The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 3 - Ethan Strauss

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

NBA Writer Ethan Strauss discusses what moves the Lakers should make in the offseason.Tomorrow's headlines today with Jason McIntyre.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

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 ice. 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, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice 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. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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She's an outsider to win the French friend. And she likes Clay. Listen, Leonard Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcasts on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast.

Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com. or stream us live every day in the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. His name is Ethan Strauss, author of the Victory Machine, The Making, Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty, House of Strauss is his podcast. So I don't call out coaches a lot, especially basketball coaches.

But over the course of a seven-game series, as you know, you covered the Warriors in the Dynasty. Steve Kerr often pulled the right levers in a close series, and JJ Redick's a kid. He went from player, podcaster, coaching the biggest brand in the sport. And he's gotten real defensive. What did you make of his game for, no subs, his reaction before last night's game and last night's game?

Just your thoughts on the entire kind of moment for J.J. Reddick in the last 48, 72 hours? Yeah, it was not good. And I think JJ Redick is a really smart guy, and people have worked with him in entertainment would say that he's a nice guy, and he works well with others. So even if he comes off his smug, maybe behind the scenes, he's great to work with.

But this conversation has opened up, young coaches. They bring a lot to the table. They've got energy. They've got innovation. But when you're hearing George Carl and some other older coaches push back, they do have a point. I think insecurity can be a problem with young coaches.

And, you know, Colin, you might like this. This might sound weird. But I think to win in the NBA, you have to be willing to lose. And some of these more inexperienced coaches, they're judged according to what just happened. And they might just get tight and have to win that game right there, play all their guys for an entire half and not see the big picture. There's an example of this with the Warriors series where I think, Udoca's a good coach too, and he might win that series. But you know what drove me crazy, Colin, is that with a week to go in the season,

the Rockets played the Warriors, and they pulled this really smart move of having Shingoon Guard Moody, which completely screwed up the Warriors screening actions with Draymond. Really smart move. One problem. The playoffs hadn't started yet, and when they did it in that first game won, the Warriors weren't discombobulated. They ran Moody in a bunch of screening actions, and they won it. So I think what you're seeing with some of these younger coaches is they get a little insecure

and they're not willing to lose a game. And for that reason, they can lose a series. Yeah. And I also think even a young NFL coach has leverage in power for a couple of years. I mean, in the NBA, you have a bad road stretch. You can get in trouble fast in this league. Mark Jackson thought he was secure. Mark Jackson's gone and into broadcasting.

I want to talk about Warriors because it actually sent a signal to me when they raised the white flag second quarter or late first against the rockets. What it was telling you is we're better, we'll go home. You don't give up a game in the series unless you feel like we're going to wrap up the series. But the physicality and Steph Curry's injury is fascinating. Kerr took a shot at the officials. You covered this league for a long time. I love the physicality. I don't think there's much of a downside to it. Do you? Kerr sounds like he thinks there is. It's a balance.

I love the physicality, too. I think people don't like when it's 140 to 130. I think there's a platonic ideal of an NBA game. I think they want it to be around 100, and they'll say they want the refs, swallowing the whistle, but at a certain point, when there are no rules, you got problems. There was that injury in game, too, that Jimmy Butler injury,

and whenever something bad happens, people play the blame game. They go, oh, was Amman Tom? shoving him or did Draymond Thompson. I didn't think anybody was at fault. I think if you look at that play, what you saw, what you saw was guys rebounding when there are no rules, and they can't trust that the rules are going to be called. And you can't trust that when you box somebody out,

he won't go over your back. And you wouldn't want to go on the freeway if the night before they painted over all the lane lines. That's what you're seeing. You're seeing guys trying to get through the rebounding screen where I'm like a defensive tackle, just throwing their body at the situation. And it's a situation where nobody perhaps is playing dirty, but in that kind of chaos, when you can't trust that the rules are going to be called,

they're going to use their bodies in ways that are not safe and guys are going to get hurt. So I think what fans want, they want an absence of BS. They don't want James Harden flinging his head back and throwing his arms up and go into the free throw line. And that's what you've got to get out of the game. But you can't just do this stuff the NBA has been doing where one month they call no fouls, the next month they turn fouls back on. They got to have it be consistent so people know what to do and what not to do, and the system is in balance.

