The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd-HOUR-1-NBA Playoffs, Miami Dolphins, Ryen Russillo

Episode Date: August 20, 2020

Colin opens the show with push back towards the recency bias of the NBA Bubble. The Clippers & Lakers will be fine. The Dolphins name Ryan Fitzpatrick as the starter, Rookie QB Tua Tagovailoa will benefit from this decision. There's a big gap between the #1 player vs #2 player on a NBA roster. Ryen Russillo also joins the show to talk NBA Playoffs, and the Ohio State Buckeyes have reason to be upset with not playing. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast.

For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, 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 Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the 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. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Thursday.

Real sports, real stuff, live in Los Angeles. This is The HARD, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening here on Fox Sports One. It's great to have you in. Joy Taylor is joining me. Ryan Rosillo joins me in 30 minutes. Tristan Thompson of the Cavs, Eric Mangini, Chris Sims, Jason McIntyre on a Thursday.

Are you working tomorrow? No, I thought we were all not working tomorrow. We're all off tomorrow. So this is it. This is our Friday today. I'm planning on being here tomorrow. We're going all in today on today show. We're really trying today.

They're getting our best stuff today. Yeah, this is it. We're just all of it. Tomorrow off. So it's great to have you here. So, you know, we live in a world now, and maybe it's always been like this, you know, like,

recency bias. Like whatever happened last night is the world. And I said this on yesterday's show. I think the Lakers will beat the Blazers in the series, but there are some problems you have to look at. The Clippers are going to beat the Dallas Mavericks in the season. They lost last night. Series is 1-1.

Okay. The Clippers lost the playoff game. That means what? Did anybody think they were going to go undefeated through the playoffs? Dallas has the best young player in the NBA. Dallas has two top 25 players. Dallas has a coach in Rick Carlisle who's going to get Hall of Fame votes. Dallas has depth.

Dallas finished 11 games above 500. Dallas is good. Folks, KD. Stefan Clay. Dynasty had 14 playoff losses. The Heedles, LeBron, Wade, and Bosch had double that. 28 playoff losses. With LeBron, the best player in the world, Bosch and his prime and Wade not far from it,

they were pushed to seven games in Miami. These are in series they won by the Celtics Pacers and Spurs. The Heedles only had two playoff series. In four years, they swept. It's hard, and now nobody has home court advantage. KD. Steffin Clay, the first year, they rolled through it. Last two years after that, it was a struggle. I mean, go back to Shaq and Kobe.

Shaq and Kobe had three years where they're viewed as unbeatable. The second title, they were. The year before that, Shaq and Kobe were pushed to a maximum five games in the first round. As a number one seat, five games at the time was your first round. And they went five games. The year after the second year, the third year, the third year, they went to seven games before they got to the finals. This stuff is hard.

It's hard to win playoff games. And the bubbles don't a wrench into it because generally these, you know, the Lakers would have home court advantage and the Bucks would have home court advantage and the clippers would have home court advantage. And the advantage is when you're a heavy favorite and the clippers are and the Lakers are and the bucks are, is that you need a little juice. I mean, that's always been the thing about the first round. the favorites come in, thank God you're at home,

because you know you're supposed to win in about five games, and what you need is juice. You need a little help from the crowd, and you don't have it. You've got a digital board. And so it's a big advantage to the underdogs. The bucks, the clippers, and the Lakers are one and three. Okay? So it's a huge, this is March madness.

It's even worse than March Madness. Even in the first round, Duke and North Carolina have more fans than Belmont and Coastal Carolina. So this is a huge advantage. I mean, we saw the sons go eight and no. Portland play in. Teams like Memphis and the Nets without, you know, with not much to work with, had real, real advantages. Now it's just like, it's playing in a gym.

Underdogs got nothing to lose. Pressure's all in the favorites. And by the way, the clippers are still trying to figure out chemistry. That's A. We all know that. We don't think their chemistry is great. B, Patrick Beverly, who averages about. 26, 27 minutes tonight for the Clippers.

He's a really good player. He didn't play last night. I don't know when they're getting them back and see Paul George was bad. And Paul George is not a superstar. He has bad playoff games all the time. So the three teams that we think are great, you know, we think are title teams. And I think you can throw Toronto into this, but let's just say Bucks, Lakers, Clippers.

They're one and three. And people forget this. if you go to the KD the last year before KD got hurt in Golden State, the second year, they were pushed the third year, excuse me.

