On the recent episode of "The Big 3 NBA Podcast," A. Sherrod Blakely is joined by Jacob Tobey, Sports Anchor at 9 News, to discuss the Celtics' upcoming matchup against the defending NBA Champion Denver Nuggets.
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#celtics #NBA #BostonCeltics
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#celtics #NBA #BostonCeltics
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Up to the layup, oh blocked by James!
00:03 Larry Burns scores 60 points.
00:05 Look at the Boston players smiling.
00:07 Michael Jordan is not only the best basketball player,
00:09 but he's the most exciting basketball player to ever play.
00:12 Retayda fires away, pumps it in!
00:15 51 for Jason Sands.
00:17 The Big 3 NBA Podcast is powered by FanDuel Sportsbook,
00:21 the official wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network.
00:24 Welcome to another edition of the Big 3 NBA Podcast.
00:29 I'm your host, H. Rob Blakely, and I have a special guest today.
00:33 Good friend of the program, Jacob Tobey of 9News NBC in Denver, Colorado.
00:41 He is a native of Sandwich, Massachusetts,
00:44 not to be confused with Cape Cod, although many often confuse the two, as he knows all too well.
00:50 He's also an alum of CLNS Media, so it's just like family coming back home.
00:55 Welcome to the podcast, my friend. How you doing?
00:58 When you asked, I couldn't say no,
01:01 because you pretty much raised me in the business when I was in college,
01:06 so this is me returning the favor.
01:08 Oh, I see.
01:10 This is why Jacob is one of my favorite people,
01:13 because that literally came without any prompting, any payments on my behalf,
01:18 although there may be a payment coming your way.
01:20 That's another story another day.
01:21 Bottom line is, the Denver Nuggets, the team that you follow out there,
01:25 is coming to Boston for a game between the defending champs,
01:30 the Nuggets, and the team that wants to be the champs in the Boston Celtics.
01:34 And just right off the bat, what has it been like this past few months
01:40 in this post-championship Africa that the Denver Nuggets are still kind of messed up?
01:46 Yeah, it's been interesting.
01:49 For a franchise that hadn't won it, it took 47 years.
01:54 And for me, I've been here for four--this is my fourth year in Denver now,
01:57 and so I haven't truly felt the hurt or the pain.
02:01 A lot of my colleagues have because they've been here for 20 or 30 years.
02:05 There's a lot of pain.
02:06 There's a lot of hurt in this city that they haven't been able to do it.
02:08 And it was--they kept losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals,
02:12 and for them to sweep LeBron, it was a big deal.
02:16 It was a big deal just to get to the finals.
02:18 It was a really big deal to win it.
02:20 And so the parade was crazy.
02:22 I was in the parade.
02:23 I was on one of the fire trucks.
02:25 I was with the rookies.
02:26 So I was with Peyton Watson and Christian Brown,
02:29 and Peyton Watson wasn't even old enough to drink,
02:32 but he was partaking, and I had a good time.
02:37 So it was fun to be a part of that and just to feel the celebration aspect of it.
02:43 Denver's kind of turning into--I'm not going to say it's at the Boston level
02:47 of sports cities in America in terms of over 20, 30 years,
02:53 but it's up there right now in current sports cities as one of the best in the world.
02:58 So it's been a lot of fun to cover this team.
03:02 But you wouldn't necessarily know--if you didn't know they won the championship,
03:06 probably couldn't tell if you talked to the guys or interviewed them.
03:10 I mean, covering Jokic for a living is--it's quite interesting.
03:14 He is a big, goofy guy and so casual and so nonchalant and so not an NBA star
03:23 that you just wouldn't know he's an NBA champion.
03:26 The second they won, you heard him.
03:29 The job's done. We can go home now.
03:31 That's literally the most famous line of the finals.
03:35 He went right back home to his horses in Serbia and chilled
03:38 and had a great summer from what we saw on social media.
03:41 So you couldn't tell that this team had won the championship.
03:45 They don't carry themselves like that.
03:48 They're obviously hungry. You can tell they're hungry to do it again.
03:52 But you could never really see them flaunting it or--the most they talk about it
03:59 is Michael Malone, the head coach.
04:02 His big thing this year is they're the hunted.
04:04 Everyone's going to want to go out and beat them,
04:06 and they've lost some games this year where you can for sure see that,
04:10 where they haven't lost in years past.
04:13 I think that's kind of how you can tell.
04:16 But for the most part, you really can't that they won it.
