Marc Kestecher | ESPN Radio PxP Voice

Walk the dogs, school drop-off, meetings from 10 to 3, take kids to soccer, then no time left for a jog. When everyone else is relying on you, it's easy to put your needs last. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online so you can show up for yourself the way you do for others. Visit betterhelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month.

That's betterhelp.com slash positive. And plans start at as little as $9.99 a month. Max, the one to watch. Subscription required.

Visit max.com. Mark Kestisher now joins us from Denver. Now that I don't know if the confetti settled at all, I guess that's actually what you need to tell us, Mark. But first of all, congratulations on another NBA Finals. What's it like in Denver right now?

Oh my goodness, Amy, good to be on with you this morning. P.J. Carlissimo, part of our ESPN radio crew, of course, we're not leaving the NBA Finals with another midnight dinner.

So we just got back. Mike Breen was there. Mark Jackson was there. A bunch of Lisa Salters was there.

And it was harrowing to try to get from Ball Arena to the spot we wanted to get to in Denver. They were shooting off fireworks. All kinds of horns honking through the night.

Every time you're stopped at a red light, motorcycles or sports cars would rev their engines and get all the smoke coming off their tires. And I'm sure it's going to go deep into the night. And it's funny you say confetti, because I just got back to the hotel room and I put down my work bag. I opened it up to grab my computer and it looks like about 10 pieces of blue, yellow and red confetti just fell out. Well, that's because of where you were posted up. I actually can see you even as the highlights are airing on NBA TV, that you were directly next to the heat bench on the court. So every single time Mark Spolstra is on a close-up or the camera zooms in on him, you and PJ and Doris Burke are right behind him. I can only imagine what it was like to be in the middle of the mayhem as the confetti is falling.

Yes, it gets in your bag. But yeah, what's it like to be right in the middle of that on the court? That was a lot of fun. It's a little bit of inside radio and inside broadcast, but more and more we're getting moved off the floor and up to the upper bowl as they continue to sell the seats. The Nuggets have a great setup. We sit in the visiting television portion during the regular season and it's just great to be in there and really feel it, especially for a championship at home. It was fun watching Nikola Jokic's brothers, not far from us, basically like a wedding move.

Pick up Michael Malone and throw him up in the air a couple times like he just got married. And just to see Jamal Murray, bloodshot eyes, the tears. This was a big comeback for him, obviously, from his injuries. It was good to see Michael Porter have a very productive game. He was going to be the guy that had the championship ring that just muttered about having an awful finals, but will accept the ring. And so it was good to see him. And then of course, the star of the show, who'd rather not have any attention at all on Nikola Jokic, just grabbed that spotlight and really planted himself as, I hate to be recency biased, but probably a top 20 player when it's all said and done. Well, and PJ Carlissimo said on your post-game show, as all this is happening because I was listening on ESPN radio, that he is the best player in the NBA.

And yet, have you ever seen a more unassuming finals MVP when he accepted that trophy? I was wondering, Amy, what it was going to be like because we had him before game one or game two, I think it was. They bring a couple of players, a couple of coaches. We have our own little room at Ball Arena.

We're down in Miami. And every time, I think it was Roz Gold on Wooday who was doing the interviews, would ask a question, legit questions, like not really trying to dig or heap too much praise. He would just roll his eyes and would look down and didn't want to talk about it, really wanted nothing to do with it.

And I'm wondering if you win a championship, what would he be like? And it was good to see him smile up there. Guys were patting him on the head, but you're right. He held that trophy and he held the Bill Russell Award and he was holding his daughter.

I mean, just unbelievably cute. And I heard, you know, I haven't watched all the post-game stuff yet, but I'm sure you have already, you know, sent it on to your audience that, you know, he's like, when's the parade? Thursday? Yeah, I got to go home. I don't think so.

That's too long of a wait for me. Mark Hesterscher is with us from Denver where he barely made it back to his hotel room after calling another NBA Finals on ESPN radio. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. This was another really tight game. It was tied with two minutes to go. And if you think about the number of times the Heat had, I don't know, eight consecutive points in the fourth quarters of these games, clearly came back to bite the Nuggets in Game 2 there in Denver.

