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Daniel Cormier
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Colin Cowherd
Thanks for listening to the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd@foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. Got a good one today. It's a Tuesday. Live, it's the Herd. Wherever you may be, wherever however you may be watching or listening, appreciate you stopping by today. Good stuff. Nick Wright, one hour. Frank Isola on the Knicks win the most disrespected franchise in the NBA has to be the Minnesota Timberwolves in the packed Western Conference. They've gone to back to back Western Conference finals. They lead the spurs now with WEMBY 1 0. And we treat them like the Pelicans. And we said yesterday on the show they actually are kind of built to beat San Antonio. Thick, big, experienced, well coached. They'll get physical. They're a great fourth quarter team and they did it. They won game one in San Antonio and it was a classic T Wolves game. They've been an unbelievable fourth quarter team, but they just kind of hung around. San Antonio had been red hot from three point land. They took them out of their game and then in the fourth quarter ant had 11 points. Julius Randall. The guy's a walking 19 and nine. 12 years in the NBA. Like the T Wolves, not really. Respected, clever Mike Conley hit a three. They're just a perfect mix of youth and experience and trunky and physical and long. They're the best team in the NBA in the fourth quarter. Now in the playoffs, they're number one in basically everything. Offensive rating, defensive rating, point differential. And all that is is experience plus coaching. And their general manager, Mike Conley, Tim Connolly, he's the one that built Denver into a title team. He left Denver. Have you noticed the Nuggets have overpaid for some players don't have the bench. The Nuggets aren't as good. He goes to Minnesota and like Denver, he has built a roster that actually matches up with everybody in the NBA. And we talked about this yesterday. When the playoffs arrive, you got to have a star who can rise above scheme. That's ant that he can just put the ball in his hands, make plays. Because you're playing the best coaches, you're facing the best teams. You can't keep out scheming everybody. And these were excellent rosters. When you watch the Western Conference, it reminds me of the SEC five years ago or the Big Ten now. It's just really good. You get, you get real clarity. You can tell who's good. I don't feel that way in the East. But the T Wolves have been just giant killers the last several years. They beat KD and Booker in Phoenix. They beat Jamal Murray and Jokic two different times. They beat Luka and LeBron. And now they got their eyes set on Wemby and they're, they're a nightmare matchup. I was looking this morning. The starting lineup for the T Wolves has a combined 300 playoff games. The Spurs 36. That is a major problem in the fourth quarter because if you watched Wim, they took Wemby out of his game. They had him off balance. He was over eight from three they took away. They have such length and excellent athleticism on the perimeter. San Antonio is eating everybody alive on three point shooting and they just negated. That's why the spurs could not pull away. And if you're San Antonio fan, you do not want these games to be close entering the fourth quarter. That's going to be Minnesota's quarter. They don't have the playoff experience. And if you take Wimby out, Minnesota is actually deeper and better and more physical. So San Antonio, you got to put Minnesota away quickly. And it's interesting. I mean, even on this show, I mean, I give the Celtics a certain level of respect and I give OKC respect and I give Denver respect and everybody gives LeBron respect here. The T Wolves in back to back Western Conference finals with there's an argument outside of Oklahoma City, it's the deepest roster in the NBA. I mean, they got young kids that weren't even in the rotation now that are flourishing. Number one, fourth quarter team, number two in the regular season. That was a difference last night. And with 11 points, although he did not think he played great down the
Karl-Anthony Towns
stretch, I'm disappointed in myself.
Daniel Cormier
How can you be disappointed?
Amazon Advertiser
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Daniel Cormier
How important was it for you to be available for your guys in game one?
Karl-Anthony Towns
For me, man, 75% of the game for me is my mind. My mind got to be where it needs to be. And.
Colin Cowherd
And the last two minutes of the game, it wasn't.
Karl-Anthony Towns
I gave up two offensive rebounds, turned the ball over.