04:19 You really can't tell.
04:20 Yeah, they've been very good and very consistent.
04:23 They've been in that top tier of teams from a record standpoint out west
04:27 pretty much all season, but you don't hear much talk about them.
04:31 It's very similar to last year as far as there's Team X, Team Y, Team Z.
04:37 Only they're the Nuggets.
04:38 This year we're talking a lot about the Minnesota Timberwolves
04:41 who are having an unbelievable season, Oklahoma City Thunder.
04:44 They seem like they're two or three years ahead of schedule
04:47 in the way they're playing.
04:49 Oh, by the way, the defending champion Denver Nuggets are in conversation as well.
04:53 How has that gone over with them?
04:56 Because are they embracing that even though they're the champion,
05:00 it feels as though in many respects they're flying below the radar again.
05:06 Yeah, they're so used to it and they didn't care.
05:12 I think deep down there's a little bit of it that they care.
05:17 Maybe last year.
05:19 I think more so, and Michael Malone kind of talked about this
05:23 specifically after they swept the Lakers.
05:25 It was more so the MVP stuff I think last year that he kind of let on
05:31 that Joker did in fact slightly care a little bit more than usual last year
05:37 about the MVP race.
05:39 But for the most part, it's just the way Denver is looked at.
05:44 It's in a weird time zone.
05:45 They're not on national TV a ton because of the time zone.
05:50 I grew up and I barely watched any Nuggets games growing up on the East Coast
05:56 unless it was a playoff game with Carmelo or when he was there.
06:00 I never knew anything about the Nuggets.
06:02 It was wild.
06:04 So they're just never on TV.
06:06 They got more national TV games this year for sure.
06:09 They played on Christmas and back-to-back years, which is super important,
06:13 both at home, both wins, both great games.
06:17 So that's helped a little bit to get the news out that they're a good team.
06:23 But no, it's been the same story.
06:26 It all starts with Nicola, and he just doesn't care.
06:30 He went on Michael Porter Jr.'s podcast a couple months ago,
06:33 which is crazy that he did because he hates doing media,
06:36 but he knows his team name.
06:39 He just doesn't want to be famous.
06:42 He says when his career is over, he hopes nobody knows his name.
06:46 No, I don't think that's going to happen.
06:47 People are going to know who he is for the rest of his life.
06:49 It's going to be hard.
06:51 It's going to be hard when you make that much money,
06:53 and you're entering, what, top 30 ever, top 20, and who knows?
06:58 But he just doesn't care, so that really trickles down, I think, to everyone else.
07:04 Now, the city cares.
07:06 The media people in this town care that the love is still not being shown or whatever.
07:09 But at the end of the day, if they go out and win another title,
07:13 people won't necessarily remember, oh, they weren't that much talked about
07:16 during the regular season.
07:18 Yeah, and if you look at his numbers this year, I mean, they're pretty consistent,
07:22 so the rebounding from his career average in terms of rebounds,
07:25 that's noticeably off.
07:27 But, I mean, 25 points, 12 boards, nine down,
07:30 pretty much a triple-double every night.
07:33 It's kind of scary to ask the question, but watching him play,
07:37 I've thought about it, and I need to hear from someone who sees him
07:41 on a day-in, day-out basis.
07:42 Is he getting better with time?
07:44 Yeah, yeah, yes.
07:47 Which is crazy.
07:48 For a guy that's already won two league MVPs, it still looks like he's getting better.
07:52 Yeah, it's nuts.
07:55 He's breaking all these records that are like Wilt's records,
07:58 and it doesn't happen too often.
08:02 And he is getting better.
08:04 I think from someone that sees him play every night like I do,
08:08 you know his scoring ability.
08:10 I know his scoring ability.
08:12 I straight-up know the dude could average 35 if he wanted to.
08:15 Whatever NB is doing right now, like on the offensive end,
08:19 NB is probably the best offensive player in the game right now,
08:23 offensively.
08:24 Yochic is the best overall, in my opinion.
08:26 But NB is, I think, maybe up there in terms of best offensive players.
08:30 Yochic could average 35 easily if he wanted to.
08:33 He just doesn't care.
08:36 He went through a weird shooting slump, I think at the end of November
08:41 or the end of December, which was odd.
08:43 He was shooting below, I think it was like 35% or something from the field.
08:48 But then in the last couple weeks, he had a stretch where he was shooting
08:51 85% from the field, 86%.