This is the KD, Steph, Clay, Draymon Warriors. They were pushed to six games in the first round by these clippers, and Kauai wasn't there yet, and Paul George wasn't there yet. That's a dynasty. And again, the Healds had 28 playoff losses. They were pushed to six. seven games three times in the years they won the championship.

So this is, you got no home court advantage, big advantage, obviously, to the underdogs. Because the favorites in playoff series in the first round have always needed juice. They need something to lift them up. The underdogs don't. They're being told they have no chance. They don't need the juice. They're being told they have no chance to win the series. They got the juice.

They got the chip in their shoulder. Favorites in the first round are sleepwalking through this thing. Milwaukee's defense now is bad. The Lakers haven't looked really energized in like two weeks. And last night, the Clippers without Patrick Beverly, off night for Paul. George just didn't have it. So this is great news. It's one of these that you'd think, because I love Tua, it would be bad news.

This is actually great news. Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to start for the Miami Dolphins. This is great news for Tua. it. This is a really, really bad year to start as a rookie quarterback. And I want you to think about this. We would all admit Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson look like superstars. I mean, you're talking two MVPs. One of them you consider the best quarterback ever. One of them was just voted Lamar Jackson, best player in the NFL by team, by players, NFL.com. They weren't ready to start year one. Now, just think about this,

contextualize this. They had great head coaches, Andy Reid, John Harbaugh. They had very good rosters. Miami doesn't. They had preseason. They had OTAs. They had stability in the franchise.

Baltimore's rock-solid ownership front office, Kansas City, rock-solid ownership front office. And Mahalms and Lamar Jackson, with all of those additives, were not ready to play. Joe Burrow is going to get mulled. Cincinnati has none of that, and Miami has very little of that.

Miami now has a second year head coach, a new offensive coordinator. They're rebuilding their O-line, and two of their wide receivers opted out. This is not good. Now, take Kyler Murray. I think most of us, I certainly look at Kyler Murray, and I think he had a very successful rookie year. He was 5, 10, and 1. And they brought in his, they brought in a coach, Cliff Kingsbury, who used. used Kyler Murray's high school and college offense.

They just brought it over. He was 5, 10, and 1, and we went, pretty successful. But Kyler Murray, who's more athletic, significantly more athletic than Tua, was getting sacked five times a game as rookie year in the first month. I think he ended up getting sack 50 times. And he has this capability, much better than Tua.

And all those shots, Tua doesn't have to take any of them. because Arizona's O-line is a lot like Miami's today. Rebuilding. Not great. Not top 10 in the league. So this is a, this is great news. And by the way, I love Miami's direction. Joy and I have said this a thousand times. I have them at 7 and 9 this year in a so-so division where I think New England's got its

worst team in 20 years. The Jets are a mess. Buffalo's good but limited at quarterback. I haven't met 7 and 9. Fox Bet has their over. under at six and a half. People in the NFL love where Miami's going. The Vegas guys, the wise guys, have them at six and a half. And I'll give you another. And I love them and I have them at seven and nine. Yesterday I talked, it'll be on my Saturday podcast. I talked to a buddy,

Chad Millman, who's in the gaming industry, sports gambling. And I asked him one of my questions. I've already taped it. It's on Saturday. I said, the smart guys, the wise guys. Like, what is their number one over under bet in the NFL. And he said it's the Cincinnati bingles under five and a half wins. The smartest guys in Vegas are pounding bet Cincinnati wins fewer than five games. Why?

This is an easy one. No OTAs, no preseason, tough division, rebuilding roster, no stability in the franchise historically. This is a sounds like bad news. great news for Tua. Now, now, now, I will say this. There is a part of the Miami schedule,

and I did this with Lamar Jackson. Remember when I predicted he would start game 11 first year? There is a part of the schedule where Tua could come in. It's week nine when they play Arizona Jets by Jets Bengals. Now, that, to me, two months in, offensive line coming together, new offensive coordinator you work with him, that can be your preseason. The eight weeks, you sit on the sidelines, play sparingly, watch Fitzpatrick take the hits. Week nine is going to be my prediction. I predicted

Lamar Jackson, week 11, week nine, Tua starts for the Miami Dolphins at Arizona, Jets by Jets, Bengals. That's, that's the time. It is not now. All right, coming up next. Paul George was bad. Of course he was. And I'll explain that coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. 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 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. platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?

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

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

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field. and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking.

Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different. intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Good to have you in. Casper.com code heard. Dream bedroom.