Colin Cowherd
Well, all I know is this. You got guys like Julius Randall who's been bouncing around the league, and he's the perfect Timberwolf because he's overlooked. And it could be Nas Reed and it could be Jaden McDaniels. It can be Ant. It can. Rudy Gobert has been getting crap for years. It could be Mike Conley. There's just so much experience and talent with Minnesota. And if these games are close, fourth quarter is the T wolves between coaching and experience. Okay, so it's. I said this about the Eastern Conference. I mean, through various times this year. I mean, last year, out of the blue, the Pacers fly through it. And this year you're like, detroit's a number one seed. They've got one score. I can't really figure out the East. So I watched the Knicks over their last four games, they've won by 39, 51, 29 and 16. Are they great? I don't really think so. Are they. Are they good? Absolutely. Are they very good? I don't know. Now, the Sixers last night off an emotional game seven against Boston were completely flat. I mean, Jalen Brunson kind of did whatever he wanted to do. Scored 35 points, 12 for 18. He just did whatever he wanted to do. I kind of felt like Nick Nurse was just. He knew his team was fatigued. He knew his team was going to be flat, so he didn't give away a lot of secrets. He just kind of let it play out. But I will give the New York Knicks credit for this. So they fired Tibbs because they thought they just weren't good enough offensively. And you got to give Mike Brown credit, okay? They're shooting 60% in their last three games. Mike Brown's not a rigid guy. He is willing to experiment. And what they've done with Cat, Cat now is like a point center. He has doubled his assists, his distribution numbers from regular season to postseason. And a lot of that's just good coaching and. But. But it's difficult. Remember in the super bowl, like, was New England really a good team? We watched the Seahawks and the Rams play, and you're like, those are the two best teams in football. But New England got to the super bowl because the easiest schedule in the last 30 years, and Bo Nix got hurt for Denver. But if you look at the Rams and the Seahawks, they went 10 and oh against the AFC and the Thunder and the spurs have gone 49 and 11 against the Eastern Conference. So I don't know what the hell to make of the East. Are the Knicks good? Well, I think offensively, now that Mike Brown is putting the ball in the hands of Cat up top, I think that's really smart. It's taken some of the heat off Brunson to constantly be the playmaker and to make Cat kind of a score and a distributor. Now, you know what they're going to try to do? They're going to have Embiid go after Cat, try to eliminate that, get him into foul trouble. And last night, the Knicks bigs, they drew some early fouls. But I will say this. The fatigued Sixers will play better in game two. But when you watch this with the Cat move, Knicks are playing with confidence. It's a totally complimentary, flawed roster, but they play very well together. They've got a little bit better bench, not a great one, but better than The Sixers home court advantage. So, you know, I can watch Minnesota and the Spurs, Oklahoma City and go, those are really high end teams. Maybe I haven't given the Knicks enough credit. I find the Eastern Conference, I mean, Detroit's a number one seed. Is Cleveland good? The Pistons don't have a number two score. Philadelphia, we gave up on him. Are they good? I thought the Celtics were. But I'll say this, using Cat the way they're using him is effective. It's smart. And here he was after the win.
Karl-Anthony Towns
We just done a better job as a team executing and you know, obviously we changed a little bit things up and it's been very good for us. I just love that I get to get my teammates involved and I give it to the chance to quarterback the offense and give them, you know, put them in positions I feel they could succeed and they've obliged. Like I said before, you know, they trust, they're trusting me more with ball right now and I just want to continue to repay their trust with the right plays and making the right decisions.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I mean a lot of people say he's the best jump shooting big in basketball. He is a. You remember when Anthony Davis was with the Lakers, he, he was never really comfortable outside. Great defensive player. Cat's not never really comfortable on the deep perimeter, but Cat is. And the fact that like a yic, he can distribute double his assist totals, it's like a smart move. And, and when they got rid of Tibs, I said, what are you doing? You finally got the coach. And Mike Brown's been like experimental, you know, he's been taking some swings and it kind of works. But I go back to. I just don't know. Right. Like, I'm not really sure because all year long we've been looking at the east going, detroit's good. Wait till Boston gets Tatum. Last year it's like, is Indiana good? I love Halliburton, but so I, I'm one of these viewers of the East. I'm like, I, I will have Frank Isola on here. I mean there's things they do well. But then I watch, which by the way, I don't like putting playoff games on at the same time. But I'm watching the spurs in Minnesot like, holy God. Minnesota's athletes and length and size and ant and wow. Then Wemby and I don't know, it's different to me. J. Mac, you've been on the Knicks all year. That's your favorite team. They're on an absolute offensive heater. But a lot of it did feel like Philadelphia. Like Nick Nurse came out, he just kind of let him play. He wasn't going to give anything away. The game felt over at half. In the second half it was like they're just out of the because the Sixers have no bench. So I mean, like, like a fatigued Sixers team got ugly really fast.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