08:56 He just doesn't miss that often.
08:58 He takes what the game gives him.
09:00 That's what he preaches.
09:02 And he is getting better.
09:04 His rebounding is up, like you mentioned.
09:06 And you just see it.
09:08 He's in the best shape of his life.
09:10 Early on, that was the knock on him.
09:12 He's the big, goofy, chubby guy coming off the bench that's good,
09:17 but he's just not in shape.
09:19 He's really tuned into his body and routine.
09:23 He talked about that in the last couple weeks on the podcast with MPJ as well.
09:27 His routine has gotten so good.
09:31 It starts in the weight room for him.
09:34 He lifts after every game, which is nuts.
09:39 He keeps that up.
09:41 His body has played a big part of how he's gotten a little bit more athletic.
09:46 I think the defense showed last year in the playoffs.
09:49 I did a story with him guarding Bam Adebayo in the finals,
09:54 and he was very effective, very effective guarding him in the finals.
09:58 He's getting better.
10:01 It's crazy to say.
10:02 It's wild to say, but it's true.
10:06 He's getting better, and I think part of it is just evolution as a player.
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10:49 But you guys are--the Nuggets are missing a pretty integral piece from a year ago.
10:59 Bruce Brown, who signed with Indiana,
11:01 and he has now been traded away from Indiana to Toronto.
11:06 But the thing about Bruce was that it just seemed that whatever the Nuggets needed,
11:12 he could provide.
11:13 If they needed another scorer, if they needed a guy who could defend,
11:16 if they needed a guy who'd just be, you know, a pest and irritant defensively,
11:20 he was able to provide that.
11:22 And I've been pleasantly surprised at how Denver has still been able to remain
11:27 in that top tier of teams out west without a guy who's so instrumental.
11:32 And I don't know if it's been one guy that has made it through that void,
11:35 but what's been the key for the Nuggets to being able to absorb a loss of such--
11:40 just kind of a glue guy like that and still be able to find similar success
11:45 that they're used to?
11:47 Yeah, you know, it's wild.
11:48 Like, you always talk about how a guy fits.
11:51 Bruce fit from day freaking one.
11:54 It was so freaking obvious how good he was with his team.
11:57 And he was a great guy, overlooked in free agency.
12:01 Michael Malone called him on day two and was like, "Why are you still available?"
12:05 Like, that's literally the first question he asked him.
12:08 And he fit in super well.
12:10 And they just couldn't pay him.
12:12 It's straight up that simple.
12:13 They just couldn't pay the man.
12:15 Because I think he would have wanted to stay here if they had the money,
12:17 but he can't pass that bag up.
12:20 And he got that bag, but he's now in another country.
12:22 So it's wild how the NBA works.
12:24 But Peyton Watson, I think they always envisioned him to be a Bruce Brown type.
12:31 And I don't mean--like, their bodies are totally different.
12:34 Peyton's much longer and more athletic.
12:37 But I just mean a defensive-focused guy that can also make timely shots
12:42 and do a little bit of everything.
12:44 Like, Peyton Watson, his story's wild too because, like,
12:47 he barely played at UCLA and he was drafted in the first round.
12:51 That's just like people seeing his athleticism in the body
12:54 and the potential he had.
12:56 And he didn't play at all until the last five games--five or ten games last season
13:03 and made an impact and kind of earned Michael Malone's trust a little bit more.
13:09 And that was their vision, I think, going into the offseason.
13:12 We'll lose Bruce, don't have a ton of money,
13:15 we have a first-round pick on a rookie contract, let's use him.
13:18 And hopefully he makes that next step.
13:20 Now he has obviously gone through ups and downs like most rookies
13:23 and second-year players do, but Michael Malone has put him
13:28 in the end-of-game lineups over Michael Porter Jr. at times,
13:32 which, you know, a regular NBA fan that doesn't watch the Nuggets
13:36 would be like, "Really? Like, Michael Porter Jr.?
13:38 Like, he's one of the best shooters in the league."
13:40 Yes, and his defense has gotten better, his rebounding got way better.
13:44 You saw that in the finals when he was struggling with his shot.
13:47 But they just love Peyton Watson.
13:50 Dude, his nickname is Swatson because he's swatting away all these shots.
13:55 I mean, that's literally what they're calling him here in the Mile High City.
13:58 And so he's been super impressive.
14:01 Reggie Jackson did not play well last year when he got here.