Sheets, duvets, all that stuff. Ryan Rusillo joins me in 10 minutes. Tristan Thompson. next hour. Great to have you in on a Thursday. So, you know, everybody last night, Clippers lost to the Mavs. Mavs are a good team. 11 over 500. Luka Best Young Star in the game. Dallas is a real team.

By the way, Dallas just set this year a record league history, the most efficient offense. Ever. It's like a real, you're not sweeping Dallas. They're a real team. But Paul George wasn't good last night, and he's up and down as a playoff guy. So the first thing that needs to be said is, how your second best player plays in the playoffs matters. It's not an excuse.

It's a reason. Look at the Lakers. Anthony Davis disappeared against Portland in the fourth. They lost. Milwaukee. Chris Middleton was awful. They lost. To Orlando.

The Clippers, Paul George last night, had a stinker. They lost. By the way, Porzinger ejected Dallas, game one. They lost. Like your second best player. We stare at stars in the NBA. And I get it. It's a star-driven league.

But how your second player performs is crucial in these games. You can't kill. Even Dame needed Mello to hit shots, Nurkis, Nurkich, and C.J. McCollum, to be big the other night. You can't carry a team in this sport anymore. It's too many good players. The second thing is there is a massive gap between, even if they're both Hall of Famers and LeBron and ADR and Pippin and MJ work, there's a massive gap between stars. and the second best star on a team.

I mean, LeBron this year was great in the fourth. AD all year disappeared in the fourth. They'll both be Hall of Famers. Kauai is Mr. Clutch. Paul George historically is never clutch. That's the knock on him. Yonnes is a dominant, consistent MVP. Chris Middleton disappears.

Games, halves. The gap between the best player on a team and the second best. I mean, I love Chris Bosch and his prime, but the gap between LeBron and Wade was massive. I mean, Chris Bosch once had a playoff game in Miami. He didn't score a point. And what happens in these playoffs, you rely on that second best guy,

and sometimes second best guys disappear. That's why they're second best guys. Big gap. I mean, a prime example, the best Robin to a Batman in league history, many people believe is Pippin to MJ. Now, now, you can go back in annals of basketball and argue. But for a long time, that was the argument. That's the best Robin to a Batman ever.

The minute MJ went to baseball, they gave the team to Pippin. By the beginning of year two, Scotty was unraveling. DoI, gun charge, wouldn't come off the bench, had coaching issues with, by year two, he was unraveling. And Scotty's a Hall of Famer. One of the best slashers of all time. But the reality of Jordan is Jordan got tackled for six years before he won a title, six or seven. Jordan was literally the entire league. He carried the league. He carried Chicago. He carried his teammates.

He carried his GM. He carried his owner. And Jordan handled it. Pippin by year two, the unraveling. That is the gap. So when Paul George struggles, it's not an excuse. It's a reason. The number two guy often is not close to the number one guy.

And even when they're Hall of Famers, Paul George is going to get Hall of Fame votes. AD is going to be a Hall of Famer. So Scottie Pipp. Hall of Famer. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

It's also why I said LeBron can't become Mr. Super Passer in this series. LeBron, we're going to need 36. Because AD, I can't trust late, and I don't know Kyle Cusman delivers ever. So when LeBron goes into this super passer great teammate guy, it's like, no, no, no, no, dude. I need 36 from you regularly in these playoffs to win.

I mean, it sounds nice that he's breaking all these records and having and off. And he's one of the greatest, I mean, everyone's going to give the nod to magic, obviously. Oh, no, no, LeBron's right there with greatest pastors in the history of the world. Absolutely is. But this is not the time. This is the time to score, a lot.

So earlier this month, when LeBron was asked about the Lakers' struggles in the bubble, he said there were some things happening behind the scenes that he didn't want to talk about. That brought up a lot of speculation that there's tension within the locker room. But LeBron is assuring the team's fans that there's nothing to worry about. One thing about our team, we have zero lack of team chemistry and camaraderie. That's the one thing that our team will always strive and always be about where our group has been, probably as close as ever before because of the situation even more since we're here. So, you know, the Lake Show, Laker Nation, don't worry about that.

It has nothing to do with the ball club. We're great. No, if the chemistry is good, it's just the dependability is not great. they may have really suffered from the league being shut down more than any other team. You got thrown together this year, new coaches, new players. But they were rolling. Yeah. And now they're in a situation.