This next topic, this is already built for you. I don't think the league needs a face of it, but if you do have a face of it, it probably helps if it's a domestic star. Not essential, but probably helps. We all know the NFL plays by its own galaxy and rules. everybody else is struggling with regular season ratings everybody else probably needs a face of the league the nfl doesn't ratings were fine when brady and manning left i think ants it because as the kids say and my staff was shocked he's got riz okay like he leans into it do you think he could be

the face of the league and do they need it oh yeah they i don't know if they need it but it makes them better. And Ants just got that thing. He's got charisma. He's got an authenticity to him. He does some things off the floor that people don't like, but he's got that magical quality where you just forgive it and you don't care because in his presence, he's an entertainer and you just like to you like to see what he's going to do next and you feel like he gets the big things about the sport. Right. So I think he could be that guy. I also think Luca, I know it's hard to say in the aftermath of that defeat where people are sharing memes of him looking like James Corden in a Laker jersey because of how he's playing defense. But Luca can be, even though he's

from Eastern Europe, it feels like he can be a big star just because of the shock of his storyline and him being taken out of Dallas and now he's on the biggest brand and they're building the team around him and we see him cry when he comes back to Dallas. We get a sense of his personality. That situation in L.A. is one where he could be the big American sports star who's not American if it goes right. But that Laker situation right now, a little precarious, a little high variance. We'll just have to wait and see. So, I mean, at least for a week, Nico Harrison, if not validated, gets a little bit of a reprieve.

Because I think, now, again, I don't think JJ Reddick did any favors having a guy with conditioning questions and an old guy playing every minute. that's just weird. But I remember when I said this, I said, Lakers won the trade, but Luca is a much better Carmelo Anthony. There have been a handful of,

very few, but a handful of stars, James Harden, Mello, Luca. They don't play on the defensive end. And none of them decided eight years in,

I'm going to be a great defense. That's something like you're either into or you're not. MJ, Kobe, it could be Kareem. most bird wasn't a great defender nor is step but they put forth an effort can you watch this series with lucca and say okay i get why nico moved off him he just didn't get close to enough

did it validate at least taking the call and discussing a trade i think it validated that i think it will always be a bad trade because they didn't get enough and if you're dealing somebody like that, you've got to build for the future in a Sam Presti-esque way. When Sam Presti traded stars, he got a bunch of picks to build for the future. Niko, with the win now, I don't think it made sense, but I do think we suppressed some issues with Luca and suppressed some criticism of him as a media collective because we wanted to hammer home how bad a trade that was. And that got us

almost locked into a take. We all had the same take. 90% of us had the same take. This was a crazy bad trade. and because we were always looking for validation of that take, we weren't saying some stuff. We weren't going, they don't have a center. Yeah, they got great names on the marquee. The roster doesn't make sense. And by the way, it's crazy that a professional athlete isn't in shape.

I mean, this is something that's expected of everybody in the sport. He looks like he's in worse shape than the coach and the GM. And you live with it because he's a prodigy and he's a genius and he's incredible. but there was this absence of criticism, this assumption it should all work out. And now you've got a situation in LA. I think they're doing the right thing, run it back, bring LeBron back. That's what it sounds like, add some centers. But it's almost a little, it's a little bit of tension.

Some people are watching, they notice that Luca and LeBron aren't really talking to each other in the court. It's a little like Shaq and Kobe, except this time the older superstar is the guy who's very goal-oriented, keeping himself in tip-top shape. And the young superstar is the guy getting out of shape and not taking things as seriously as you might want him to. And so that's a tricky situation. If he doesn't lock in, it's not going to be like Dallas or everybody's just happy to have him there.

I think the Lakers fans at a certain point and the pressure is going to be a broader conversation of this continues and he's not doing everything he can do to win them a championship. It's called the House of Stroub. I think it's also interesting is that if you go look at Nico Harrison, when they first made the move for Kyrie

and Luca, initially, it was they couldn't stop anybody because they're both poor defenders. The trade deadline, Nico went and got size, and it literally transformed the team. So they told you how you have to build around

Luca. And JJ Redick in this series went small ball, which to me is, I mean, that's a big part of this series was Minnesota wins. They fly to L.A., and they decided to go even bigger against the Lakers. So I think Niko, for all the criticism he gets, he gave the Lakers an idea of if Luke is your star, if that deal comes down with Charlotte in their center, we may be having a different discussion today. Did not Nico tell you how to build a team?

he just gave Luke away too cheaply. Oh, yeah. No, he showed them the blueprint, and it's have big defensive centers who are great rim runners and can catch a lob on the other side, because Luke is great at throwing that lob. The issue maybe is just, does this all fit together?