14:06 He's a Colorado kid, grew up in Colorado Springs.
14:09 And they re-signed him in the summer, which was a tad bit surprising
14:14 just because of the way he played for them down the stretch.
14:19 But he's been pretty good off the bench as that second guard.
14:22 And they used Justin Holliday and him interchangeably a little bit
14:25 in the backcourt. Justin's been a great vet for the team.
14:29 But I think it kind of really is all about Peyton Watson, about Swatson.
14:33 He's got a different energy about him. He's a confident kid.
14:38 He's a hard worker.
14:40 And like I said, man, he was enjoying himself at the parade.
14:45 He didn't play a ton for the Nuggets during the championship run,
14:48 but he saw what it takes. He's been around great players.
14:51 So I kind of go to him, but you can't forget about Reggie Jackson too.
14:55 Now he's kind of the more offensive guy. Peyton's the defensive guy.
14:58 So that's how they've kind of made it work a little bit.
15:00 But yeah, it's interesting. And who knows?
15:03 I think Bruce Brown's got a team option next year.
15:05 So whatever Toronto does, maybe he ends up back here in Denver
15:09 if they work it out. I don't know.
15:10 But it's been mostly Peyton Watson, I think.
15:14 Yeah, and that's the thing that struck me when I look at Denver
15:19 as being similar in that you have players
15:27 that can be successful. And those roles, I think,
15:30 often involve a certain amount of sacrifice.
15:34 And it just seems as though the Denver Nuggets collectively
15:38 are willing to do that. And one guy I wanted to really talk to you about that
15:42 is Aaron Gordon, who really his entire game, I just remember
15:48 we're thinking if he could ever become a sort of kind of 3 and D-ish kind of guy,
15:54 a bigger 3 and D guy, because he's not ever going to be a guy
15:58 that's going to knock down shots. And lo and behold, he's kind of not right now.
16:08 Yeah, he's a sorry, kind of froze there for a second.
16:11 He's, you know, Yoko just said a couple of times,
16:15 they don't win the championship without Aaron Gordon.
16:18 Like, they just don't. Because I think like the expectations of him
16:26 and Orlando were so high. And he just isn't that number one guy.
16:32 And that's totally okay. Like, I get it, you're a high pick.
16:36 But at the same time, like he, when the trade was made,
16:41 one, I mean, that trade was a blowout in favor of the Nuggets.
16:45 Like that is an absolute freaking steal. And well worth it.
16:50 And but we all were wondering what the fit would be like.
16:53 Was he coming over here to try and be the star?
16:57 Was he coming over here to fit in? And it was the latter part.
17:00 He fit in. You know, the front office of the Nuggets have done a great job
17:05 of finding people that fit in. Bruce, Aaron Gordon, Reggie.
17:10 They've drafted decently well. So like, I love Aaron Gordon
17:15 because he's a super calm guy. He's a super chill guy.
17:18 He just fit the Nicole Yokich style of I'm not a star.
17:23 I'm going to do my role, do my job. He can defend one through five.
17:27 Pretty much. He can rebound. He can hit the timely shots, like you said.
17:32 He'll posterize anybody in his way. Like he had that Christmas day dunk
17:38 last year against the Suns, which was pretty, pretty famous moment
17:42 in the season for the Nuggets. And they really don't,
17:46 they don't win it without him. He's been a perfect fit.
17:51 He can play some backup five. He's done that this year.
17:54 They don't want to use DeAndre Jordan. And, you know, Nuggets lost Jeff Green,
17:58 too, which we, you know, former Celtic, which we haven't really talked about,
18:01 but they kind of lost another frontcourt piece there. And Gordon's, you know,
18:05 playing a little bit more minutes and can play those positions really well.
18:09 So versatility on this team, like you have to be versatile to play
18:14 for Michael Malone in the Nuggets. Like you, like Nikola Jokic demands versatility.
18:19 He demands you to think the game. And Aaron Gordon, you know, for me,
18:24 like his basketball instincts are actually much higher than I assumed
18:28 or thought they would be. Like, I just didn't know much about him.
18:33 And he just has fit in and doesn't talk a lot and keeps to himself.
18:39 And he was jumping like a, like a boy on Christmas,
18:41 little boy on Christmas when he won the championship and I was in the locker room
18:44 with him. He was, he was going crazy. So he's been, he's been perfect.
18:48 He really has.
18:50 Now with the Celtics being atop the NBA standings most of the season,
18:54 I imagine you've had a chance to see them play a time or two this year.