And like, I'm telling you, I keep hearing these little, these little mentions from LeBron. And then you heard it from Janus. This was my fear about the bubble going in. Now, initially, our apprehension was for, you know, the young single guys. but for the most part, there's been no problems. Now it's really looking like the guys who have families and are used to, you know, I mean, everyone's certainly not used to a bubble lifestyle,

but, you know, that has a lot more going on and flexibility and they're not at home playing video games by themselves all day are really struggling in the bubble right now. Well, well, when you're young and you don't have kids and you don't have a family, you kind of live, you do, you take care of you all day. So probably the young guys in the bubble are like, hey, listen, man, I play, I nap, I eat, I video game it,

I'll listen to some music. Yeah, and aside from a social life, like they haven't been around their teammates or playing basketball in months. Like, this is just a long extended basketball at a U tournament. But if you have kids and they have a crisis at school and, I mean, it's just different.

If I don't see my, if I don't talk to my daughter every other day, I'm sad. Like I got, when you have kids and they're in school and they're going through this pandemic, a lot of these older players are having a lot more trouble than the young kids. Yeah, it's a lot of pressure. And LeBron keeps talking about it.

I don't think that it is, a chemistry issue. I think this is really a very unique psychological situation for a lot of people and it's wearing. It's hard. There is no home court advantage so you don't have your fans when you're whatever you're going through at home to completely distract you the second that you walk into the arena. Like it's a completely different different situation. So according to Fox bet, the odds before game one for the Lakers to beat the Blazers were minus 555. They're now minus 225. The Blazers plus 170. I still think the Lakers

are going to win this series. But nobody thought it was going to be easy. I think we got a little bit spoiled. And you were just talking about this with the Clippers and the Mavs. We got a little spoiled with the first round series being so easy, right?

That we barely even paid attention to the first round series. Well, you and I would really go into the NBA the second round. Right. The first round, like LeBron went years without losing a game. Right, right.

And so maybe it would be a, you know, a gentleman's sweet. Right? Right. But this is going to be different this year. Yep. It's a completely different environment. No home court advantage and the favorites have no juice, which favorites need in the first round because they're sleepwalking through it.

And guys, enjoy the extra basketball games. Yeah. We haven't had those in a while and haven't had them in the first round for a long time. So the Mavericks obviously got a big win over the Clippers in game two last night. And even though Luca said it felt amazing to get his first playoff victory, he's focused on what the team is going to do next. We just got three left. And I think we can fight with him. I mean, in any series, we're going to go in.

We're going to believe that we can win for sure if you don't believe it, you're not supposed to be here. So you're going to believe it. Luca is. Absurd. He is a gift. Do you know he had one bad game all year. I looked it up this morning.

He had one stinker against Denver. The guy is one of the six players in the league that I get the exact same performance every night. He's increased 21. He's incredible. He's incredible. He passed Karin Abdul-Jabbar for the most points through his, first two career playoff games yesterday so luca had 70 in his first two kareem had 69 wilt 63 63 lebron 58 jordan 53 so that should tell you kind of the the air that he's in at this this point in

his career he had 28 points eight rebounds and seven assists i mean it was a it was a bad game for the clippers overall uh a lot of fouls in that game i mean it was getting a little ridiculous in the fourth quarter like let them let them play a little bit yeah people are back people are bagging i i my only knock an NBA officiating, because I think it's fine, is over-officiating. I'm kind of like, let the dudes play. No, no, no. I don't think the officiating has been bad, but it just feels like it's like every other possession is a call. Like, let's just let them play a little bit. I mean, maybe that is a little bit to the crowd. You don't have the, you don't have the booze and the, you know, the energy from the crowd that, you know, well, we'll sway officials sometimes. Yeah. So maybe that's

playing a part in it. But overall, great game and good job out of the out of the maps. I still think Clippers win this series as well, but it's, it's nice to have a little competition. Not a whole lot of competition going on in the Sixers Celtics series, though. The Sixers lost an ugly game to the Celtics 128 101, and Brett Brown admitted his team was a little outmatched in game two. I think you get deflating when their shot makers went bananas. And I'm not going to, I'm not going to scold their effort. I think that you've got to shake their hands to the solitaire.

They made shots, and we had a hard time dealing with that. Jason Tatum had a playoff career high, 33 points, five rebounds, five assists. Kimball Walker at 22, Jalen Brown had 20, Jewel and beat at 34 and 10 rebounds, no one else on the team scored more than 18 points. I'm over this. I'll go back to my argument. any relationship that is this hard, this many years in, is not going to work. I mean, I'm with you.

