The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What's Wright - Lakers-Timberwolves Game 4 Reaction: LeBron & LA NIGHTMARE finish, is season over?

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

Nick Wright reacts to Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 116-113 win over LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Four of their first round matchup in the NBA Playoff. Nick discusses the Lakers’ late-game collapse, JJ Redick’s bold coaching decision, and whether he believes in LA’s ability to overcome their 3-1 series deficit. Later, Nick reacts to Steph Curry’s heroic performance in the Golden State Warriors’ Game Three win over the Houston Rockets as well as Damian Lillard rupturing his Achilles in Game 4 of the Pacers-Bucks series. Finally, Nick reacts to Aaron Gordon’s game-winner in Game Four of Nuggets-Clippers to even the series at 2-2. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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A quick Monday morning pod after what was a remarkable and unbelievable weekend of NBA basketball and also the weekend that almost assuredly marked the end of the Los Angeles Lakers season. And that's not even because I think necessarily they are drawing dead to execute a 3-1 comeback. They're obviously drawing very slim, but I don't think they are at 0%. However, the present they will get if they somehow do execute a 3-1 comeback with a rotation that clearly only has five players the head coach trusts is either going to be the golden state warriors or the houston rockets both of which present massive problems for this team in this moment and if you were like me and you really thought this team's high end was not just conference finals

caliber not just NBA finals caliber but championship caliber this weekend was a hard punch in the face about that. And if you want to chalk up Friday to, man, Luca was sick and played like it and didn't have it and

they ran out of gas at the end fine. But then Sunday presented far more problems, issues, concerns that obviously as they now face elimination games for the rest of their season,

and the only way to not face elimination games, the rest of their season, is to win three straight elimination games, and then get a fresh start after a seven-game war, then you've got to be honest about what we're seeing. And I want to be, I want to give credit words due. Anthony Edwards is having his moment. And I know people here want to hear probably,

you know, me talk about, LeBron and Luca in the end of that game and we will. But Anthony Edwards, 43 points, 43, 9 and 6, going to war with LeBron throughout the game, suffering what the broadcast seemed to think was a catastrophic injury. And Anthony in the moment reacted like it was a catastrophic injury. Everyone's heart sank when they saw it. And he pops up, it doesn't matter. He plays 44 minutes.

brilliant in the fourth quarter. And that has been the key to this series. And obviously the key to game four is the Timberwolves, a team that was not good in clutch situations, closing out games. It's really where you thought the Lakers were going to have a decided advantage in this series was let it be close late and have LeBron and Luca take over. The opposite has happened.

It's been close late the last couple games. LeBron and Luca have been absolutely out of gas and Anthony Edwards has taken over. Julius Randall exercising some playoff demons and now you're in a spot that I don't think anyone anticipated. Even the most ardent Timberwolves fans, even after they took game one, I don't think thought it would be 3-1 in this fashion. going back to Los Angeles. And so let's get into game for him. By the way, we'll talk. Steph was played one of the most remarkable playoff games of his career this weekend.

We'll get into that. Dame sadly, I mean, tragically, Torres Achilles. That's probably we're going to get into that more tomorrow. And obviously, Nuggets, Clippers with a finish for the ages. So we'll try to quickly hit on all those. But where we have to start is with. J.J. Reddick, and I am not going to act as if J.J. hasn't been awesome this year. He has. And I'm not going to act as if that J.J. Reddick is the problem for the Lakers. Far from it.

However, when a rookie head coach does something that according to, you know, the stats and information folks, No coach has ever done in modern playoff history, maybe all of playoff history, which is play the exact same five guys for the entirety of a second half of a playoff game. And then those five guys are totally, absolutely unequivocally out of gas at the end. That's going to be a story.

and JJ was left without a lot of great options. He decided after the opening couple minutes, understandably, he couldn't trust Jackson Hayes. I thought he would try to steal a few minutes for LeBron or Luca with Vanderbilt or Gabe or even Goodwin. He decided not to, and he was in a weird spot because the Lakers had that great third quarter, which allowed them to go into the fourth with a lead, a position they've been brilliant all year.

I don't know what the record was, some like 45 and 4 or something outrageous, going into the fourth quarter with a lead. They outscore the turbles by 13, and I think JJ's thought process was if we can, in the opening few minutes of the fourth, hold. or even push this lead a bit, then maybe I'll steal a couple of minutes of rest, but that's not what happened. Ant kept coming down and making plays.