I, I think the Sixers gave up what, 74 points in the first half to the Knicks. You could just tell they were weary from the Boston series. Thing is, Colin, only a day off between the next game. I think Philly's gotta win that one. I didn't really see anything other than hack a Mitchell Robinson that jumped out as, as a win for Philadelphia there. I they, they did not look great.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. All right. You know, we love to, you know, like LeBron, we like to elevate others beyond ourselves. J Mac, you know, over the last couple of years I've been pretty successful on what they call future bets where you, you pick an over under and you try to guess. You I in the audience tries to guess where the team will finish. We've had great success on this show. I just felt like I was in the mood to give money away. And I want to talk about a couple of teams that one to be very careful of and one to keep your eye on. On today's show, Nick Wright, top of next hour, Frank Isola on the Knicks. I mean, he watches them every night. What are they? We'll see. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS1 and the iHeartRadio app. Hey, it's Cavino and Rich from FO Sports Radio. Now, in addition to hearing us live weekdays from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, we're excited to announce a brand new YouTube channel for the show. Yup, that's right. You can now watch Covino ENRICH Live on YouTube every day. All you got to do search COVINO and Rich FSR on YouTube again. Go to YouTube. Search COVINO Enrich FSR. Check us out on YouTube. Subscribe. Hit that thumbs up icon and comment away.
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Colin Cowherd
I've had, I think it's four or five straight years. I've been able to pick two teams each year that'll double their win total or will be dramatically better. And one of the things I always look at is schedule. And I've said this for years. I used to when I first started paying so much attention like 10, 12 years ago, 15 years ago to the NFL schedule release and people would say, we already know who they're playing. I'm like, yeah, but the order matters. You're not going to beat Andy Reid generally in September, you don't want to play at Denver. What's your quarterback like? What's he like? In cold weather games, do they all stack up late in the season? It matters. A prime example. Last year the Patriots had the easiest schedule in over 20 years and they got to a Super Bowl Largely because of that schedule, they stayed healthy. You get a home game here or there, Bo Nicks gets hurt. You watch them in the Super Bowl. Totally outclassed. No business being there. San Francisco 49ers started the year people thought with the easiest schedule, became the second easiest schedule. They go 12 and five the last two times they played the Seahawks. Kyle Shanahan couldn't score a touchdown. They couldn't generate a single touchdown. They weren't really a 12 and 5 team. So the two teams were schedules this year will play a big factor. Everybody loves Dallas. They're over and unders eight and a half. I would take the under. I would, I would take the under. I think they're 7 and 10, 8 and 9 team. I like their draft, I like their personnel. They, but last year they played the third easiest schedule and won seven games. In their eight games against teams with a winning record, they went one and seven. And if you look at their schedule this year they have their home games. Eagles, Jaguars, Ravens, 49ers, their road games, Giants, Packers, Texans, Colts, Seahawks, Rams. That, that's not a nine or a ten win team. That, that, that is a brutal schedule last year. Here's the, here's the quarterbacks the Cowboys faced. Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, Geno Smith, Josh Johnson. You say, oh, they beat Mahomes. Mahomes ate him for lunch. He had four touchdowns. No pick 130 passer rating. It wasn't about Mahomes not scoring. Mahomes moved, played as well as he did in any game all season. So the reality with the Cowboys is I do like, I think their roster is better than we give it credit for, but their schedule is brutal and they've not shown an ability with Brian Schottenheimer to win against better quarterbacks consistently. Okay? Now here's the opposite is the Detroit Lions, who I think upgraded massively at offensive coordinator. So they're over and under is ten and a half. You're like, whoa, never forget because they got a, they got a fourth place schedule, right? They got home games against the Saints, Bucks, jets and Titans. Road games against the Falcons, Dolphins and Cardinals. I, this morning I got to seven wins and I wasn't even worried about their conf. Their division. So in Minnesota could be bad. So my point is if you look at the Cowboys, you're like, oh, I like what they're doing. You got to check schedules. Only one other team in the NFL has a schedule that will increase in difficulty more than Dallas. And here's Detroit. Everybody's selling their Detroit Stock, great GM culture, ceterate coach a quarterback, excellent skill, solve their left tackle issue in a cupcake schedule relative to the NFL average. Bet the under on the Cowboys. Believe it or not. Detroit at 11 and 6 if they go 500 in division and and I think they'll do better than that is one of the better over bets at 10 and a half. J. Mack with the news.