This is why I don't like the programming of tanking, because you, for so long, you're building your team to lose, and then all of a sudden you get the players that you think can win, and you've been teaching these young players that it's okay to lose, and all of a sudden you think you're just going to flip a switch, and now they're winners. That doesn't work. Veteran teams don't do that.

They take it easy. They take their foot off the gas, but they're still moving forward. So it's, it just, I don't know. I'm over the process, too. I feel bad for Joel Embed, though. Like, he is a competitor. You see him on the sideline.

You can get upset. And I feel for him. It's not a good situation for him. You can get a lot for him. Simmons and Embed don't work. I think you can get more for Embed than Simmons, but I would keep Simmons for a lot of different reasons, the way the game is played now.

But you can get a lot for Embed. I'd break it up and I'd go, somebody out there in this world, he's one of the most skilled big men in the history of the sport. He's got a little shod. Shack. No, he's an incredible player. Poor Shaq put weight on.

I mean, it's a little unfair to evaluate them, obviously not being, not having Ben Simmons out there, but I mean, it should not be this it shouldn't be this bad. Yeah, it's like I'm just done with it. Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Hurd Lie News. Works for the ringery. He's my buddy Ryan Rosillo, brought to you by Mercedes Ben's, the best or nothing. Okay, it's recency bias. Let's freak out. Clippers lost. And I just watched it and I thought Dallas is pretty good. Carlisle is probably going to get Hall of Fame votes.

Lucas Sick, Porzinga, and, you know, by the way, they just set a record for NBA offensive efficiency. And I, Joey and I were talking about this, Ryan, these underdog teams, they don't have to go on the road to start a series. They're playing with, I mean, I watched last night, and I'm like, this is just Dallas is playing with,

I mean, it looked like they're just playing with house money. Last night, they looked like a better team, right? Yeah, this, this whole concept that the worst teams were going to be better than the better teams, just because it was a bubble. it was hard for me to buy into them. Like, why am I going to start picking the teams that aren't as good just because it's neutral? And yet what we've seen with the one seed's losing and then the clipper splitting these first two.

But we knew this about Dallas. Dallas is arguably statistically at least one of the best historical offenses we've ever seen. And they were one of the worst closing teams in recent NBA history. They had this number where they had lost like seven games when they were up in the last minute. It was one of the worst numbers we'd seen in a couple decades. But what Luca does to defenders. is already scary. I don't know what to do with him right now. Think about this Clippers team that has Beverly when they're healthy and then of course, Kauai and Paul George. Luka has gotten

switches against any of these players. He had a play in game one where he drove right into Kauai's chest and Kauai bounced off of Luca. And I get that Luca's bigger, but his handle the tightness of it, his understanding of angles at such a young age, he basically has moments where he goes, all right, I'm just going to drive on you this entire time. And by the way, it's six nine, six eight. I have the vision to kick it out to shooters. So they play a little bit like Houston, but he's so good on these drives that we're talking about a really good defensive Clippers team with great individual defenders that are lost with him.

Yeah. You know, it's interesting when you look at, I was just talking about there's such a gap. Even Pippin was the best Robin ever. And the minute they gave him the franchise for two years, by year two, emotionally he unraveled, the pressure of being the number one. I mean, LeBron was great in the fourth quarter this year. AD was not. And I look at Paul George and I think to myself, he's a good player.

But what Paul did last night is what Paul does one out of three playoff games. Like this is why Kauai has to score 34 for them to win the title, right? This is why LeBron can't be super passer like he was the other night. Like we're all like, oh, LeBron's such a great visionary. Yeah, that's great, but I need 34 from you. So I watch Paul George and I'm like, this is why the Clippers can't roll through every series. Paul gives you this every third playoff game since I've been watching him.

Look, Paul George is, we know he's a max guy. You'd all want him on your team. If you're running a team, you're like, hey, we can get Paul George. It's incredible. I mean, think about the Lakers thought they had him. Oklahoma City ends up with them. They were thrilled to have them. And then the Clippers are like, we're going to give you a million draft picks for him.

But it's very simple with Paul George. And I think some of these guys that are below that first tier, which is a very small group of guys that bring you every single night. If Paul George gets 30 in a playoff game, I'm not surprised. But he gets 13, I'm not surprised. He had zero in the first half. He woke up a little bit later on. But at that point, you're like, okay, where have you been?

