The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Lakers Tonight with Jason Timpf - What to make of LeBron's historic night and more Russ rumors

Episode Date: March 6, 2022

Jason gives his take on LeBron's 56-point performance, the reported rift among the Lakers about sending Russ to the bench, why the Warriors are struggling so much and what the key difference is between Luka and Harden. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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84 was a wild. 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 Cliver Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of 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. Tired of that old tattoo, get it removed.

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He always has taken this matchup with Steph Curry personally. However, this overall situation, particularly, with talent with the Lakers is so precarious, and the warriors were desperate. They're in a little bit of a free fall that I was under the impression that they wouldn't have the juice to be able to get this done. But they were. And there's kind of two different sides to it that we need to look at. Part of that is just how bad the Warriors have been.

This is now their fourth consecutive loss. This is the eighth loss they have in their last 10 games. They are seemingly coming apart at the seams, which is really sure. strange because they played such good basketball for a while there when Dremont first went down. We're going to dig into that here in a little bit. We're going to talk about LeBron's Big Night. We're going to get to some of the nitty-gritty with this game, as I promised I would. And then at the end, if you guys stick around, we will talk a little bit about just how good Luca Donschich has been of late and how good the Mavericks are and whether or not they have the

potential to rise out of the West this year. But let's start with LeBron because I've been very, very critical of him in the last couple of weeks. And I'm always, as you guys know, I'm never interested in just peddling some narrative. I'm interested in being authentic and honest. And if I'm going to criticize LeBron, it's because I'm legitimately frustrated with something that he's doing. And if he's going to do the job, if he's going to do the things that the team needs him to do, I'm going to credit him for that. And, you know, one of the things that I preached about immediately after the All-Star break was, was the fact that the Lakers needed to play the young kids.

I talked all about how they were the ones bringing the most effort on a night and night out basis, but also that they were their best players, that Austin Reeves was their best off-ball player on the team and one of their best isolation defenders, that Stanley Johnson was clearly their best wing, you know, what Talen Horton Tucker has been bringing as a playmaker of late, although he had a rough night tonight. And then Malik Monk and what he brings as an offensive threat

and what he can bring with some of his athleticism, particularly in transition. And there was a play in the game the other night where Austin Reeves threw a lob to Malik Monk. And I tweeted out as a joke, I said, play these kids 48 minutes. You know, what I was thinking was, is like, the Laker, this Laker product on the court has been so sloppy, so unprofessional, so unsurious, that I thought, hey, at least for the sake of maintaining some integrity in all of this, play the young kids a lot. because then at least if you're losing, then you're going to have a product on the floor that's not going to get booed off the floor.

If you lose and you bring effort, the fans will support you. If you lose and your effort is trash, they will probably be frustrated throughout the process, which brings me to LeBron. Because one of the things that made it so that even the young guys weren't succeeding in the last couple of games

was LeBron completely let go of the rope on the defensive end of the ball. We'll dive a little bit further into that concept here in a minute, but in this game, LeBron just did more. He wasn't the dominant defensive player that he was in the 2020 bubble. He wasn't the dominant defensive player that he was from 2009 to 2016, but he just gave a little bit of effort on the defensive end of the floor, and it was enough for those young lineups to succeed.

LeBron was plus 13 tonight. Russell Westbrook was plus 13 Malik Munk was plus 19 Austin Reeves was plus 18 all of them played at least 32 minutes and so if the Lakers they have a little bit of a formula there play the young guys get

just something out of LeBron on the defensive end of the floor and you're going to get a product that is passable on the floor now a lot of that has to do with the warrior struggling I don't think that this team has the capability to hang through some of the tougher parts of their schedule that's coming up but at least

this is a passable product. I still think LeBron is hurt. I know he showed a little bit more vertical pop tonight. I'm not sure if that was just the vibe in the arena or what it was, but he's not quite getting that same separation, particularly driving by guys and in the post, which is something that is a little bit concerning in the sense that it makes me wonder if it's worth gunning for this season, because if he's hurt, you're not going to have the ceiling you need anyway. He definitely looked a little better tonight, but I'm still a little worried about that. This scoring performance involved LeBron making six three-point shots. It involved LeBron making 12 free throws. It was a lot of, a lot of, you know, kind of just manufacturing and

squeezing points out of the game with some of his savvy and some of his skill, not so much his athleticism, which is a testament to how amazing he is. I don't want to undercut that to any extent. However, I'm still a little bit worried about his knee in the long run. Hopefully, what we saw tonight wasn't just riding the adrenaline. Hopefully, it was signs of progress. Hopefully the knee is getting a little bit better. Hopefully the pain is getting a little bit less intense. And hopefully LeBron's starting to feel a little bit of pop there.