What was the difference? These were not major blowouts. They were really tenacious battles. What was the ultimate difference for Denver? I think, well, for Denver, I mean, they're such a team. More so than Jokic and Murray, you know, had the dueling 30-point triple doubles in Game 3. You know, Eric Spolstra threw just about every defense he can, all the different adjustments he can, get the ball out of Jokic's hands, get the ball out of Murray's hands, and the difference to me was, you know, in Game 4, Aaron Gordon stood up and so did Bruce Brown off the bench with, you know, Jokic five minutes on the bench in foul trouble and a double-teaming Murray. They have so many weapons and that's what, if you didn't watch Denver basketball during the regular season and you know Jokic and you know Murray, you don't know anybody else. And Michael Porter Jr., for as much of a struggle as it was in the Finals, had a great return from his third back surgery this year, had a really good season.

Aaron Gordon was kind of the missing piece for these guys, you know. He was a guy with the ball in his hands, athletic as all get out in Orlando on a losing team, and he finally got to the point where, you know, he wanted a chance to play for a title and he was able to work a trade out with Orlando and accepted a role as, you know, a role player for as good as he is. And Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, excellent defender, three-point shooter, won a championship in the bubble. Bruce Brown, who we talked about, you know, another guy, they got it a really good contract, who it's all about team. Like there's no ego on this team and they take their orders from Michael Malone, who's one of the great coaches in the league and has been for a long time, long time assistant. And we already talked about Jokic, who has as little ego as you can for a two-time MVP and now a Finals MVP, and it's a team. And it'll be interesting to see, you know, championship, parade, summer, read all the great quotes about you and then come back and see if they could do it again.

But outside of Bruce Brown, they're gonna have all these guys back. You know, the core of this team is signed up and, you know, I don't like to talk, you know, back to back too soon, but it is a team that is going to be positioned very well in the Western Conference. Jamal Murray, you mentioned the emotion and really the release as he's there on the court and it all comes flooding back. It actually reminded me of what we saw with Klay Thompson in the NBA Finals last year and how emotional he was after coming back from his injuries. He's obviously an incredible shooter. There's so much more to him. You've watched him develop.

You were in the bubble, actually, when the Nuggets kind of served notice that they were a force to be reckoned with. How have you seen him grow, change, maybe become a better leader over the course of his time with the injuries and then returning to the game? I think that's a great point is him becoming more of a leader.

I think you get perspective. Now, he's much younger than Klay Thompson, but I noticed last year in the lead up to the Finals, Klay Thompson had a different perspective than he ever had. Like, he was so happy to have the game of basketball back. Now, he had back-to-back really bad injuries and didn't know if he was ever going to play again to that level or win a championship with that group and they did.

So, it's a different story, but I think Jamal Murray, who was fast tracking in the bubble, missed two post seasons. We were talking to him yesterday in our interview room and it was Doris Burke who did the interview yesterday. She talked about what were the dark times like. He said the dark times didn't last long. There was darkness in the beginning of him rehabbing, but he said after a few weeks, he noticed improvement, little improvement.

Another week later, little improvement. Then, all of a sudden, he realized I'm putting more plates on the weight rack and I'm able to do a little bit more. From then, he said his disposition changed completely. He watched Nikola Jokic carry a team without him, without Michael Porter, to a sixth seed in the playoffs last year. Even though they got knocked out early, they had a sense once he got back this year, once he got into his groove, this was a team to be reckoned with. I think I said it at the end of the broadcast, Denver snuck up on a lot of people, but they shouldn't have. They were number one in the West December 20th. They took over sole possession of number one in the West on Christmas day and no one caught them since. They had a great run through the playoffs, winning 16 out of 20. This is just legit team. I think Murray recognized all the hard work they put in and that they're just in the middle of it now. His parents flew in from Canada.

It was very overwhelming, I'm sure. Have you ever heard a saltier side of Mike Malone than the last month? Even in Miami, a couple of, I guess it was last week, a couple of nights ago, he's insulting the press room. Tonight, he's telling the media not to ask him any stupid questions and ruin his mood. I mean, he really took it to the next level in the way that he was able to push buttons, but also he was done with the Nuggets getting disrespected.

Done. He was absolutely, especially from his lead player as well. He wanted to make sure he took every opportunity with his press conferences to let people know how good they are and how good his star player is. And I get it because we've been with them for the last month. And when they beat the Lakers in game one and then in game two, it was always about what the Lakers have figured out. And how can the Lakers get back into it? It was never about how great the Nuggets were.

So I understand that. He was always good with us because first of all, I got PJ, who's known his dad since before Michael was born. So he has the ultimate respect for PJ and Doris Burke as well, whom he has ties with.