18:58 What are your impressions of the Celtics this year?
19:02 And not only in light of what they've done this year,
19:04 but just having grown up in Massachusetts, you've seen some good Celtics teams.
19:09 You've seen some bad ones too.
19:11 How does this group stack up to some of the Celtics teams you've seen previously?
19:17 That's a, you know, that's a tough question.
19:21 Like they're arguably, you know, the big three, big three,
19:27 the big three of KG, Pierce and Ray.
19:29 That other big three. Yep. I know you talked about.
19:32 Yeah. The old big three, the original one, you know, they were, they were,
19:38 I don't know, KG was like at the end of his prime, maybe Paul Pierce, same thing.
19:42 I mean, this team is in the middle of it and that's, that's a difference.
19:46 Like that, I think they're more talented than that team. I think.
19:50 The bench maybe is, is maybe a discussion to have between the O8 bench and this bench,
19:56 but the starting five, you know, to me is, is, is much, much more talented.
20:03 And just the way Tatum's playing, like, you know, he's early on last year,
20:07 he's an MVP candidate. You can surely put them as an MVP candidate this year too.
20:11 The way Jalen's played, the way that Jalen has lived up to sign the big deal,
20:15 I think is important because when you sign that big deal, you can relax a little bit.
20:19 No, I don't, to me, it didn't seem like JB's really relaxed.
20:23 I think he's, he's been pretty much pedal to the metal.
20:28 And people in this state know Derek White super well. He's from Colorado.
20:33 He's from Parker, Colorado and played for University of Colorado.
20:39 And the head coach was Tad Boiler. I've talked to him a bunch because I call their games
20:43 and, and he's been super impressed with the way he's fit in and has taken the next step.
20:49 And I just, I, they are the most talented team in the NBA.
20:54 I think that's, you know, a pretty good statement, a pretty safe bet to me that they're the most talented team in the NBA.
21:02 I just, it's, it's, you know, it's interesting how they lost to the Warriors.
21:07 I don't know if that's like a mentally thing that just can't get over the Warriors thing.
21:11 Cause like they're way better than the Warriors.
21:15 So that was an interesting game, I think, but all in all, I mean, they're, they're, they're, they're better than the Nuggets.
21:22 I can say that right now. They're better than the Nuggets. It's close, but they're better.
21:26 They're more talented. They have maybe one more piece.
21:30 And they're undefeated at home. That's tough. That's just, it's going to be tough to go in there and win.
21:34 No matter if you got the two-time MVP in Yokich or not, like it's going to be a great game regardless.
21:38 I can't, I can't wait to see it. The matchups between these two teams the last couple of years have been great matchups.
21:44 Yeah, they have. And you had touched on it earlier about Yokich MVP candidacy and things of that nature.
21:50 If you had to pick your top five MVP candidates and we'll just fast track Yokich through the line and put him on that, your top five was.
21:59 What were the other four that you feel are in that top five MVP candidate conversation?
22:05 Yeah, I feel like you mentioned OKC, Shea is just a baller.
22:11 And I was, I was working in Oklahoma when he was traded.
22:15 So I was in Tulsa, went down to cover the Thunder for a bit in Oklahoma City.
22:20 And it was the summer that Paul George was traded away for Shea.
22:23 And so I saw him as rookie year with Chris Paul and you can see them.
22:27 You can see it, but I don't know if you could see this.
22:30 It was, you know, he was a great player as rookie year, but he's a he's a phenomenal player now.
22:35 So he's in there. Embiid, you know, as a guy that listens to talk radio every day and listens to Denver media go back and forth between Yokich and Embiid and Embiid and Yokich.
22:51 Embiid, I think right now the MVP, close, but I think he's the MVP right now.
22:56 So he's probably number one on the list. So you have him, Yokich, Shea, throw Tatum in there because they, you know, have been in the mix for the best record in the NBA for the whole season.
23:05 You have to you have to have a guy on there like that.
23:09 I mean, there are a bunch of other guys to put on the list.
23:14 It's kind of hard for me to pick that fifth one.
23:16 But those four, I think, you know, are locks for me in terms of MVP.
23:22 And it could simply come down to like, you know, who has the who's on the best team when it's all said and done?
23:29 Like because the stats are, you know, obviously all comparable.
23:34 It just could come down to who's who's on the best team playing the best basketball later on in the season when it matters most.