And over the course of the next couple of weeks, hopefully he can turn that into a stretch of good basketball. You know, it's funny. One of the things that I've really enjoyed about being a part of this fan, base is getting to interact with Laker fans. You know, I grew up in Tucson, Arizona. In Tucson, Arizona, the Phoenix Suns didn't even do a great job marketing to them. It's not an NBA town. Nobody's a diehard fan of an NBA team in Tucson, Arizona. I grew up without a fan base. And so I've kind of been adopted into the Laker fan base in a lot of ways, and I've really enjoyed getting to know them and what

their expectations are for this team. And I've had the good fortune to be able to meet a lot of these people and talk with them about how they feel about this season. And they're frustrated with what LeBron had been doing in the past couple of weeks. I touched on this a little bit in our last podcast. But when LeBron is chasing Kareem, I don't think it's a referendum on what his, you know, legacy is or anything like that. However, Laker fans can see through that a little bit. To be clear, Laker fans will support LeBron to the end.

even if they lose every game the rest of the season, as long as he tries somewhat to do his job within the team concept. If he did what he did last game, and for the most part over the last couple of weeks, and just completely mail in the defensive end of the floor and just focus on getting his 28 points so that he can continue to chase Kareem, that would turn a significant portion of the Laker fan base against him.

I truly believe that. And that's one of the things that he has. has to realize. Like tonight, what you did tonight, even if you didn't score 53, 54, if you just scored, you know, 25 points, the fan base will support you and you will continue to have that massive margin for error or leeway with the fan base because of what you're doing within the team concept to try to at least attempt to win the games. That's what the fans want.

They don't necessarily want you to try to kill yourself trying to squeeze something out of the season that's not attainable, but they do want you to just act like you care. What LeBron did tonight on the defensive end of the floor wasn't anything special. It wasn't amazing, but it was enough. It was enough to maintain the respect of the fan base and to maintain the respect of the organization. And I think that that's important. I really, really liked that within the starting lineup, they went with the small lineup instead of with Dwight because that's so important against teams like the

Warriors. They run so many offball actions. It's a heavy motion offense with lots of cutting and screening and having a switching defense kind of takes a lot of that stuff away. That was a big part of why the Lakers got out to such a big lead. But one of the things that's killing this team, and it's one of the reasons why they're going to struggle for the rest of this month as they play better teams is the fact that when they go to their bench, they're way too small. When you're riding bench lineups with LeBron off the floor and Carmelo Anthony is at center. And you've got Avery Bradley and DJ Augustine and Talen Horton Tucker and Russell Westbrook on the floor.

The aggregate size and athleticism of that lineup is so incredibly low. G-League teams would run them off the floor with their athleticism and their strength. It's a problem. They got absolutely blitzed in their bench lineups tonight. DJ Augustine was minus 10 and he got some minutes with the club. closers that buffered that a little bit. Taylor Norton Tucker was minus 11. Avery Bradley was minus 7.

That's the part that's so frustrating about Rob Polinka not addressing this in the buyout market, about Frank Vogel refusing to play Wenyan Gabriel or looking for somebody else who can do that. When the Lakers go to their bench, we now have established that the starters, if LeBron puts in the effort, can compete. We know that Russell Westbrook, Malik Monk, Austin, Rerner, Stanley Johnson and LeBron works. We know that's enough to carry you in the starting lineups and in the closing lineups as long as LeBron's trying. But when they go to the bench,

the bottom will continue to fall out until they address that. That's something they need to get to. I don't know if it's another buyout guy. I don't know if it's just playing Wenian Gabriel more. I don't know if it's dipping into the G League or finding somebody. They need to find some athleticism in size and effort to bring off the bench if you're really going to go for this. They have to decide if they're really going to go for this. Is tonight what happened against the Warriors is that the outlier or is that what they want to do moving forward? That's the part they've got to figure out, which brings me to these reports. So Adrian Worsonowski tweets out a couple hours before the game, that many in the Lakers organization want Frank to bench Russ,