I understood he had foul trouble. But I went through it. Kevin Durant in 139 playoff games has had eight real games below 20 points. Okay? Think about that. There's like two where he was hurt. But there's eight games where he didn't get to 20 out of 139. Paul George, not counting the first three playoff series of his career where he just wasn't a primary guy at all,

almost a third of his playoff games end up being a sub-20 guy. So look, we understand how talented he is, but this thing happens with announcers where the secondary guy goes off. They're like, oh, he doesn't get enough credit. He doesn't get enough credit because he has games like in game two. You're like, is Paul George out there? Are they running this to Marcus Morris tonight? Yeah.

You know, it's funny. Joy and I have talked about this. And this isn't obviously verified, but it's like the young players who are single, no kids. They go to this bubble. I can't wait for this. Here we go. So the young guys are like, I ball, I nap, I eat, I play Xbox, I have fun.

The old guys, kids, you don't have those yet. Wait until you have kids and you're sitting around all night. You don't talk to your. And then they have marriages. So LeBron and Janus, they keep talking about all this. They're older guys. They've been in the league seven, eight years. And Luca, John Morant, Michael Porter, Jr.

You know, is there something about. Let's just take Milwaukee. The mood, the body language, what's wrong with Millwall? They're not the same team right now. I don't look. I'd have to be down there to know. Those are the things we sort of hear about after the fact. You're like, hey, this team really doesn't get along.

Because I was asking, we had Sep Curry on the podcast. And I go, do you hang out with other teams? He's like, well, our team's pretty tight. He's like, we don't really hang out with different guys. But you have to imagine how weird that dynamic would be. But like, why is Dave hanging out with the Orlando Magic? I think what's happened, what does happen in these series is that Milwaukee goes in with a lot of expectations about themselves because they were a dominant statistical team this year with how they were beating on teams. And Orlando won 33 games. So, you know, Orlando took advantage of a few things.

Middleton had another one of those kind of off, you know, Paul George like games. Milwaukee has this tendency to let you shoot against them, which is kind of weird for a team that you feel pretty good about defensive. but as far as body language, the whole thing, like I've got to see a second game before I'm ready to really start worrying about Milwaukee, because I can't fathom that an Orlando team that wasn't going to get to 500 this year is going to be one of the great point differential teams we've ever seen in the regular season. But we talked about this yesterday. We said, Janus plays great with a lead in downhill. It's Lamar Jackson. But when Lamar trailed against Tennessee just by 10 points in the third quarter, you're like, oh, oh, this is trouble.

Even the Baltimore staff, you could tell from their playing. call. Mahomes is down 24-0 and you're like, yeah, let's just, you know, get it together. It'll be fine. Janus, this is why I can't just annoy Janus as the next face of the league. When he gets behind, Ryan, he's not as scary, he's still good, but he's not as scary. Can we acknowledge that LeBron is still, and Kauai are kind of a gap above Janus in that, you know, behind or not, I feel like LeBron and Kauai, their game isn't marginalized. Well, whenever we do this with any of these guys that are trying to be the top guy in the league, yeah, we got to see it.

We got to see more than blowing a 2-0 lead in the Easter conference finals against the Raptors, because that's all we have right now. That's Janice's biggest accomplishment. But as far as comparing me, like if the default here is that I have to argue, he's Pat Mahomes, I'm already going to lose the argument because we've never, I mean, we don't have anything like that. So part of the reason I think you may think, and I'm not sure that I agree with you on that one, is that they beat team so bad this year. That's why I kept getting that back to the point differential.

Yonis was only playing like 30 minutes a night. I mean, it's crazy to think somebody this young who's an MVP, and the whole system was like, we don't need to play him this much. I mean, you could knock him and say, well, you know, if they're down and he's not a great shooter, is that a flaw? But you could use the same argument against Steph Curry when you go, well, if the shot's not falling, Steph in a tight playoff game, can't always get you to the rim and get you an easier bucket.

And you're like, I don't know, man. I would say this. The bigger issue is that he has had, that Yonis has had Middleton's let him down, Bledso's let him down. and they are a really good defensive team that does space out everybody on offense. And the argument against Milwaukee would be, okay, you do only two things. I mean, Barcliffe was talking about the other night. It's Janus layups or it's kickout threes and your number one guy doesn't shoot enough.

