He was not a great defender. I get you. Guys, SGA is on a great defensive team. He's loaded. Hey, man, you're going to get by me, fine. Chad Holmgren on the background. He's got my back. I got Alex Crusoe, Kaysan Wall. They have a really, really good defensive team.

So SGA doesn't have to be a great defender. Is he better than hard on the defense? I would probably, I don't have any metrics to back that up, nor do you. But yes, on the surface, SGA is a better defender. I asked Yovan Buha here early. this week if he thinks SGA is Hardin 2.0? I think it is. Just because of the playoff track record,

at this point we've seen with Hardin, when you look at some of his notable playoff performances, especially in games 5 to 7, game 6 performances, game 7 performances, like, he shrinks from the moment. And so I think with Shea already, I mean, Hardin's been to the finals, but he was in the finals as a sixth man, He hasn't been to the finals as the guy.

He hasn't gotten over that hump yet. So I know it's a bit reductive and I don't, but like we have the track record, right? That's fair. And a lot of people will disagree with this take, I'm sure. A lot of people that disagree with my NBA takes this week. Very strange. Usually everybody just agrees with me.

I mean, it's like universal. Jay Mack, I got you. I see you, King. But not a lot this week. Just a reminder. SGA really, really good. I'm not diminishing his date. Calling him James Hardin is not a knock.

James Hardin, probably one of the 25, 30 best players in the history of the sport. You know, he's got to be one of the best players in league history without a ring. He's done a ton. Just because SGA is going to do something historical, it doesn't mean he's a historic great. Okay? Robert Ory, my guy, won seven rings. I don't think anybody says, he's better than Jordan. He has more rigs.

He's better than the, I don't think we're doing that. So, like, when SGA wins the title and finals, MVP and he gets put in the same category as Kareem, Shaq, and Jordan let's just let sanity prevail and just say man, he had a great season. Maybe this is an outlier. I mean, maybe there's another

season. They duplicate this, but let's pump them. If anything, SGA James Hardin 2.0. Let's go to Alex Curry with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. You're tracking me up with these NBA tapes. Sliking. You're just slaying yourself.

I got that for my daughter, but she says I can't say that I'm going to say. It's not cool to say slay anymore, whatever. I mean, I'm late to the party. I'm old. It's cool if you do it with confidence. That's any kind of trend. Like, as long as you're, like, confident in what you wear and what you do, it's going to be cool. Okay, let's start with OTAs.

Miami Dolphins. Have a ton of questions on the roster, but for wide receiver, Jalen Wattle, quarterback isn't one of them. Take a listen to Waddle talk about its QB1. Man, he's excited to play, man. I think all of us are. He looked confident, coming out with, you know, different swag.

Got dying his hair and some most of it. So, man, he looked like he just eating play. I mean, there's just always going to be that giant elephant in the room with Tua. One more big hit in his career could be over. Like, I honestly am, like, nervous and scared watching. his games if he's not sliding right, if he takes a big hit. Like, I love hearing that he's confident and he's doing great, but at any moment, like, one more big hit for Tua and like that could be it, not just for your starting quarterback,

but his career and possibly like really affecting his life. Yeah. That's where it's tough for me. I don't know. I kind of like this attitude that Tua has. I'm going to live in the moment. Yes. Is it over with another concussion?

It's my brain mush. Yeah. But you know what? I'm going to do me and have fun. It's his choice. And yeah, he could easily walk away from the game. Who's the guy who walked away from the Lions this week? Rag now.

Yeah. Just retire. I've been retired. Two, I could do that. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what to make of like, it's interesting. You see that bug on the screen. No, no, no Tyree Kill.

Tyree Kill is, he's the second biggest elephant. Yeah. You never know what you're going to get on or off the field. Like, he has more drama off the field. And then you got to weigh, like, is it worth it with what you get on the field? It feels like maybe Chua has had a good run under McDaniel, but maybe it's coming to an end. I don't, you know, the teams started to figure them out and his numbers went down a little last year. And they clearly have been passed by the bills.