The Timberwolves stayed right in that down four to down seven range. And JJ never felt comfortable taking those five off the court. And by the very end of the game, they were all on fumes. LeBron somehow. found a couple bursts of energy on the defensive end, the steel and the block, and I thought that was going to be the story of the game. That LeBron after is, I think,

104th career playoff 20.5th, plays a wildly efficient game, 27, 12, and 8, and then makes the key defensive plays down the stretch to turn a four-point deficit into a six-point lead after the huge Austin and Rui 3s, but of course, that's not what happened. And you saw the fatigue kicking in at various moments

before the final couple minutes. Luca, God, I think it was Jade McDaniels on his hip, or maybe it was Julius, had a layup, missed it. LeBron, out of a timeout, great play, had a layup, missed it. And I said it was, Austin and Rui that the three was Austin and Dorian Finney Smith that hit the threes but despite all of that it's Lakers up to with the ball after the the LeBron block

with a minute 10 left and yeah if I mean this is a keep you up at night restless bad sleep game because there's so many moments that you just wonder, man, if they just do this a little bit better, change one thing. And by the way, those moments existed in the first half. I was watching the game with my best friend and coworker at FS1 Danny Parkins over to his house. And the whole first half, even in the first quarter when they were leading, I was, I said to him four minutes left in the first quarter, man, they should be up 13.

They should be up 15. And this is going to end up being a situation where they're up seven and you feel sick about it. They were only actually up four at the end of that quarter. Then the second quarter, the Timberwolves go on their run.

All of a sudden, you're trailing at the half. Then they do have that great third quarter and now to get back to where we were, the highest leverage possession of the season for the Lakers, ends up being no real ball movement, guys standing around, Luca dribbling the ball,

up two minute left, finds LeBron. LeBron takes an exhausted three. And I understand, like, there is going to be a carve out of folks that either, why doesn't he drive there, or that focus on LeBron's fourth quarter, zero points,

and the turnover, which I'll get to in a moment, which I understand, and I'm not even saying that's totally unfair. I am saying that when the last two games LeBron has played are the two greatest playoff games by a super old guy in league history.

I'm going to have a little bit of grace. But the LeBron 3 with 54 seconds left, in that spot you wonder when JJ sees that possession's going nowhere and sees how dead everybody is is that a time to use your final time out probably not you probably don't want to use your last time out in that spot but if you get a basket there you win the game then next time Timberwolves ball, up to 40 seconds left, the Lakers understand just can't allow a three.

You don't allow a three. You're going to be in great shape, tied with the ball with a two-for-one opportunity. They don't allow a three, and Austin makes its biggest mistake of the season. Fowling Jaden McDaniels on a no hope to alter, the shot foul, Jaden to his credit, makes the free throw, and now all of a sudden you're trailing for the first time in basically the entirety of the second half after the opening

few minutes when you took the lead in the second half. Oh, that's not true. You were trailing a couple minutes earlier, but you're trailing with 40 seconds left. Down one with the ball. Luca gets tripped. I don't think I'll be honest. I disagree with JJ. I don't think it was a foul. I think it was fine that they didn't call that. LeBron with the bad in-bounds pass. And then this is the one I just hate. The challenge the out-of-bounds call that now can retroactively turn into a foul. All of a sudden, Anthony Edwards going to the line.

He was a killer. He makes both free throws. And then the Lakers, I thought, got lucky that the Timberwolves didn't foul, Luke in the back court or foul LeBron on the catch. Austin got a decent look. He missed it. Now you're down 3.1. And you still see moments flashes from this team that show the highest end.

And I understand some folks are going to say, listen, we knew this was a mismatched roster when you traded for a guy midseason that you need an offseason. I don't buy all that. Or maybe I should buy it, but I knew all that going into these playoffs. I thought they got the perfect draw. I thought the Timberwolves would be athletic and feisty, but I did not think that in close games late,

they would have the edge and they have. And I looked at the Lakers path and I said, okay, have the Timberwolves in round one with home court. You have been dominant against the Western Conference this year. You have been dominant at home this year. Then in round two, you're going to have either a young Rockets team that doesn't have a go-to scorer or a Warriors team where again you have home court and the Warriors will

have just been coming off a seven-game absolute war with Houston. you saw a real path, a real path. And instead, Friday night, they waste a LeBron masterpiece where they can't finish at the end, a 13 to 1 run. Luke is sick and pretty ineffective. Ant is once again awesome. Another eight-assist game for Friday night.

Jaden McDaniels has the game of his life, almost all targeting Luca. Julius has another good playoff game. You lose that fourth quarter by 10. LeBron seems gassed the final few minutes there despite giving you 3810, 4, 2 and 2. And then Sunday afternoon, JJ goes for it. The smallest interval between games

they'll have all postseason from a Friday night to a Sunday afternoon. JJ, understanding we have two days off before game five, got to win this, goes for it, plays Austin, Luca, LeBron, Rui, and Dorian, all 24 minutes of the second half. And they can't hit the tape.