It's almost like people are very captivated with this three of a great thing with playmakers and shot creators in Luca, LeBron, and Austin Reeves. but I like Austin Reeves a lot. I kind of wonder if this is a situation, not saying these are exactly similar teams, but there have been these situations like in Portland where looking back,

the Blazers should have made a choice between Lillard and McCollum and traded one of those guys for the sake of roster balance. I kind of feel that way about Reeves because I don't think you can get rid of LeBron even if he's 40 years old just because of his capital in the league.

Reeves is somebody where, for the sake of roster balance, you might have to start shopping around in order to fill it out. I totally agree with that. By the way, in the playoffs, which have always been truth serum, he got exposed. He could not get to the free throw line. All right. Ethan Strauss. It's called House of Strauss.

Substack as well. It's great stuff. One of my favorite, if not my favorite, listen when I go out for long walks. As always, Ethan, it's great seeing you, buddy. Thanks for having me, Colin. All right. One of my favorite exercise podcasts, and that's when I listened to him, Ethan Strauss. Yeah, I mean, the Mavs kind of gave you a roadmap. You have Luca, get run runners. He'll get a Malayoop's. And Julius Randall, in that game, 2.45 to go, Julius Randall blows by him.

You got a center. That's not a basket. And then by the way, Lucas, stop complaining about stuff with two minutes left in games. Get back on defense. What are you doing? live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. 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. 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 remember. 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 s nl late night comedy guy not quite unhumor me with robert smigle and friends me and hilarious guests from bob odin kirk to daviderman help make you funnier this week my guess s nl's mikey day and head writer streeter sidel 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. 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. Genschen win. I mean, she went down in 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.

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. J-Mac with the news. This is the Herdline News. I know he's your boy and all, but you got to tell Ethan to lay off like the fat jokes for Luca Donchich. Like, it's not a good look. Saying he looks like James Gordon.

I mean, come on. I was laughing over here. Like, come on, bro. Can you stop the bombing? I mean, Luca had a good series offensively. I know that he wasn't there. All right, let's go to the Lakers, Colin. They lost.

It was a shocker. They got touched up by Rudy Gobert. afterward, LeBron was asked about not having a center. Now listen closely about what he said. No comment. I'll never say that because my guy, AD, said what he needed and then he was gone the following week. So listen, I got no comment.

I put that uniform all every night. I give everything I had. And that's all the matters. They had one. They had one. And the Laker. They did. You think they're beating the Mavs or you're beating the wolves with AD?

Come on, get out of. No, no, no. I'm talking about the kid they had from Charlotte. Oh, Mark Williams. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. So they had Mark Williams.

They rescinded the trade apparently because of some medicals. Well, Mark Williams sitting there watching on his TV because Charlotte never sniffs the playoffs. tweeted out like a happy face emoji. Come get me? Like, I don't know what that is. NBA is wild. Now, I'll just say this that Ethan missed, and I haven't seen a lot of people talking about it.

Colin, LeBron's contract, he is eligible to opt out. Okay? I know you think no. I'm just going to put this out there. I said this during the game last time. I haven't seen anyone else mention it. LeBron did not look thrilled with the way things were shaking out on the court. He was not really engaged.

I didn't see him talking to Luca. And Ethan mentioned that. I was like, how was nobody else on this? I'm not saying he's unhappy. Did you see who was courtside last night, my friend? Kyrie Irving? Okay? His boy, AD, in Dallas with Kyrie Irving.

Just check out the show tomorrow, Colin, while you're on vacation, while you're on the beach there in Chicago. There's some hot takes percolating up here right now. It's about to get nutty. All right, let's stick with the NBA. There is a game out here in L.A. tonight. You could probably get into the Clippers' Nuggets game for like under $25. The Nuggets are trying to close them out on the road.