Not that. I mean, yeah. No, they're definitely not finishing first in the AFC East, but I mean, depending how your Jets do. Like, again, there's a lot of question marks. People are really high on the Patriots. Miami comes down to Kentua stay healthy. And what are you going to get from Tyreek Hill if he's actually in the family? Yeah.

And he's on the field. But again, I love Tua. I've loved him since, like, before he got drafted, his whole draft story. I think Fox did a whole documentary on him, like, following his draft story. So I've been, like, a big Tua fan. I love who he is as a person. I just fear for his life. Every time he's off the field.

And I am not comfortable watching his games. But it's okay. I hope he does well and I hope he doesn't get another concussion. But let's switch gears to college football. J-Mack, I know you're a big gambler. But I bet this is going to blow your mind. North Carolina right now has the most under win total bets in college football with the win total set at seven and a half.

But there's another interesting nugget here. So according to the athletic, Before April 15th, 79% of the bets were on the over. Since April 15th, 89% of the bets have been on the under. Now, April 15th is right around the time that the world became aware of Belichick's relationship with Jordan. Now, honestly, I'm not surprised here. Bill is going against everything he's ever stood for. His biggest thing when he was in the NFL,

and we've heard a lot of former players say this, do not be a distraction. Bill Belichick is the biggest distraction in college football right now. New England, Bill Belichick, would fire North Carolina. Bill Belichick. Like, this is not the bill we grew up watching, take a dynasty to where it became with Tom. This is a completely different Bill Belichick.

And the world saw it. And people are kind of better. against it right now. So wild. But I'm not, what am I missing? Why would you all of a sudden bet against North Carolina just because he has a girlfriend? Who, by the way, did you guys notice Alex referred to her as Jordan? I didn't know she was on a one-name basis like Kylie or whoever these other people.

It's a. She is a big deal. Are you guys friends, by the way, on IG or no? No. Okay, just had to check. No. Again, I love strong women in men's life. I think it's really important.

But the bill that we knew before and everything he preached on the field and off the field is no distractions. This is all we're talking about with his new position in North Carolina is his relationship. This is the biggest distraction. I don't have a problem with her being his PR agent,

running his social media, connecting to the youth. But it's once it bleeds onto the football field. We've seen her on the football field. We've seen with the documentary and everything that's being shot behind the scenes, there. It's just there has to be some sort of a balance. I have a good question. Just listening to you break it down. And I don't know how to relate to this. Yeah. Because I don't know any 70 year

old guys dating 20 year old women. I'm going to ask you if one of your girlfriends rolled up was like, oh, Alex, I got to tell you, I met this guy. He's 73 and I'm dating him. Yeah. What would your reaction be out. Be honest. Don't hold back here. I mean, I have really dear friends of all ages that are way younger than me that are in their 60s and 70s. Like, age doesn't bother

me. This is a little when you see, like, when she was born and how old Bill Belichick was, like, that comparison is a little strange. But again, like, who am I to judge? No, I don't say, judge. If they love each other, and this is what it is, like,

I mean, different if I was like a parent, and this was like a child If this was your daughter Like older than me That's a little strange But again, it's no I don't know I don't know the relationship

But again Do you have Again 50 year age gap Is not like 20 years Whatever Pretty big age gap Not anywhere close to 50 No that's definitely the biggest

But again like I don't I don't know anything about it Like I don't judge Ages That's their thing Not mine All right But again

If it was like someone close to me and like my daughter or a family member, different. You have a little more inside information on the situation. We don't know the situation. All we see is the outside. So unless you're like close to them and like know both sides, I don't think you can really have an opinion on that. But let's head back to the NFL.

Peyton Manning spent a lot of time around Joe Burrow last season, as Burrow is going to be one of the stars of Manning's Netflix show quarterback. Now, Manning was recently asked about Burrow and said, There are expectations that come with being a franchise quarterback, but Joe is well aware of those, and he can carry that burden and wants those expectations on the shoulders. I know he fully expects, as I do, to bring a championship here to Cincinnati. Now, we all know Burrow has the talent to win, but does he have the support around him? Does he have a strong enough offensive line?