And can they win Wednesday? Yeah, they should. and if they win Wednesday, will I be on here Thursday? Feeling like, well, you know, you got a shot Friday, and then it's a game seven in your building. Yeah, maybe. But if the goal for this Lakers team, and this was the goal, when you have LeBron James, I don't care that he's 40,

he is still unequivocally what top eight playoff guy right now this moment like I'm not I'm not sure the what's the full list of guys this postseason who you'd say either have been better you'd rather have in no particular order just going through the series Tatum Janice, Aunt, Aunt's earned it, Joker, Steph, who I'll get to,

there's an argument for it. Fair is fair. Kauai, maybe, maybe, Jalen Brunson. So what's that? 7, 6, 78? When you have,

even at his age, a guy who's still a top 8, let's go conservatively, playoff performer, this moment, And Luca, getting bounced in round one when you're a minus 200 favorite is a disaster. And even if somehow you are able to dig deep and overcome and come back from this deficit, what legs are you going to have going into round two when the series basically start going every other day?

I don't know that you're going to have them. And so that's why started the pod by saying the season ended on Sunday. They needed the round one to be done in six or less. And they needed to demonstrate to themselves and their team that they

had at least seven guys they trusted. if you don't trust Austin or I'm sorry of Jackson Hayes who I wouldn't you got to at least trust Vanderbilt or Vincent more than you have and they haven't they can't steal minutes it's why I thought Kerr as brilliant and he'll get to Steph shortly as brilliant as Steph was this weekend all the games are running together. Was that Saturday? Was that Friday? I don't even remember. Friday night, Saturday night.

Kerr deserves massive credit himself for finding his way through without Jimmy Butler. For massaging the rotation the way he did. And the Lakers didn't think they had that luxury. They play. four guys 40 plus minutes they play luka coming off whatever illness he was dealing with 46 they play lebron in his 284th career playoff game 46 and they don't get to the finish line and it's just a damn shame to waste and this is and then i'll get to aunt we're all focus on lebron

every single one of these, man, every single time we're watching, we might be watching the final great playoff game of the greatest playoff performer in NBA history's career. Like Friday night,

the odds are, the odds are that's the most points LeBron will ever score in a playoff game again. All the, none of the records at this point. It's just, he's just passing his own oldest ever records again and again and again. But 38 last, or on Friday night, that's like a minus 300 favorite to be the most points.

LeBron ever scores in a playoff game the rest of his career. Sunday afternoon, 27, 12, 8, 3, and 3. the best Laker on the defensive end and arguably the best Laker on the offensive end and it's wasted and listen LeBron missed the three LeBron turned the ball over on the inbound

and I LeBron I suppose you can say fouled Anthony Edwards I'm that one I'm not going to kill him on I thought that us going to the Zepruder review and the Timberwolves challenging the out of bounds not even hoping to get the out of bounds but hoping to then retroactively get the foul I don't love any of that but rules are the rules and so now we see and the other story here is of course Anthony Edwards and Anthony Edwards

who is putting a whole lot of pelts on his wall at such a young age. We have now seen Anthony Edwards, not Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, out of a playoff series, Nikola Yokic, out of a playoff series, then get bounced by Luca and Luca and say, I was out of gas. And he now is this close to knocking LeBron James and Luke Adonchich out of a playoff series.

In a postseason where through four games, he's averaging 38 and 6 on 43% from 3, 45, 43, 83 splits. Listen, he can say all he won, about not wanting to be the face of the league. And the fact of the matter is,

as long as LeBron and Steph are playing, that spot is probably not really open. But his charisma, his style, his competitiveness, his athleticism, his ferocity, his fearlessness, all of that. All of that is face of the face of the league, league stuff and it certainly doesn't hurt that folks in the media seem convinced he looks like

and reminds them of Michael Jordan and so there's a huge moment for aunt and then I just mentioned beat Durant beat Joker is this close to beating LeBron and Luca and then in the next round would have a chance to beat Steph now I still think Houston has a shot that series, but obviously Golden States in great position and is the favorite right now. He's building quite the resume at 23 years old. And it's really, really impressive. And credit to Chris Finch and that entire, listen, Jaden McDaniels has been awesome. I, they have, I think Rudy, Rudy has had his moments on the offensive, I mean, on the

defensive end more than his moments he's been good on the defensive end but he has been his total inability to take advantage of the Lakers lack of size has been a little embarrassing and I understand he's not an offensive player but he's not a four point a game guy in the regular season he's a dozen points a game in this series he's been a zero on offense hasn't mattered because aunt's been that good Julius is exercising some playoff demons Jaden's been great. And then Naz, they've had different role players step up. And so they've gotten away with the fact that Mike Conley was about as unplayable as I thought he would be.