But it's still the Orlando magic. And I think as weird as that first game was, I'm sorry. Like I can't believe the magic are going to really end up making this like a thing where we're saying. Are we writing off Milwaukee this soon? So I don't want to get into your personal life, but I'm sure you've had a lot of girlfriends, and I always have a theory on this. If you're going to therapy in year seven, it's just too hard. By year seven, if you can't come to...

Okay, so I look at the six. What are you talking about right now? Are you saying you would be dating somebody and not married and therapy in year seven? Because then you should have gone to therapy way before that. I'm saying is when relationships are right, it works pretty quickly. I'm so over the Sixers. God, I'm just so over it. I mean, at some point, can you solve the M. Bid Simmons issue right here on our show today?

Because I'm done with it. No, and it used to be worse when we look at the on-court, off court with those guys. And this is, I knew this was going to happen. There's a couple teams that are facing real, and I would say therapy type issues, but they're just going to say, hey, like there's people right now staying in the relationship because of a pandemic. And I would imagine the Sixers may stay in some of these relationships because they're going to go, That was the bubble, you know, and hey, Ben was hurt. Yeah.

I think the first thing would be you would give another coach a chance here. I know everybody, and I've brought it up before, I just think, unfortunately, for Simmons and MB, their skill set, the things that they're both good at, they're mismatched with kind of the worst version of the other guy, where Simmons would probably be better playing more in a Janus-type style, where he can drive and he can kick out to everybody instead of having maybe one of the best centers we've ever seen talent-wise,

kind of standing in his way. The numbers did get a little bit better with those two, but I'll always kind of challenge everybody with this. You have to know what's coming back that makes sense because we get real worked up about break it up, break it up, okay, for what though? What transaction exists out there where I split up and beat in Simmons and I actually like what we're getting back

where we feel like we're better? Because the other scary thing for the Sixers right now is they've got two of the worst contracts in the league with Harris and Horford. And I, like, Brett Brown, none of these coaches want to get on these guys anymore. We know that. The guys we grew up watching, they would lay into, their guys after game two. But here to come the Sixers down, 25 in the fourth quarter being like,

all right, guys, full court press, who's your style? And they give a back-to-back offensive rebounds the first two possessions. And you go, hey, it's not just that the other team's lighting it up. Your effort level is just not locked in. And I think you're right in that it's a very frustrated group. And I myself, I'm kind of sick of talking about it. Okay, a minute left, Ryan, AD Disappearing Act in the fourth quarter. Is it psychological? Is it the way LeBron plays? it's game two tonight. Like, you explain AD's fourth quarter disappearing act.

Sometimes I think it's the way they trap him defensively, and he's just a really smart player, and he plays off the trap. But then sometimes it's like, hey, we need you to do this. Two real quick things. I'm not ready to put AD in this group of the number twos that aren't as good. I know you are.

I know you've been kind of down on him. I listen enough to the show that you're not an AD guy. He's 30 and 12 and 14 playoff games. Some of the numbers he put up with the Pelicans, yes, they didn't do a lot. But they are much. monster, monster numbers. So I'm not ready to put him in as this playoff guy that's super inconsistent because the numbers are incredible.

But we saw about the last four minutes of game one, the game is in the balance against Portland. What do they do? They went small. They went small with Anthony Davis. And if that's what you're telling me, if Vogel's telling me as a coach and I kind of like this lineup better, then what are we screwing around with? Yeah. Like enough of the center charade, especially against a guy like Hassan White's side or Yokic, not Yolkich, get him out of there. Have Davis

just move around and set up in some different spots. I know you've been on this big fourth quarter thing, but I'm just not there enough with Davis to start worrying about him not being able to be a good Robin. By the way, you're not the only person that listens to this show. America needs me for honest takes, Rosillo.

Sports therapist over here. I mean, we hit on what's going on with you lately. A lot of counseling. A lot of references. You're right? I'm great, by the way. Everything's good. I know you are. I know you are. Yeah, okay, good, good.

The ringer, Ryan Rusillo. Good seeing you, buddy. Good podcast. Great podcast. The Ryan Rusillo podcast. Coming up next, I actually have sympathy from a football team in Ohio. I really do. I totally get their pain. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's super

Human documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

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

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-taped 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 y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness, this month. I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you're you here on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid?

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So people in Ohio think I don't like their football teams, the Browns. a horrible franchise. I call them out. They think it's hating. I think it's honesty and accuracy. Cincinnati. Joe Burroughs is going to be awful this year. It's not his fault.