Does he have a strong enough defense? Is the Bengals organization putting him in a position to help him succeed? I mean, history says no. It sounds good saying it in June. but he also historically hasn't had a strong start to the season. He's 1 and 11 in his first two weeks. He's gotten to the Super Bowl, but lost to Matthew Stafford and the Rams.

And then besides that, he needs to continue to get past Mahomes and Lamar Jackson to get there. So do you over under one Super Bowl for Burrow? One Super Bowl win? Yeah, one Super Bowl win. So what's tricky is like Marino went there in year two. You never got back. Yeah.

The Bengals are similar. Yeah. Heavily on the offense, terrible defense. Problem is Lamar. That's what I'm saying. You got to get through a lot of guys to get there. I will reluctantly say no Super Bowl wins, Joe. Brutal.

It's kind of similar to what the Jordan era. There's some great, great teams and great players playing with Jordan, but it's like, I'm sorry that you're playing in a time where you have someone that's just like in a league of his own. It's hard to get by him. Patrick Ewing, my guy, never got a ring. Bummer. Alex, with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping. The Hurd Lye News. All right, NBA finals, game one is tonight. We head to OKC to talk to a reporter who's been on the scene. Sounds like it's quite a vibe there. I don't know how my OKC takes are going to take. Go for him, but we'll find out shortly.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's Steve Kavino. And I'm Rich Davis. And together we're Kavino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the IHeart Radio app. Why should you listen to Kavino and Rich? We talk about everything, life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world? We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture.

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Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.

I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, Hey Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title

for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy,

not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get. your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral,

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I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian win. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface, because if she's serving, well, good luck.

Consider this your court-side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Back here on the herd, Jason McIntyre in for Colin. We got a great guest right now to break down the NBA finals live from Oklahoma City. Anthony Slater covers the NBA for the athletic. This is fun. He used to work at the Oklahomaan way back.

I used to have him on my radio show. He was covering the Thunder. Then he covered the Warriors. He's been around. Anthony, what's a vibe around Gabe one of the finals right now? It's, you know, excited in downtown Oklahoma City. Obviously, I went to an event last night.

Actually, Trey Young was around because Trey Young lives in Norman. But it's just the NBA world has descended upon Oklahoma City. Now it was tough travel in with the, you know, the severe weather. You probably heard about the Pacers, right? They had to divert their flight and go to Tulsa. And there was a lot of delays for a lot of the media and, like, NBA world that has come to Oklahoma City. So maybe a slight level of frustration on getting in. But I think there's a freshness to the matchup.

And sure, you know, the ratings may not be spectacular. We'll see. But I do think the people who are, like, you know, are worried about the product on the floor, like, and, you know, love basketball. I think are excited about the style of plays between these two teams, the depth, the, the fast-paced nature of what we think will be maybe not a super competitive deep series but i think a fun series it's interesting you know you mentioned like kind of fresh blood here in the finals so anthony i don't know i went on a bit of a rant that i love super teams i like the excitement of kevin durant going to the warriors and the warriors being hated and lebron forming a team

and everybody hating those guys like the super teams to me were interesting and it just easily generated discussion i i don't know that you get you guys and i don't know that you get it and get that with this matchup. Do you think you need it? Yeah. Yeah, it's, I think there's pros and cons to it where, you know, you mentioned I covered the Durant. The best playoffs I ever covered was 2016 when it was Durant's thunder against the Warriors and then obviously the snowball effect of that, creating the storylines that you're talking about. But I will say when I covered the Durant Warriors teams, they were fun to talk about, but then they went sweep, sweep, sweep in the West playoffs. And like, those weren't, you know, I remember them

in Utah. I was like, game three in Utah, even the home crowd in Utah, I thought there was no chance that the Jazz were going to win it. And so, like, if I think back to those playoffs, there was such a lack of competitive drama to it, even though the teams and the, you know,