That's the crazy part to me about this series. A lot of my pre-series analysis of, Gobert's not going to take advantage of their lack of size. Conley's not going to be playable. you can pencil Luca in for 30 a game and LeBron will be great they've come to fruition and it hasn't mattered

because the Lakers have been the fourth quarter margins in this series have been mortifying game one 23 to 17 so the Timberwolves are plus six game two

the Lakers won it but it was 20 to 13. So now the Timberwolves are plus 7. Game 3. Plus 7 there, so plus 13 overall. Game 3, 30 to 20. So now the 10 rolls are plus 17. Game 4, 32 to 19.

So now the 10 rules are plus 30. You lose the fourth quarters by 30 points. in an otherwise tightly contested series, you're in terrible shape. And so shout out to the Timberwolves. This was truly a wake up in the middle of night, think about it game. And it is obviously a think about all offseason game

if this series goes the way, one thinks it's likely to go. I mean, I'll look right now. The series odds, they've got to be like minus 1,000, right? Series markets, minus 500. Minus 1,000, I guess, was too strong.

That, and then, so that means the Lakers must be big favorites. Let me check with our friends at Draft Kings, and then I'm going to tell you about Draft Kings. Lakers, five and a half point favorites game five. Yeah, but Lakers who went into this postseason with 17 to 1 to win the title, now 40 to 1, and honestly, that feels a little strong because even if they were to execute the 3-1 comeback,

what legs are they going to have for round 2, much less round 3 and 4, which doesn't seem to be it's going to be a problem they have to deal with. The 82 game grind is done. And now the real fun begins. The NBA playoffs are here. Time for all the high stakes drama clutch moments and jaw-dropping plays. I know you can't wait. If you're looking to make the playoffs even more exciting,

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All right. Some other quick hitters from the weekend, I thought Steph was unbelievable Saturday evening. And it wasn't. just that he was getting beat up the whole game and it wasn't just that the rockets understood if we can somehow contain him the warriors have no other offense it was his just other worldly stamina from start to finish in that game in a game that it would have been really easy for the Warriors

and for Steph to say, okay, we don't have Jimmy. Houston was dialed that first quarter defensively. They're going to be beating us up and Steph very early on didn't have it going.

Okay, no problem. Long series, Jimmy will be back. And instead, Steph answers with 36, 7, and 9. In his 41 minutes, they're plus 18, which means in the seven minutes he sat, they were minus 7. They needed one other guy to show up offensively.

They got two other guys to show up offensively. Gary Payton the second and obviously Buddy hit the huge threes. And the Rockets, on the other hand, Jalen Green responds to his 38-point game with his fifth single-digit game in his last six games. Jalen Green has not been the same guy since they clinched that two-seed. Now, his minutes weren't the same at the end of the regular season, but still, He had the one explosion in game three gets utterly shut down. The Warriors and Fred Van Vleet, after hitting two threes to open that game,

went right back to what he had been. He was two for two to start the game. Three for 12 and one for seven from three the rest of the way. He's been brutal this series. Shingoon not quite involved enough. and probably should have been playing more minutes. I know he had some foul trouble. But the Warriors' plan of Amen Thompson,

take all the shots you want, buddy. We don't care if they're from seven feet. Has been great. Dremond, who's been nothing but triple singles in this series, had another great defensive performance. They got by with Quentin Post not being able to hit a shot. and you would think the Rockets would sign up

for any game, the three-point discrepancy is only three-made-threes difference. The Rockets will say, okay, no problem. The Warriors only outshot them from three, 14 to 11. The Rockets got to the line nine more times. Couldn't make their free throws. but the rocket's turnovers,

which they've got to win that battle. The rockets have shied from the Stephen Adams shingoon double big minutes for a reason that I don't totally understand. And the Warriors overcame a fourth quarter deficit. Granted, it was two points, but still, for a dominant fourth quarter, where Steph was brilliant

and took control of that season. series, retook control of that series, I should say. And so I still think this seven game series, I still think the rock and we'll see what the, you know, how Jimmy looks when he comes back. But that was a gritty, great win by the Warriors and by Steph. Great win. and I think that it's Steph or aunt for who's been the best player this postseason. And Steph doing that at 37 is remarkable. And none of that, the people, Warriors fans, and it's so, I said this on the pod on Thursday,

but I'll say it again, these folks who don't have any type of microphone of other than their Twitter feed acting as if those of us who have actual platforms are obligated to comment on everything via Twitter because that's their platform is there it's just out to lunch levels of cluelessness the the idea that all where's next commentary now on Warriors Rockets I don't know man probably on the podcast, YouTube show or TV show that I'm doing 20 hours of content

every single week. You'll probably get it there. But those folks that are upset about the, we know the rules with Steph Curry clip as if this game contradicts it. No, this game, if anything, watch the commentary today. We get on Seth Curry. It'll just confirm it.