Now in 2020, the paper clips in the bubble led 3-1 against Yokets and the Nuggets. It ended up being a disaster. Doc Rivers ended up getting fired after they blew the series. Yokic said a message to his teammates saying they're coming to L.A. to get another one. Who you got tonight? Clippers are six and a half point favorites. Well, Clippers have them winning the series, but that's too many points. I think it'll be close. I said that last night going into the T-Wolts game.

I'm taking the six and a half points with Minnesota. They're too well coached too deep. I'll take Denver and the points, but I have the Clippers winning this in six or seven games. I know it won't be a classic upset, but if you have the better coach, you have the deeper roster, you have Kauai and Hardin,

that would be a tough loss for the Clip Show. They should have won this series. They should win this series. I occasionally see a few of the Clippers coaches in the area where I live here in L.A. I'm not going to slander Tyloo here. But Colin, we only hear Tyloo's such a great coach. He's a top five, top ten

coach. I've heard nothing the last two games when they lost. Okay, where's the Tyloo? Like, let's keep it real, people. Where's the Tai Lu bashing? He has not delivered. And I will end with this, Colin. Jamal Murray really hasn't done much until last game. If he starts to

find the old Jamal Murray, I think the Clippers are in deep trouble. I don't have a bet on this because I've been twisted on the NBA this week. I know you were hot on NFL. I've lost. I'm not seeing the ball well, as they say, in baseball. I like last week in NBA, I can't hit a game this week to save my life. I don't even know if you know the Clippers win tonight. Do you? Confidence? I wouldn't be shocked at Denver won. If Yokic, who didn't play well in the last game, and he didn't score a lot. If Yokic went for 41, I would not be shocked.

Yeah. And Zubots for everybody's love for him. He ain't stopping Yokic. Final story, Colin, to New England. You are the biggest fan of the Mike Vrable era in New England. It goes way back. He's bringing the Patriots way to New England. Well, tight end Austin Hooper played for Vrable when he was in Tennessee in 2022, and his time

there opened his eyes about the type of coach Mike Vrable is. It was different the first time. Yeah, I mean, I'm not spilling any. I'm not speaking outside the family here. I mean, very strong personality. You guys played before, a guy who taught me a lot. And at first, it was a tougher transition.

just because like any good boss, like we're going to demand some things out of you. And it was my first time kind of being around a head coach and that style of them. By the way, like, please boss me and don't take that the wrong way. I mean, you should want, like, your boss to demand a lot out of you. So it was the first time, like, being with a defensive style coach who demands it that way. So, well, there was a little bit of transition process. Will be the most improved team in the league. Ten wins, wild card playoff berth.

Book it. They're leapfrogging. the Jets but the Dolphins as well? Yeah, they're going to pull away early December. They're going to be a good football team. Drake May pops in year two. They probably got five starters in free agency, three minimum, and they go from a coach that felt like he was a bit over his skis to a top seven, eight coach. I think they're going to be really interesting. And I think the coolest thing, if you're a Patriot fan, you found your next quarterback. Because he's, he had nothing to work with last year, often played trailing in games, which is brutal for young quarterbacks.

Watch out. Can you see how this is frustrating as the Jets fan? You're like, oh, the Patriots already found their next quarterback. I mean, you had Brady for two decades. Can the Jets get one franchise guy? That's it. I'm not asking for much. I know Christmas is canceled.

The president announced that, you know, the tariffs are going to screw everything up. For Christmas, I just won a franchise quarterback on the Jets. That's it, Colin. That's not asking too much, is it? No. Well, maybe sell the team to, uh, a better ownership. You want to put together a group?

I'll take up a collection here. We got some Jets fans. I mean, honestly, every year, every other year, don't we ask about the Jets or Giants, who's their quarterback? How long can it take? I mean, it's funny.

The Bengals seem to always get it, right? The Chargers find their quarterbacks for 50 years. Like the Giants and J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Heard tomorrow's headlines today.

One of my favorite segments every week is coming up next. 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. Stories that, well, other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends for the last 20 years and still work together, I mean, that says something, right? So check us out. We like to get you involved too. Take your phone calls, chop it up, as they say.