the personalities were fun to cover. So it's a given and take, because I actually think these NBA playoffs have been really fun. And obviously the Thunder is kind of considered the Goliath type team, but they had a seven-game series in the second round. And I thought the East playoffs, even the East finals, the second round. Like there was a lot to it competitively even if as you mentioned,

you know, the big brand names, the LeBron's, the steffs are kind of fading out a little bit. Yeah, let me ask. You said that competitive series against Denver. So if memory serves, it was two, two, Anthony, game five in O KC, Denver led by nine in the fourth quarter. And at that point, I've got my Chokelahoma tweets all lined up. And then Lude Dort gets volcanic and hits three straight threes. And Lood Dorr basically saved O'KC. If you have to go down three, two to Denver and Yokic is at home. It might have been a wrap. So how great is this OKCT?

Yeah. It's an interesting point because I remember I was in Minnesota at the time covering the Timberwolves Warrior series and we were with a bunch of reporters in a bar watching that game five and everybody was discussing like there hadn't been a moment prior to that that you actually thought Denver was going to win the series and there was a moment I think you mentioned in that second half where you're like, would you pick Denver at this exact point and I think the answer was yes yeah I think the battle scars that Oklahoma City went through helped uh you know we just talked to Jalen Williams because they had a long layoff before that game one and then blew that game one and you wonder about the long layoff tonight before the game

and he mentioned they just had some clock management trouble you probably remember the foul and three the way they screwed up that game one I think that's what really extended that series the thunder should have won that and gave it away and also like maybe we should just credit yokech and the nuggets Maybe they were the best, you know, competitive, you know, foil to the Thunder in these playoffs. Because Minnesota certainly didn't seem like it in the West finals. There was never a moment in that series you thought that Tim Roles really had a shot. So we'll see, like, maybe this isn't, you know, this Thunder team is equivalent to 68 win teams of the past. You know, I depend on what you think of that.

But, like, I think they're one of the heavier favorites ever in Vegas heading into the finals right now. So if they just rolled through this finals, it's just statistically one of the, the greatest seasons in NBA history. It is, but I don't, I mean, do you think they're like an all-time great? Like, I asked this question of a couple of guests this week. Who would you take in a seven-game series last year's Celtics that won the title or this year's Thunder? And I think that's pretty clearly the Celtics, right? It's a great question. I'm not sure. I would have loved to see them play a full-throttle Celtics team. This season, obviously they didn't get that chance because the Celtics were loaded. The way Port Zingis was playing, it is a good point. But, I mean,

How do you reconcile looking at what they did from the best point differential ever, tied for the best net rating with the 72 Bulls teams? And then within the playoffs, all the continued double-digit wins, they, I believe now have 61 wins by 10 or more points, which is an NBA record, where the 2017 Warriors, the Durant Warriors, who just blasted teams, had 60. That's the team they surpassed for most double-digit wins ever in a full season plus playoffs. So, like, I get the point, but I'm also like, you know, when do the numbers? and the records and what they've done to the rest of the league matter in the conversation.

Yeah, no, that's a great point. I didn't know that. That's that 61 wins. Wow. So how much of that is? Well, listen, this was kind of a strange year. Luca gets traded midseason. Joel Embed, who was the MVP of five minutes ago,

total non-factor out for the whole year. The Paul George trade blows up. The Phoenix Sons, who have a super team with all NBA guys, Bradley B.O. Booker, correct. They don't even make the playoffs. You know, was it a weird year? I don't know. Are the thunder that freaking good? Because the eye test tells me, yeah, they're really good.

But I don't know. Would you take them over the bubble Lakers with AD and LeBron? Yeah, I think I would. Well, wait, they were number one in the West before COVID hit, I think. Yeah, I mean, funny Caruso was like, you know, the Lakers defensive ace that time. The thunders now, obviously. I probably would. It's so tough to know.