Joel Embiid
No, no, no.
Colin Cowherd
Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
I like that giving away free money before the first hour of the show is done.
Colin Cowherd
Not even Christmas.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
So, so generous of you. I got some bad news though. Luka Doncic has officially been ruled out of game one with the hamstring injury. The Lakers are not commenting on other games in the series. But Colin, I think we could connect some dots here. Right? New ownership for the Lakers knowing that they are massive underdogs. Yeah, the team got swept by the Thunder by an average margin of like 28 this season. Luke is not going to play in the series. You're not forcing it. You do not want to double up on the injury.
Colin Cowherd
The Celtic, even though Jayson Tatum came back with a long Runway, he hobbled off the floor in game six and couldn't play in game seven. And I think the Celtics were smart in the end. They, they. I think deep down they looked at that roster with Brown and Tatum and they looked at their inexperienced bigs and thought, we're not winning the title. We're not. We're not beating a OKC or a San Antonio or even a Minnesota. So I think it's the smart play by the Lakers. I doubt he'll play in this thing.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Yeah, yeah, I don't see him playing. Now, this is what I asked this on my podcast and some people are really upset. I said, listen, if SGA were out for this series, like Luka's out, I think it's a series, it's a real series that the Lakers don't have a chance because SGA is that good. But no, Luka, the Lakers have both hands tied behind their backs. They have no chance in this series. And you know, I'm a Lakers honk. I'm lobbying my buddy to take me three or four.
Colin Cowherd
Like Houston. Houston was what we discovered in the Houston series is. And you, and you see this all the time is when you don't have a pure point guard, it's very difficult to initiate offense. Houston really struggled. Their efficiency was bad. Even though they had the better, deeper, athletic, younger roster than the Lakers is, they struggled to get into their place. The Lakers, meanwhile, gave it to LeBron and said, you initiate our offense. Even without Austin Reaves and Luka, in the first couple of games, they got right into their offense. I mean, I just. I feel like never forget the comp for a point guard in the NBA as a quarterback. That's why Houston struggled. Ime Adoka talked about that. He goes, I love Reed Shepherd, I love him and Thompson, but they're not true points. He goes, they're getting better at it, but we're struggling to get into our offense. I think Houston will mostly solve that when Fred Van Lee comes back next year. Smart. KG veteran. Yeah, but. But the, The. The way they beat Houston, which was an inefficient offense that kind of struggled getting into their offense. That is not San Antonio. That is not Oklahoma City.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Yeah, and Oklahoma City's probably going to full court press the Lakers the full game because they got 12 dudes on their roster, and LeBron could easily walk it up against Houston. There's not going to be. They're not going to be that generous. Austin Reese is going to have to step up. Marcus Smart. I don't know. I'm. I. I can't get excited about the series. I mean, the best player, the leading scorer in the league is out. You know, it's like, I don't think they have a chance. All right, let's move on to last night's Knick Sixers series. I don't know if you saw this moment, but Joel Embiid is setting a screen here on Mikhail Bridges. And Bridges kind of lowers the boom into Embiid. Now, I didn't think at the time there was anything dirty or untoward, but people are noting, listen, the guy just had appendectomy surgery, and now you're drilling them in the chops right there in the midsection. I'm like, maybe Joel Embiid talked about it after the game.
Joel Embiid
I got heat on it. I don't know if he was, you know, obviously, based on what's been going on, I guess I gotta protect him. Also, I don't know if he was dirty or not. So I guess I gotta do a better job of protecting my, you know, especially that point. I don't think that was necessary because Tyrese was already gone and it was kind of like, you know, after the play, I just felt like it wasn't necessary, but we'd move on.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Lead troll in the NBA. I don't know if it was dirty or not. I guess I have to protect myself. Yeah. Mikhail Bridges is turning into Lou Dort, listen, Embiid knows how to play the refs. You saw him get goading Towns and Robinson into fouls. He knows how to play the crowd. I don't think anybody's taking the bait here. What's your official verdict on this?