I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio. Maybe the most interactive show on Planet Earth. Be sure to check out Kavino and Rich live on Fox Sports Radio and the IHeart Radio app from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific. And if you miss any of the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcast and of course on social media. That's Covino and Rich. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news?

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, 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... Oh, 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 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 s nl late night comedy guy not quite unhumor me with robert smigel and friends me and hilarious guests from bob odenkirk to david letterman help make you funnier this week my guess s nl's mikey day and head writer streeter sidel 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. 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. Jen Chinchin win.

I mean, she went down to 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. 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. We do it every week, sometimes on Thursday night. If I'm taking Friday off, I will say Nuggets, Clippers tonight, Nick's Pistons, there's some good NBA action. Are you ready, Jay Mack? Yes, sir.

Born ready, baby. All right, the NBA playoffs are heating up. Time for Jay Mack to call out the series. And let's see what shakes out. Tomorrow's headlines today. Warriors Rockets. What say you? I don't know, Colin.

This one's got me a little twice. twisted. I like to think Steph Curry, my favorite player in all sports, can get it done. However, those rockets are tough. The headline will be little thummer boy. Steph plays Houston off the playoff stage. Listen, how do you not like my guy Curry and company going home and finishing the job? However, some concern about Curry, because remember we just talked about how LeBron's been tired in the fourth and Lucas looked out of shape and tired? Curry in the last two games, 17 points and 13 points. And I looked at the shooting, 10 of 25.

Is he wearing down against Thompson and Dylan Brooks and these guys? Curry only 5 of 17 from three in the last two games. However, I think this is a turn back the clock game for Curry. He summons the energy to get them past the feisty rockets. Jimmy Butler obviously will need to play big. I didn't like how they totally punted game five on the road, but they should be rested and Jimmy Curry and company to win the series. Okay, this has been actually a great series.

Tomorrow's headlines today. Yokic and the Nuggets, Kauai and the Clips. What do you got? Well, you say it's been great, but the last game was total garbage. I don't know what's happened to the Clippers and your guy, Ty Loo. However, the headline will be. I don't want to be a Denver downer, but series ends on a clip hanger. Give me the paper clips winning the next two games.

I'm back in Kauai Leonard, which is pretty silly on my part. since you never know if he's going to show up or not. But James Hardin's the guy I really need to see Deliver. Collins, he's not getting enough heat, mostly because the Lakers are wilting. But Hardin is 35. And following the theme of 40-year-old LeBron fading and Curry struggling in the last two, how about the numbers on Hardin? Last two games, both losses, he has a total of 26 points.

And how about this? Only one of four on three-pointers. This is a guy who was a scoring champ a few years ago, an unbelievable step-back three, side-step three. he's not even getting shots off now. Is he wearing down? I joke that he was on a milk cart in the other night. I have my concerns, but, you know,

I'm going to, you know, back Kauai Leonard and Ty Lou here, winning the series in Denver. Same way Anthony Edwards stole game seven in Denver last year. Remember they were down 20, came back and knocked off Yokic. All right. Tomorrow's headlines today. How about the Pistons Nick series, bit of a surprise? Well, this has been a great series.

It's been a war. You've got Cade Cunningham guaranteeing going back to New York for game seven. A lot of thuggery on both sides in this one. The headline will be. Control, salt, delete. Nicks don't need MSG.

Yeah, I think they can do it on the road. I think they could do it on the road. They did win both games in Detroit. They were close. I don't want to call like Tobias Harris and X Factor, but if he plays well, like Detroit's going to have a shot. Because you know Tim Hardaway,

he's like a coin flip. going to show up or not. I'm just a believer in Brunson. He had that tough ankle thing at the end. Josh Hart got hurt at the end. The Knicks, for whatever reason, get too amped up to play at home, and they struggle at MSG to close out series. I think they get it done in Detroit. Now, as underdogs, I'm a little nervous for the Knicks. I do not want this to go seven. You know wacky things can happen. Tibido, get it done tonight. Knicks win game six. tomorrow's headlines today. What about the Pacers Cab Series?

Probably lobsided. Well, you say lopsided. I looked at the line for game one. Real quick, do you want to guess what the line is for game one? It's Sunday night, by the way. Cleveland five and a half. Cleveland minus eight. So the disrespect for the Pacers here is shocking.