But, you know, like I think you obviously mentioned a few of the disaster situations. in the league this year that they crumbled but like it was a deep like the west was extremely deep with with you know loads of good teams and i think part of the reason some of those you know you mentioned the suns like part of the reason the suns had such a bad season is because there were so many good west teams above them that they just couldn't beat on a nightly basis and those were the same teams that thunder were just wiping off the floor with 20 point wins and one of the things i would say to remember about the thunder season chet holmgren only plays 32 games that's our third best player Isaiah Hartnstein, who is at Backup Center, missed like 25 games.

They went, oh, a stretch of games without a center. We're playing Jalen Williams at Center. They can play so many different ways. And I just think the difference between them and maybe some of the past Goliath-type teams that were mentioned, and they don't necessarily have the star scoring. Right. But defensively, they, you know, they caused turnovers more than basically any team, you know, since steals have been recorded, that type of stuff.

I think that is what sets them apart. Their defense is just ferocious. How much of this has to do with larger issues, macro stuff around the league? Like, hey, if you stay with your team that drafts you, you can sign on Supermax and make $300 million. And of course, that doesn't apply to OKC because SGA wasn't drafted by them. But at the same time, the whole second apron stuff, you know, some of these teams like the Celtics were already looking, how are we going to get off these contracts? So, Bucks, we got to unload Janus. sons, we got to blow it up.

It just feels like the league is now set up for some more parity as opposed to what we had when you were covering the Warriors. Yeah, they're set up to break up the teams, right? It's set up to make it so that Steve Ballmers can't just overpay and overpay and overpay and overpay or Joe Lacob, right? You know, break up a Warriors type team from the past. The Thunder is uniquely built to maybe have an extended run here, but they're, you know, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams were in the same draft.

they're going to be extension eligible this summer. I would imagine both would be asking for Max. They have the same age of Bill Duffy. Those extensions wouldn't kick in for another season after this. So they clearly have this finals right here and next year with two of their three best players being on cheap rookie deals. But once they're not, and once Shea gets this, you know, next Super Max, which is huge money,

they're going to have, you know, apron issues down the line. And where they're probably going to have to get off some of their, you know, kind of mid-tier type deals. the Hart and Stein deal, the Caruso type deal, the Dort deals. What Sam Presby has done is he's built this war chest of first round picks, where theoretically the plan would be to replenish under them, which like Cason Wallace is a great example. Cason Wallace is going to be on a rookie deal for two more seasons after this.

He would seem to be kind of in that Dork Caruso mold to kind of expand his role under them. And the idea would be if Presby can keep, using all of his draft capital to keep cheap role players under the stars, because that's, you know, at this point with the league, if you're going to have three guys being paid maxes, like you just don't have money elsewhere. All right, last question. We got about a minute left.

I compared SGA to basically James Harden 2.0, just trading the threes for the mid-range, both get to the foul line a ton. They're heavily ISO. They drive to the basket. Just similar to me, your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, it's like kind of a controlling, somewhat heliocentric way to play. Now, I would say, like, S.J. shares

it more. It's more of a, you know, Democratic offense than those rocket teams where it was just park PJ Tucker in the corner. Park, Trevor Erezah in the corner, pick and rolls every single time. Like, that was just more, like, kind of one-trick pony-y that those Dan Tony teams where SGA also, it's a variety of the mid-range. It's, you know, he could go baseline, he could post you up,

he could get to 12 feet, he could go to 18, he will shoot to three. He is a three level score. It's just that that extra level. I don't know. Do you like seeing a mid-range operator more than just kind of your shoot-threes every time type player? Because it is more old school. I'm a three-point guy. Curry's my favorite player. I play

basketball often. I love threes. I'm not a mid-range guy. Yeah, I mean, I would say like there's just more variety to the Thunder's offensive attack beyond SGA than those Houston teams. Definitely. And I think that's, you know, matters.

Yeah, 100%. All right, Anthony Slater, the athletic. Great stuff. Enjoy the games and the series. Thanks a lot, Anthony. Good stuff. Yep. Thanks for having.

All right. Coming up next, they asked me to rank the top 10 players in this series. Obviously, SGA's won. But 2,34, that was not easy. That's next year. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe.

I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

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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,

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