Colin Cowherd
Well, this game was over in the second quarter, and again, I think Philadelphia went into it and said, we're not. We're not even going to unveil our game plan. We're just, we're tired, we're fatigued. I mean, just. It just felt like Philly. Not that they gave a game away, but I felt the. I mean, the Knicks did not come out of a wildly competitive series at the end. They dominate the last two games. They're playing with confidence. They're at home better rested. And it just, it wasn't much of a game. I mean, I was expecting more. Remember I said yesterday on the show, I said, take the Knicks.
Discover Card Announcer
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Colin Cowherd
Minus the seven points. That line feels like it should be four. Three, seven tells you. The analytics tell you a team off an emotional NBA playoff game. Seven drops off a cliff. And it was, it was not a competitive game by the second quarter.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
I know zigzag theory says you're supposed to bet Sixers next game.
Colin Cowherd
I kind of like the Knicks still.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Yeah, I'm not sure I'm ready to. The Knicks are just vibing right now. Everything looks so smooth. The offense and we talked about yesterday. There's Karl Anthony Towne's new role as a facilitator.
Colin Cowherd
It's a difference maker.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Yeah. Six assists yesterday. I mean, again, and he only played like 20 something minutes.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
I mean, the Knicks look great. Final story, let's go to the NFL and my new best friend, Patrick Mahomes. Now, listen, when I ran into him last week, remember, we talked, but it's off the record. I couldn't say anything. Now Brett Veach is coming out and talking about the return of Patrick Mahomes. Him being way ahead of schedule. Here's the GM of the Chiefs.
Brett Veach
He's in our building every single day. And even when he goes away for a few days, say to Dallas for a weekend with his family, and he takes one of our trainers with them. So needless to say, he. He's way ahead of schedule. I think the biggest challenge that we're going to have is protecting him against himself. Because I'm sure when we get to St. Joe, Missouri for training camp, you know, he's going to want to be full go. But we're going to have to hold
Colin Cowherd
him back a little.
Brett Veach
And again, I don't want to put a timetable on it, but I think you guys know the type of person and the competitor Pat is. And, you know, I would just say we're in a really good place right now.
Colin Cowherd
Once again, you know, it can be Ant, it can be Mahomes, it can be Tatum. When you're in great shape, these guys always heal 40% faster than we think. Interestingly, Luka doesn't heal as quickly. Hmm. Wonder why Ant is back, like, two weeks early. Jayson Tatum. We didn't know if he was gonna play Mahomes again. Grinder way ahead of schedule. Luka probably knocking down a Belgium beer right about now. Thinking about the glory days of his Laker career.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Just unnecessary shot at Luca out of nowhere. I mean, just flying in. So remember, like, two months ago, I was, like, really down on the Chiefs, and I was like, mahomes might start on the pup list. Okay? He got his ACL torn on December 14th. That was, like, two months ago.
Colin Cowherd
I, I, I.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
There's no way he's starting on the PUP list. I'll tell you that right now. No shot.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. I really like him. It's just very easy. We love to bury champions. Owner, gm, coach, quarterback. Went and got a star running back. Also got a backup running back out of Nebraska, I think, in the sixth round. Keep your eye on the Kansas.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Wait a minute, wait a minute. How's that wide receiver room, Colin?
Colin Cowherd
You know, Rasheed Rice was hurt. Now he's back.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Oh, is he back? Are we sure he's not in trouble?
Colin Cowherd
No.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
How old is Travis Kelsey?
Colin Cowherd
He is focused and ready to go.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Rasheed Rice is locked in, huh?
Colin Cowherd
New, mature.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Mature. Oh, and who. Who is the other, the skinny guy. Xavier Worthy. The gadget. Is he going to graduate from gadget guy to Swiss army knife guy?
Colin Cowherd
I mean, can he level up? I said that when he got drafted. He's more gadget than volume. There's nothing wrong with a gadget guy. You know, they need somebody to step up. They'll. They'll be fine.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Yeah, really. Tyquan Thornton was, like, their deep threat last year.
Colin Cowherd
Who?
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
He delivered a pizza to the studio, and they didn't even know who it was.