but that Frank isn't ready to. Earlier today, Mark Stein reported that within the Lakers organization, there's a lot of tension that's been building, a lot of conflict with Russ about him being unwilling to accept his role, about some really nasty film sessions with some arguing. He actually used the phrase that it was impossible to bring Russell Westbrook back, which is frustrating because we already knew all of this. We already knew that Russ was probably a better option coming off the bench. We already knew that he was obstinate and that he was stubborn as it pertains to his role. We already knew that he was having trouble in film sessions. We had reports

that he refused to work out with Phil Handy. We already knew all of that stuff. So the fact that more of this stuff is coming out and that the Lakers are continuing to go down kicking and screaming with the Russell Westbrook thing is super frustrating. Because you've got to decide what the goal here is. If you're saying that you can't bring back Russell Westbrook, that he has to go, then if you're saying that he can't play with your starters, then you need to bring him off the bench, then what's the point of even having him around? It's the same thing with Frank Vogel. If you don't think Frank Vogel can coach your team next year, and currently right now the team's not playing hard for him, then you can't keep Frank Vogel around. At a certain point, there's no point

in just dragging the ball and chain along as you go about this journey. The Lakers have to figure out what they want. I know the reports that have been coming out. I know the comments from the press conferences say that they don't think they're done. I know LeBron says that he needs to be buried 12 feet deep. I know Frank Vogel says that they believe they can go on a run with Anthony Davis and LeBron, but that's not evidenced in what we saw in their competition in the games leading into tonight. So if tonight is a sign of them attempting to do this, then enough of the reports, enough of the leaks, Russ was actually pretty good tonight. Just try hard. Every night, the rest of the season, play your young guys and go down swing it, if that's what you're going to do. But if it's going to be a pout

fest, if it's going to be lots of negativity, if it's going to be LeBron mailing in the defensive end of the floor, then there's no point to this. And then you do need to send Russell Westbrook home. And you do need to either find a way to get LeBron to try a little bit on defense or send him home too. You need to find young players and athletes to try to maintain some sort of passable on-court problem. 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 we 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.

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Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard 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. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Bush 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 on 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. 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. ...product over the course of the next month and a half. They just have to figure that part out. That's going to be the question moving forward. Is tonight what they want to be? Or is tonight the exception?

My guess is, and I would imagine you all feel the same way, my guess is that tonight's the exception. My guess is that they'll go right back down that dark path the next time they touch a basketball court together. And that's frustrating. That's really frustrating for the fans. And it's really frustrating for anybody who's a competitor that's watching this team.

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For those of you who are just joining us, this is Lakers tonight, presented by Fanduel here on the volume. I wanted to move on to the Warriors for just a second. always, you know, really lean on the local fans of these teams to try to learn what they're experiencing as they watch what we, like, we, us Laker fans, we have such an intimate relationship with this team. You know, many of you watch every single game. I watch every single game twice. You know, we, we, we are so familiar with what's happening with this team. And what the guys with the warriors are telling you, what the people who watch that team are telling you is that the lack of Draymond Green is finally starting to wear on this team, that the lack of

Draymond Green is finally starting to cause them to fall apart. So Draymond Green is the best backline defender in the league. We've talked about this a lot. He's arguably the best defender of all time. He's certainly the best defender of this era. He does a lot to clean up issues on the perimeter for the Warriors. But when Draymond Green goes down, at least at first, they actually did a decent job, especially on the defensive end of the floor, because they have what the Lakers

don't have. They have a ton of athletic wings that have really quick feet that are committed to the defensive end of the ball and that can keep their man in front. But over the course of this last month, that has started to wear on them because when you don't have that backline presence, your perimeter defense becomes that much more important. You can give up straight line drives if Anthony Davis is behind you. You can give up straight line drives if Draymond Green is behind you. But If they're not, and there's not that backline help, you desperately need guys to keep people in front. And over the course of this last month, that has fallen apart for the Warriors. And then in addition to that, Steph Curry is experiencing some sort of significant decline.

This is something we've talked about at length on this podcast. His shot is about – he's shooting about 10% worse from three over this stretch of the season than he did over the same stretch last season when he was shooting extremely well. That's not like a, oh, I miss two or three more shots out of 100 attempts. That's not some small amount. That is a significant chunk of what he brings offensively. And that cascades. Teams don't have to send as much help at him.