It's just a bad year to have to start for a bad franchise and a brutally tough division. I think the Browns, the Steelers, and the Ravens. I don't think there's a division in football that's got better front sevens than those three combined. It's just Baltimore's and Pittsburgh's could be the best in the league, one and two. It's just sick.

Burroughs going to be over his skis. But I do get the Buckeyes frustration in the Big Ten, not playing. The Bengals are playing in Ohio. The Browns are playing in Ohio. The Cincinnati Bearcats collegiately are playing in Ohio. They're having high school football in Ohio. People will play during Thanksgiving in their backyard in Ohio, in parks, in Ohio State. The best historic football franchise in the state can't play. I get it. I get the anger. I get the frustration. Proximity matters. You know, it's different. Now, those have said this. If my brother-in-law or something did much better than me professionally,

it's one thing if he lives in another state. What if he was my neighbor? Oh, he'd be driving in him with a new sports car again. They're going on another vacation. Proximity matters. Ohio State's looking around. Everybody right around him is playing in their own state. And they're the big dogs.

It's frustrating. I get it. Proximity, you know, it's like when you're a kid and all the kids are playing outside, you look out your window and your mom is mad at you. You're grounded and you can't go play with the kids, but you can see them all playing in a sunny day. in the summer. I feel bad for Ohio State.

Also, they don't care about outside of Michigan. They don't see themselves really as a Big Ten team. Ohio State fans see themselves as Alabama. And they see themselves as Clemson and Notre Dame. They're a national player, Georgia, LSU, outside of Michigan. And Michigan's not really at their level as a national title contender. Ohio State sees itself. I mean, the conversation Ohio State fan has is not about beating Wisconsin.

They do that almost every year. It's about beating Alabama and beating Clemson. That's how, you know, Oklahoma. That's how they view themselves. So those guys are all playing. Oklahoma's playing and Clemson's playing and Bama's playing and Georgia's playing and Notre Dame is playing. And they're not playing. So I get it.

Like I, this is one of the things, this is one of those times. I get the anger and resentment of the Ohio State players, their fans. Everybody in their state's playing, including high school. Everybody's playing. High school guys don't get paid. High school guys don't have probably the lung capacity of a great college player. I mean, it's, I get it. this is such an abnormal year in that I mean hockey and NBA are playing in a bubble

UFC rented an island baseball endless season down to 60 games part of me thinks could could one of these big corporations lighten up for a second could the big 10 say go play go join the big 12 for a year I mean it's an abnormal year Well, contractually, give me a break. We're going to look at small print. Ohio state's a football power. It is a massive disadvantage in a, you know, we're dealing now. The ACC, the SEC, the Big 12, the Big 10, they all compete against each other for the same great high school players.

And this morning, all the rivals to Ohio State can say, they're not committed, man. That conference is, they're not really committed. And it probably costs them some recruits. So this is one of those I get the angry. fan. Usually the angry fan is delusional, doesn't have an argument. I get Ohio State's anger. And I do wonder, and again, it's far more complicated than me, a sports guy talking about it on the air. But I do think, could the Big Ten lighten up and say, Ohio State was allowed to go play and they joined a conference. And they broke the Big Ten contract. By the way, Ohio State could go independent tomorrow and succeed. If Illinois went independent, programs done. Nobody cares. Nobody cares in Illinois. But if Ohio State went independent, help. BYU makes it as an independent. Navy. Ohio State could go independent and football just say, we'll make a schedule up every year and do just fine. So I think the Big Ten without Ohio State doesn't have a single national player, not once.

It's like the Pac-12 right now. If USC is down, they don't have a single national contender on an annual basis. So I get it. I think the Big Ten could lighten up, understand the value Ohio State brings to the conference nationally, the only national, like year after year, every year Ohio state's in the top four or five they can win a title. Wisconsin's not. Just a great Wisconsin's great. It's a great Big Ten

football power. It's not a great national power. It's a good program. So, but you know, it's complicated. You have contracts. You know, everybody wants to own everybody. And I would consider, if I run the Big Ten, I would consider saying, go schedule some games. Keep your name out there. Keep playing. at home, get inspired, Lowe's.com.

Do It Yourself Projects. Never been a year you're at home more. That's where Lowe's comes in. Do It Yourself Projects. Hour 2 coming up next. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 I'm 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 Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled 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 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. On the Look Back at a podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. Eighty-four's big to me. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here, unpack what and trying to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

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