23:41 And it could be Tatum. It could be Yokich. It could be Embiid.
23:45 But right now, I probably would say Embiid is. And it's great for the league to two time MVP Yokich Big Man, potentially two time big man MVP and Embiid.
23:55 Like, that's great. I think, you know, the big man is back. Shaq's talked about it a ton.
24:00 And so I think that's it's making the league better.
24:04 Yeah, absolutely. And it is good to see because, you know, it got to the point where there is some talk about it for all star, not all star,
24:12 but for positions for the all star game going positionless because you didn't have enough centers to be out there.
24:19 And there really does seem to be this kind of sense of renaissance for NBA big man with the Celtics.
24:27 As you mentioned, the 20 and 0 at home this year, they best start in franchise history, which this group has already placed in.
24:36 But obviously they feel there's still work to be done. And the Nuggets are 11 and 10 on the road this year.
24:42 So, again, anytime you go in more games and lose on the road, you've got to feel good about it.
24:47 But what are your expectations when these two meet on Friday?
24:50 Because it's a it's a huge game for both franchises.
24:54 Now. A chance to get a victory, but this could be setting the table for a potential matchup in June.
25:02 What do you expect to see when these two meet on Friday? Yeah, you know, I thought I thought last year was it was setting the table.
25:10 Quite frankly, I that was my pick was not selfishly.
25:14 I kind of wanted to come home for a couple of games in the finals. So I was I was being selfish.
25:18 But I really didn't think Nuggets Celtics finals. And it's funny to think that, you know, last year it was possible that the Avalanche hockey and the Bruins hockey could meet in the Stanley Cup.
25:29 And it's it could set up the same way this year, too. So it'd be funny if it was Boston, Denver and both.
25:34 But, you know, on Friday, I didn't like.
25:39 You'll get obviously is going to pretty much get what he wants. I think Porzingis has been a great rim protector and will make it a little difficult on him.
25:47 But you'll get just so crafty like it's really tough to it's really tough to defend him.
25:52 He's probably got a quicker, you know, step down low on Porzingis and then most centers in the NBA do.
25:59 So I think he'll have the advantage there. It's probably going to come down to like the guard play, I think, like, you know, can the Nuggets defend Jalen Brown if they send, you know, help for Tatum?
26:11 Like, can they can they help enough on Jalen Brown to, you know, to maximize that defense?
26:18 That's going to be the question. I don't like it's going to be a close game for sure.
26:23 If I if I had to make a pick on it, I say the Celtics probably still continue, you know, without having lost at home just because that's been the trend.
26:33 And they're so they're so hard to beat. I know that crowd, Denver.
26:37 I don't know if it's talked about a lot in the NBA, but Denver has a really, really good home crowd, too.
26:41 And it's tough to play here, obviously, with the altitude. And so, you know, the Nuggets understand what it means to play in front of, you know, a home crowd.
26:52 That's that's really, really good. And so they know going into the garden, that's going to be tough.
26:58 The X factor could be, you know, Michael Porter Jr. Can he put up twenty five, thirty, you know, a couple of nights ago, the Celtics or the Nuggets had Jokic, MPJ, Murray all score 25.
27:09 I mean, that's that's that's hard to be if they're doing that and they can defend.
27:14 That's really, really hard to beat. So I would say kind of MPJ is this team's X factor.
27:19 He was that way in the playoffs. He'll be that way as long as he stays in this core.
27:25 If he can get hot from three and hit six to eight and get going like that's a way for I think, you know, the Nuggets to to slip in there and beat the C's for the first time.
27:36 And it's going to be tough, but I think it's gonna be a great game. I could see I could see it going over time.
27:40 Like I can see a really, really good game. This this is probably the biggest game of the year to date, I would say.
27:47 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And Denver will come in well rested. Celtics, they'll be rested.
27:52 Well, not as well as Denver, but they'll be. It's not like they got back to back games.
27:57 It should be a good game. Should be a really, really good game. And like you, I'm eager to see what happens.
28:03 This could very well be a preview of what we'll see come June.
28:07 If both of these teams can get to the finals, which again, I think that make for a great series.
28:12 Jacob Tobey, Nine News, NBC affiliate in Denver.
28:16 Jacob, thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for the positive.
28:21 The shout out there. Much, much love for you for that and much love to our sponsors.
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28:45 This is the Big Three NBA podcast. I'm your host, H-Prop Blaker.
28:50 Saying thanks for tuning in. Take care. Goodbye.