When he's great, He's in the goat conversation and he's better than Magic Johnson. And when he's not, we move on to the next thing. That's just what it is. And it's, but when he's great and he has been great this postseason, and he's 37 years old, it's the best small guy, old guy season ever. And. he deserves massive credit.

And then the other, listen, I don't even want, we'll do it on Tuesday, the Dame injury part. But the shockwaves of Dame reportedly blowing his Achilles and therefore being out all of next year are going to be felt throughout this offseason and you feel sick for Dame

and obviously people are going to jump to what it means for Janus. Dame has a two-year $112 million contract extension that has not started yet starts next season. So Dame will be fine money-wise, but you worry about obviously what this means for an all-time great players career. So we'll do more of that tomorrow. The other story from the weekend is the Clippers' furious fourth quarter comeback in a game, much like the Laker game, where it was like, listen, we trust these five guys,

we're playing these five guys for the Nuggets, and those five guys ran out of gas at the end. But thanks to, and I thought Joker's, in a game, Joker was awesome. I mean, he had 36, 21, and 8, 36, 21, and 8. I thought Joker's decision on that last possession of, I don't care if it's a good shot or not, I'm taking it. It was very unjoker-like. Maybe you have that luxury because it's a tie game more so than otherwise. I was shocked by that decision when it was clear it wasn't going to be a good look,

but maybe he was like, man, Jamal doesn't have it tonight. Porter's injured. I mean, Porter played tough and played well through the, play through the injury. And you're not going to trust Christian Brown in that spot. And Aaron Gordon, you're not going to want to play for. I get it. So maybe it's more reasonable than I thought.

But the Aaron Gordon, buzzer beating dunk to tie a series rather than go down 3-1 is really the stuff of legends. And it is such a stomach punch for the clippers in a game that it looked like they were going to. It was such a weird game in that the first half is back and forth the whole time, as tightly contested as you get. Denver then absolutely blitzes them in the second half to be up 20. Going into the fourth quarter of a playoff game, up 20. And the Clippers then more than chip away, the Clippers, thanks to a great Norman Powell game,

Zubach doing his thing on the offensive end, even though he got absolutely crushed on the other end. Some timely plays by Kauai. You saw a playoff James Hardin show up a bit. and despite the fact that the Nuggets were basically telling Chris Dunn, shoot all you want, buddy, we're not worried about you. Clippers still in position to steal it. And that play by Aaron Gordon changes the entire complexion of that series. And now, listen, maybe you can say, oh, well, the Nuggets could have won an overtime. They could have won an overtime, but they were so gassed.

It's the same way I felt once the Lakers went down three with 10 seconds left yesterday, when Ant makes both those free throws, the game's over. Because even if Austin makes that shot, the Lakers were on fumes. And you just felt like that game was going to be a wrap in overtime. And that's how I felt when I saw Yokic put up that shot, it's like, okay, well, they're going to lose. Aaron Gordon by maybe one one hundredth of a second saves them

and now we have a great series there in Oklahoma City which I know this is going to sound shitty and Oklahoma City fans are going to be upset as unimpressive in a sweep as I can remember it just didn't look the last couple games the way you would have wanted it to look but maybe they felt correctly like man we can play our C-minus game in Memphis

still can't take a game from us, and they were right. So now you're going to have Oklahoma City resting and chilling watching what is going to be a seven-game slug fest between the Clippers and the Nuggets. All right, this was a little cathartic. I can't say I feel better, but maybe a little bit, I don't know, less anxious about what was a what if weekend for the Los Angeles Lakers LeBron and Luca. And we'll see how they look on Wednesday,

but I'll remember this weekend as the weekend when the Lakers championship hopes went to die. And God, nothing would make me happier than a month from now. Folks sending me this clip, oh, you lost faith. Look at them now. I've never wanted to be wrong about a take more than I want to be wrong about this one.

But that's, it feels like, The Lakers season ended this weekend. And it shouldn't have. All right, I'll see you guys. Tomorrow with DeMonsay. What's right? 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. Nice. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We get to ask other 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. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite.

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

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Rockroom stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define rolling. She's an outsider to win the French fame.

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. 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 IHart Women's Sports. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed Human.