Colin Cowherd
Come on, let's not take our shots. J. Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by the herd lie news. So, you know, Wemby is, you know, the whole face of the league. I've said before, I don't think the NBA needs a face of the league. And I don't think there's been that many. I think Magic and Bird were face of the league. I think Michael Jordan was face of the league. I think LeBron's been face of the league. But many of the great players, Kareem, Tim, Duncan, Akeem, they were great players. They weren't the face of the league. I don't think it's necessary. Ant doesn't really want to be Jason Tatum doesn't have the aura. SGA is just not that fascinating. I do think Cooper Flag and Wemby kind of feel like they could be the face of the league. Wemby is almost domestic. Most international players don't care. Wemby does like, he wants to be the face of the league, which is encouraging, but it's interesting. My take when you watch him is is the T Wolves are very well coached. There is one downside to being 7 foot 4 and you see a little bit of this last night. You can put smaller players on Wemby and disrupt his balance, his defense. He had 12 blocks. It's remarkable. I've never seen anything like it, including Kareem at his peak. But offensively, he's not an initiator. He's not Jokic. That's not what he does. He is a disruptor and a finisher. He's not a creator and an initiator. That's not what he is. He's also. He's not a great passer like Jokic. His decision making is hit and miss. But you can, and I saw it last night, you can take him out of his game. You can disrupt him. He was 0 for 8 last night on three pointers. So it's funny. I think Wemby is at his best and de' Aaron Fox did not play well. Wemby is at his best when somebody sets it up for him and he can. And he can create off that or finish off that. But he everything I worry about. He spends a lot of time on the floor and it's almost like there's very few great tall running backs because you can take their legs out from them. You know, like the great running backs like Emma Smith, they all feel low center of gravity. They come through the line. Wemby is. You can knock him off balance. He's just so tall. You can. Like Julius Randle to me is the classic example. Remember when he came into the league, people said he's going to get pushed around and he did for a year. He put on strength and he doesn't get pushed around nearly as much. But last night, I watched him, and Minnesota is a tough matchup. And I. And I say this all the time. It's not just the 300 playoff games of experience. It's guys that have been in NBA weight room and nutrition programs for eight, nine, and ten years. Julius Randall's been in NBA nutrition and weight programs for 12 years. Dude is a man. He is physical. These Naz reads, these guys are big, strong men. And, you know, it's. Wemby's going to bounce back, but he, you know, he's not an initiator and a creator. He's a disruptor and a finisher and, you know, a little like Kareem. That was Kareem. He was a disruptor defensively, and he was a finisher offensively. You can't run your offense through Kareem. You run it through whether it was Jerry west, whether it was Magic Johnson. Excuse me, you know, you, you, you. You know, not Jerry West, Magic Johnson. You want to run it through with Magic Johnson. That was. When you get the Kareem, that's unstoppable, you can get it at the end of the shot clock. So Oscar Robertson in Milwaukee set it up for him. So here's Wemby on game one loss.
Joel Embiid
Had to use my energy, you know, obviously used a lot of it once I record. And on the other side, I used too much offensively. I used too much energy in things that didn't really help our team. So that's on me. If I had been better, if the offensive leaders of our team had been better, it would have been different.
Colin Cowherd
You know, what I found interesting last night is that a lot of teams, very, very entertaining game between two really, really good rosters, one with a lot of experience, one without a lot of experience. But the Timberwolf, if you take Wemby out, Minnesota is the bigger team. Like, if you take. If you took Wemby and Rudy Gobert out, like, the size and the strength of Minnesota is a handful. And the T Wolves, they kind of went right at Wemby. That's why he blocked 12 shots. Minnesota's like, yeah, you can have blocks. We're going to get some goaltending calls. They did miss one goaltending call. I think it was 9:20 or something in the third quarter. I think it was around there. And I'm like, oh, they missed one there. So I think my memory could be fuzzy, but it was like nine and a half minutes left. I think in the third quarter, they just arrest, let it go. And it felt like a goaltending to me. But overall, Minnesota went right at him. They're like, we don't care. Block some shots. We don't care. We're going to go right at you. And I think psychologically that's kind of an important thing. It's kind of impressive. We're not. You're not going to change the calculus on us. You're going to block some shots. We're going to go right at you. And that's what they did. Why Coming up, Nick Wright, top of the hour. Why the Celtics losing is actually great for the NBA. I know it's a big brand. I know they're popular. Why it may be great for the NBA Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.
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Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Buckle up as the fastest racing on earth hits the racing capital of the world, where Alex Palo looks to continue his dominance at the 14 turn IMS road course. It's the final stop before the Indy 500 Saturday 430 Eastern on Fox.