The headline will be, who's your daddy now? Halliburton co-parenting pays off. I'm going with the upset. Listen, maybe I'm off the upset of the Lakers going down, but I think this Pacer's team matches up really well with Cleveland. I looked at the season series. Pacers won at three to one, but two of the games came late in the season when the Cavs were coasting.

I'm a believer in Halliburton. Colin, if you were to rank the three best or four best players in Pacer's Cavs, give me your top four, because I'm curious what you go with here. Well, Donovan Mitchell. Okay. There is a guy who was on the Olympic team. Mowgli's young, but I like it. him a lot.

What about the Olympian? Tyrese Halliburton? Halliburton 3. Pascal Seyakum, four. I'm a little surprised. That's not bad. I would go Halliburton 1, but here's a thing. Pascal Seaccom and Miles Turner do like to step out and shoot threes, right?

So that really takes Jared Allen out of the equation. So I wonder if Cleveland has to pivot and go with Mobley at the 5. This is going to be about matchups. Two good coaches. I think it's a great series. I'm going to go with the upset and the Indiana Pacers getting to the conference finals. Well, you're on an island. Tomorrow's headlines today.

Finally, the story of the weekend, what's the headline for Shadur Sanders? Yeah. Now a Cleveland Brown. Well, you know, the staff put me on with it. They're like, what do you think about Shadur? I'm like, I don't think he's going to play that much. I think the Browns are in trouble. The headline will be arch nemesis.

Shadur can't escape. Manning's Shadow. I know this is a super hot take, probably too hot. for the final hour on Thursday, Colin. I don't think the Cleveland Browns are trying to win this year. Honestly, I don't see a path to it for them. Offensively, some of these moves in the draft were puzzling. I think they now have two first-round draft picks next year,

which are going to be high, and I think they make a play for Arch Manning. The franchise quarterback that they thought they had in Deshaun Watson, I think they get that in Arch Manning. Now, there is some chatter. Why would Arch leave and downgrade from $8 million in NIL money to playing for the Browns? Folks, the number one overall pick, Arch Manning, it feels kind of sort of like a lock a year in advance.

I just, it doesn't look to me like the Browns are serious about this season when you have now five quarterbacks on the depth chart. Like that's goofy. Nobody has that. Colin, other than the Browns, there's maybe one quarterback competition in the league. Daniel Jones versus Anthony Richardson. Everyone else is set. Are the Browns serious at quarterback with this? Shadur and the fifth? well and there's also a discussion that Andrew Barry and Stefansky did not want Shadour that drafted Dylan Gabriel to get out of the Shadour backup role and the owner came in and said

draft him so that you have a coaching staff that was you know not really excited it didn't appear kind of stoic once the pick was made no I think a lot of things could play out I mean it's very clear that the Rams and Browns wanted next year's draft. The Giants, where more people may lose their job, went with Jackson Dart and Russell Wilson. So they want to win some games to, you know, at least seven or eight. But the downside to drafting Jackson Dart, I mean, to me is next year's a much better

quarterback class. So the Giants are trapped. Russell will win the job. Jackson Dart, if he does play won't play a lot. Yeah. And then you have to fake it for a year while there's a great quarterback draft class. Yeah. That's the downside. Whereas the Rams, they may extend Stafford

and try to win. They've got Atlanta's pick. They could take both to move up to like the number four or five spots. So once you draft a quarterback, ESPN put out a mock draft today. Arch wasn't in it. Oh, come on. That's just silly. who's that is that kiper is your buddy

i don't know who did the draft i'm just saying you got to text mell and be like now come on archmanning's coming out it wasn't mail it was somebody else Peyton manning did stay in school rather than go to the jets back in the day that one stung i was a young guy and that really hurt i was like oh we got we got Peyton manning and he's like no thanks i'm good i'll stay at tennessee yeah yeah the giants run a weird spot because russell wins the job this year Jackson will play limited snaps. You can't just bail on him.

You used all that draft capital to move up. So you're going to have to at least go, let's give Jackson a year. I'd rather be the Browns and the Rams. They are ready. Two first rounders, give up more and get a great quarterback next year and a legitimately top quarterback drag. All right, J-Mack takes controls tomorrow, spend a few days here in Chicago with the staff,

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