You can play a more traditional defensive scheme against him when he's not as dominant. So with that, in addition to the Draymond Green piece, this team is kind of coming apart at the seams, which is why if you're a warrior fan, I would imagine you have to be deeply concerned. You know, unless Draymond Green can regain his physical form that he had before the injury, and unless Steph Curry can regain his shooting form that he had early in the season, this team isn't going anywhere. They're liable to potentially lose in the first round. I was joking with my producers before the game.

This was a game that the Lakers could win if they put together an effort because the Warriors aren't very good right now. that's got to be concerning, especially for a team that was humming on all cylinders. I compared them to the 2020 Lakers to start this season. And so that's something they have to figure out. Again, just to put a bow on this whole thing, I'm really, really happy that LeBron was able to show that he can still do this, even in his injured form. I appreciated that he did it in a respectable manner. he didn't do it mailing in the defensive end of the floor.

You know, LeBron, his defensive focus over the course of his career has been an interesting ebb and flow. He started as a young player who was not a great defensive player, which is super typical for young guys who come into the league. And then right at the tail end of his first calf stint, he really ratcheted it up on that end of the floor, particularly that was during the chase down block phase. Then in Miami, he was a great defender the entire time he was there. And then in the first two seasons with the calves, he was a very,

good defensive player. But one of the things that's really interesting about LeBron on the defensive end of the floor is his care has always been attached to his belief. If LeBron believes his team can win a championship, truly believes that his team can win a championship, he will defend, just like he did in 2020, just like he did in 2021. When he doesn't believe, when that belief goes away, that's the first thing LeBron cuts out. So look at 2017. The Warriors signed Kevin Durant. They had just won a title.

But the Warriors signed Kevin Durant, and I think LeBron knew it. I think LeBron knew in his heart of hearts that he didn't have the ability to beat that team with as much talent as they had. And so that entire season, the same guy that was an amazing defensive player in 2016 was not in 2017, was not in 2018. was not in 2019 on that Lakers team that was so talent, that was having all those injury problems. And then as soon as there was a real opportunity in 2020, he ratcheted it right back up. And so that's the tough part here.

I understand where LeBron's coming from. He's looking at the situation, we don't have the horses. We can't beat these teams. We can't beat Phoenix. We can't beat Memphis. We can't beat any of those teams in the east. Why am I going to put a ton of miles on my legs to try to do this? And no one's asking him to be Draymond Green.

No one's asking him to be the defensive player of the year. He just has to do what he did tonight. He just has to care enough that the Lakers can run a functional small ball lineup in those minutes. All right, we're going to move on to the Lakers really quick and talk a little bit about Luca before we get out of here. So the Mavericks are 23 and 7 since New Year's Eve. During that stretch, they are 11th in offense. It's pretty good. Not great.

Pretty good. second in defense and third in net rating behind just Boston and Phoenix, two teams that I've talked about plenty on the show as of late. So in that span, Luca is averaging 30, 10, and 9 on 57% true shooting. So the Mavericks are rounding into something that looks like a contender. And so just like I've done with all these other teams, it's time to ask, is this a team that can truly win the championship? And to me, it all comes down to the question of, of, of,

what you think of as of Luca as a top-tier superstar. One of the players that he's most commonly compared to that I vehemently disagree with is James Harden. Everyone wants to say this is just the European version of James Hardin. The next guy who's this heliocentric, top of the key, make every decision, make every every read, have the ball in his hands all game, you know, relies a lot on drawing fouls, that kind of thing.

That's the line people want to go. And it frustrates me because I can. could not, I could, I think they're so incredibly different. As I've talked about on this podcast a lot, James Hardin is one of the most predictable basketball players in the NBA. He always wants to attack from the left wing or the right wing with a live dribble, either an isolation or a ball screen, and he's either going to go to a stepback three or he's going to go all the way to the rim. When he goes all the way to the rim, he might stop short for a floater, but for the most part, it's trying to get all the way to the rim for a layup. And then from there, he can make reeds

just like any decent playmaker can. Luca is remarkably versatile. Guys like James Harden, defenses get so used to seeing what he does that in a seven-game series, you give a guy, you give a good defensive wing, hundreds of reps guarding James Hardin, and he's doing the exact same thing. He's going to kind of figure him out a bit. That's a huge part of why James Hardin struggles at the end of playoff series.