Colin Cowherd
You know, there's this sense that out side of the NFL markets and brands matter. And I think it even matters in the NFL. If the packers make a Super bowl, you're going to get a huge number. If the Bears made the super bowl would be more popular. You get a better rating. But if the Jaguars got the super bowl, it's just the reality of like last year didn't have a lot of buzz around it. Although I thought the Seahawks were excellent. They're not as national as certain teams like San Francisco or the Bears or the Eagles are. And so the Celtics are obviously a very big brand. But a couple years ago the Celtics got into the championship one and the ratings weren't very good. And one of the reasons is their offense is predictable and boring. It's too many three point shots and they shoot more three pointers than almost anybody in the NBA. And if you look at them losing, especially the way they lost the ridiculous seven three point shot attempts in the last three and a half minutes trailing by one, it looked ridiculous. The most NBA shots, three point shots per game. The top 11 one team remains. And the face of it really feels like the warriors and the Celtics both done And I think it's good for the league. It's like the Tush push. It was less effective last year. Good. It's bad television. It's predictable and it's ugly. It's a scrum. So I don't like math deciding my sports. I've said before sport, sports should be like a, a well balanced meal. Low protein, low carbs, low vegetables. Right. That, that, that's what sports should be, a well balanced meal. I think the NBA is too 3 point reliant and the analytic mavens get very defensive if you don't buy into all of their analytics. And I talked about this yesterday on the show. There's certainly things you shouldn't do as a parent. I don't want my kids on iPads all the time when they were young. But if we're driving to grandma's and it's a five and a half hour drive. I'll let them be on the iPad the entire time. There's a way to parent and then there's an understanding that 12 to 15 days a year when they're on a flight screaming or they're in the back seat screaming, you make exceptions to parenting. Here's an iPad. Stay on it all day. That's not how I parent. But there are exceptions. And that's what I always say about baseball's postseason. I mean, Dave Roberts, game seven, pulled every lever. Were they all analytically brilliant? Some of it was. I got men in this locker room, I got an old veteran, I'm going to put him in and he delivered. And I think a lot of that. A great example of this is in the NFL playoffs when Denver goes forward on like 4th and 2. You had a blizzard coming. You had a backup quarterback against an excellent pass rush and an excellent defense. Kick the field goal. It's a low scoring game. It's a backup quarterback. Why are you rolling out a pocket quarterback? If I had Bo Nix, I'd run that play. I'm not running that play with Jarrett Stidham. I'm probably with a blizzard coming and you know, the weather report and a low scoring game that was not going to be a shootout. Kick the field goal. I don't care what it says. Playoff sports are situational. Over the course of your life, parenting, you parent one way. But there are moments you take your kid to church for an hour or he's on the plane and he's screaming or she's screaming, you parent a little differently. So when I'm watching the Celtics crank up seven threes and go for seven at the end of that game, I don't care what the analytics say, that was dumb. That was not good coaching. That was bad coaching. So I like, I actually like and I've been on this for years. The NBA thinks tanking is their biggest issue. I do not. I think load management's a problem and I think the game can look really repetitive. So I love the fact that there are all these three point merchants. I don't think flopping is the end of the world. Everybody's been doing it forever. I think tanking won't be as big next year when the draft not as good. But this three point renaissance and revolution, it's like small ball. Everybody was in a small ball. No, the warriors were good at it because they had Draymond Green. Like Draymond Green's probably the best defensive Player of all time, plays way above his size. Nobody else had Draymond Green. He was the classic bouncer at the bar that maybe didn't have the biggest build but was the tough guy. So it worked with them. It didn't work with anybody else. Look at who's left in basketball. Rudy Gobert, Wemby Mitchell Robinson Cat. Joel Embiid, Evan Mobley. It's all bigs. Who am I missing? Jared Allen. There's another guy, a big so small ball thing. I never bought into it. Chris Broussard and I talked about this. The Celtics being just paralyzed, completely beholden to the three point shot.
Jalen Brunson or Chris Broussard
Jalen and Jason Tatum are obviously two legitimate stars after that. Baylor Shireman and Keita and Peyton Pritchard, God bless him, is a really good, you know, six man. When you get into the playoffs and you know it's a smaller sample size, seven game series and you know, all types of other things are coming into play. Does a guy get nervous? Is a guy clutch? The analytics. You can't solely rely on analytics.
Colin Cowherd
You know, this is a really interesting thing that Brew brought up yesterday. There is a big difference. Shooting a three point shot with a four point lead and shooting a three point shot, trailing by three on the road with 40 seconds left. And so much of shooting is confidence. We've seen Steph Curry going to slumps and then we've seen Steph Curry where he just throwing it looks like garbage up and it goes in. You know, it it there. We all remember the Michael Jordan hands out when he got hot against the Portland Trailblazers. Like Michael was never a great three point shooter but shooters get into zones and the three point shot even the Celtics are incredibly streaky and I know the math works out, but the Celtics this year, I think they were when they shot 40% or more, they were 39 and oh, but they didn't about half the time. I mean a lot of Celtic games they were just Rock City. And I mean I watched at the end of this game with Philadelphia, it's like embarrassing. It's like that's it. Like go get a bucket. What are you doing? It's awful. Oh, and I. Yesterday we got into something so J. Mac, you haven't moved a lot in your life, but you've moved, you've moved cross country. You went from the east to the west coast.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Yeah, that qualifies as a large move with two.
Colin Cowherd
That's one large move. Yeah. But I was saying yesterday, and we'll talk about this with Nick Wright in the next hour, Frank Isola is going to join us from New York. Nick Wright, top of the hour. The Aaron Rodgers situation. So the Steelers come out and the Steelers are like, okay, we've got this new tender we're offering. Basically wanted to seize control of their off season. Aaron's people, although he would deny it, suddenly come out. There's leaks. He's really interested in Arizona. This is the gamesmanship of the NFL, where Aaron's doing his thing kind of disappears. The Steelers are like, okay, we play the game. We're offering a very unique, quirky, rare tender. Show up quickly. And then Aaron's people are like, oh, okay, my buddy Nat Hackett's in Arizona. Let's make that now. You could say what you want, but when I've made my moves in my career and I tell my kids this all the time, grab a yellow pad, notepad and a pen. Write things in your life you want to manifest. Look at it. Write it down. I don't want a computer. I don't want a spreadsheet. Write it down. Don't talk about it to yourself. Write it down. Because every time I've moved, I've done a pro and I just go, oh, I look at it, I stare at it. I want to see it and feel it. So I did that with Aaron Rodgers. Arizona and Pittsburgh, really interesting. If you do pros and cons, you think to yourself, well, Steelers are up here. Arizona is a tire fire. It's fascinating how many advantages there are in Arizona and how many disadvantages when you dig deep with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Okay, LeBron, good luck.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Colin, back up. Are we sure Arizona wants Aaron Rodgers?
Colin Cowherd
A little bit more than I think people think.
Guest Analyst (possibly J. Mac or another NBA analyst)
Wow.
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Colin Cowherd
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Colin Cowherd
Guaranteed Human.
Date: May 5, 2026
Host: Colin Cowherd
Guests/Analysts: Guest analyst (possibly J. Mac/Jason McIntyre), plus clips from Karl-Anthony Towns, Joel Embiid, Brett Veach, and others.
In this episode, Colin Cowherd dives into the NBA Playoffs, focusing mainly on the Minnesota Timberwolves’ experienced performance against the Spurs and the New York Knicks’ dominating win over the 76ers. He also scrutinizes the Dallas Cowboys’ challenging upcoming NFL season and contrasts it with the favorable outlook for the Detroit Lions. Interspersed throughout are discussions on coaching tactics, player injuries, and the current state of analytics in professional sports.
[02:05–07:23]
[07:01–07:23; 11:21–11:47]
[07:23–13:47]
[17:28–21:23]
[21:24–23:56]
[32:28–34:03]
[37:46–44:48]
[27:10–29:27, 44:48–46:47]
Colin’s trademark is conversational, sometimes sardonic, and always opinionated. The analysis mixes stats, coaching strategies, and psychological takes, punctuated by jokes and the occasional playful jab at players or teams.
This episode offers a comprehensive, candid look at where the NBA and NFL stand at a critical postseason juncture. The Timberwolves’ playoff experience and the Knicks’ surge are juxtaposed with questions about the NFL’s shifting power balance. Cowherd’s central themes: experience, context, and adaptability—not just analytics or star power—are the keys to post-season success.