But look at what Luca Donchage did against the clipper. in his last two playoff series. He seemingly didn't have any issue doing what he wanted to do throughout the entire series. And the reason why is he's way more versatile. Yes, he can go from the left wing or the right wing and isolate and do the stuff that James Hardin does. But he also can get by his man and put him in jail, trap him on his backside, take a couple of slow dribbles into the lane and get to a 15-footer. He can do the Chris Paul thing where he gets into the lane and takes little fallaways.

He's got this huge arsenal of little push shots and hook shots and one-like, fadeaways and turnarounds and all these things that make his offensive attack so versatile that no defender can figure him out. If you have an audible guarding Luca, he's got an audible right back at you. And that keeps him effective as playoff series is drag on. And that's immensely important. Not to mention, he's bigger. He's six foot nine. He's super strong. He's got that size to lean on you. This is something I talk about all the time, that physical tools and how important they are in super physical environments. When the refs swallow the whistle, when the defense is really clamped down, having the ability to use a massive frame to hold somebody off is a massive

advantage. It's something that has constantly affected guys like James Hardin and Steph Kurt, who's someone that I've talked about with that in the past. That's the huge difference between those two guys. That's why he looked flat out better than Kawhi Leonard in those two playoff series. And so the question becomes, does this team have the ability to make it out of the West? Does this team have the ability to get to the championship? And that's where that defensive effort becomes so interesting. Again, since New Year's Eve, a 30-game sample size, the Mavericks are second in defense. And you guys have seen it's not just about personnel.

They have athletes that are defending, right? Like Cleaver's doing a pretty good job. Dory and Finney Smith is doing a pretty good job. you're getting a decent amount of athleticism, but it's a lot of guards. It's a lot of Jalen Brunson. It's a lot of Luca Donchitz. It's a lot of Spencer Dinwiddie. There's a lot of offensive-minded players that are having success in their defensive scheme.

And this is where you've got to credit Jason Kidd. They are doing what I have been insisting on for all of these teams for so long. They're doing a ton of switching. They're leaning into modern defensive concepts and how well that they work. That is something that has proven to succeed all the way through, the latest rounds of the playoffs. That is the huge difference between this Mavericks team and the Mavericks team that damn near beat those Clippers teams

that were really, really good, that were much, much more talented. So that's going to be something that they can lean on in this postseason. It's going to be the same Luca. It's going to be the same offensive versatility. It's going to be the same things that he brings to the table as an offensive player, but with the defense to hold on. in those clipper series, Luca utterly controlled the game.

But the overwhelming defensive athleticism of the clippers and the tissue paper defense of the Mavericks eventually came back to bite them. And how did it bite them? Barely losing in game seven. So when you give Luca the ability to get stops, he suddenly becomes a much more devastating threat to any of these teams. you get in a knockdown, drag-out playoff series with Luca, and his team is getting stops, he's that much more dangerous.

Then the other thing you have to look at is fatigue. And I'm not necessarily worried about it because with the clippers, against the clippers in those series, he seemed to be strong and fine as the series progressed. But even that's less of a worry anymore because of the Spencer Dinwiddie acquisition. You know, Haralabob Volgaris went on the Bill Simmons podcast a couple weeks back, And he talked about how in last year's playoff run, one of the things that killed them was the fact that Nick Patum was able to completely shut down Jalen Brunson and basically made it so that Luca had to generate everything for them offensively. And so when the shooting started to fade as the series went along, that's when they fell apart offensively. Well, Spencer Dinwidig gives you that extra wrinkle there.

Because again, these are all about matchups. If Luca's being guarded by Paul George or Kawhi and Nick Batum is, is guarding Jalen Brunson, then someone else is going to have to guard Spencer Dinwiddie, and he might have the best matchup. We saw that against the Warriors when Dallas beat them the other night. Spencer Dinwoodie just gives you that other guy that can create his own shot. It alleviates some pressure from Luca, and it gives you another matchup that you might be able to attack. So to make a long story short, they're not in that top tier.

I don't put them with Philly. I don't put them with Milwaukee. I don't put them with Phoenix. I don't put them with, well, I think those are honestly the only three at this point, but I don't put them at that top tier, but they're in that tier right below. Some things go right, some injuries, you know, affect other teams. Lucas stays healthy and plays well. Their defense competes.

They absolutely can beat anybody at this point. And I would be terrified to face them if I was any of the teams in the West, especially a team like Golden State. That has, you know, first or second round exit written all over it. All right, guys, that is all I have for tonight. I appreciate you guys to support as always. I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I'll see you in a couple of days.

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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. 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. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite office.

Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.