And of course, she covers the team over the many years he's been here. So we had it easy, but he had great one liners for us too that he shared with the media. You could tell he had him prepared. He was preparing his ad libs the night before. And I love the one today where they asked him if he was able to sleep leading into the game.

I slept like a baby, as in I woke up every two hours and cried. So he's got a great sense of humor. He's one of my favorite guys to cover.

And so is Eric Spolstra. And it was a really easy series for us to navigate. I feel for the heat because Jimmy Butler, if it was ever apparent that he wasn't 100%, it was tonight. I mean, he literally had no lift through three quarters. And whatever he did in the fourth quarter, and it was all guts and guile and typical Jimmy Butler never say die.

We saw him in the hallway after the game. And I just shook his hand and I said, I know you're not 100%. And that was a heck of an effort. And he's like, thank you very much. I said, I'll see you next season.

I mean, it's amazing how far that Miami team went this year. Right. I want to ask you about Eric Spolstra in a second. But before I move on, you mentioned Doris and PJ. And actually, because I was listening to your postgame, I heard Doris drop in what felt like a nod to some of the veteran coaches who have been fired. I don't know who specifically, but we've seen a bunch of them, right? Nick Nurse. I know he's been rehired. Doc Rivers. Monty Williams, obviously.

A bunch of guys who lost their jobs. Even, oh, well, Mike Budenholzer. Even though they're championship coaches. And she said one of the reasons why Denver is succeeding is because they've stuck with Mike Malone. They didn't fire their coach the first opportunity they got, the first opening they got. And that this consistency and this core group and being able to have that over the past, what, eight years. It's really a key to their success. You're with these two a bunch. They're immersed in the NBA. Did you guys ever talk about it?

Did you hear anything from them about these coaches getting fired? Oh, yeah. Especially being with PJ. I mean, he's very sensitive to it, obviously, because he's been fired before. It's his profession. And every time, I'll always bring him the hot takes in the morning. Because I don't think he really watches too much television. And I'm not sure he reads the bulletins that come onto his phone. And I'll just be like, hey, I hear Mike Budenholzer is in trouble in Milwaukee.

And then he'll just curse a blue streak with like, what more do you got to do? And most of them are tied to him because, you know, Bud was in San Antonio when he was there with Pop winning those championships with Parker and Ginobili and Duncan. And so both of the guys he knows, Brett Brown, when he was in Philly, same kind of thing. So it touches a little bit of a nerve. But I think Doris's point was great, because especially this year, when you saw teams that competed for championships, came up short, had championships previously were in NBA Finals previously.

And there's just, you know, there's no more rope that you get to kind of build on it. And Michael Malone, remember, he got fired in Sacramento, right in his second year in his first trip as a head coach, and he comes to Denver. And their first three seasons, they don't make the playoffs. And I remember in that third season, they went to the last day of the regular season, Denver and Minnesota were tied for the eighth seed in the West. And they were playing head to head the last day of the regular season.

It was a game that I almost had to call last minute, I remember I got a call from the television producer, it fell through. And Minnesota beat Denver in overtime. So his third year doesn't make the playoffs in about as cruel a way as he can. And they stuck by him, you know, and they don't have, you know, the high draft picks, they've developed most of their guys, they have the great run in the bubble. And they figure, you know, we're moving on up from here, and then injuries set them back. So you know, the fact that the crunkies, you know, and Calvin Booth, who's now the GM, Tim Connolly, before him now in Minnesota, stuck with him is just a testament that when you leave it to the basketball people who have knowledge, and Michael Malone does, and his staff does as well, I mean, they got most of them are sons of coaches, including Michael, you know, good things can happen.

There's just not enough patience in all of professional sports in North America. So it's, you know, I understand what Doris was saying, and she made a great point. Just as a side note, I actually heard Jamal Murray say the same thing to Mr. Kroenke, after the game, when they were, he was embracing him and just said, thank you for sticking with me, thank you for not giving up on me, thank you for not moving on. He actually said that when I was injured. So it certainly seems to be, at least with the Nuggets, a philosophy for that ownership group.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio, Mark Kestisher from Denver. So I truly believe Eric Spolster could be a motivational, inspirational speaker. I mean, the number of times that he's pulled me away with his big picture perspective about how failure is key to resiliency and adversity is key to success, and even playing up that whole, well, I don't really think he was even using it as an angle. Just reminding us over and over, this Heat team really symbolizes a group of guys who've been overlooked, who've been underestimated, and how much he appreciates them for that. We talk about coaches, right? Well, he's been in place almost two decades. What about his style and what about the Heat?

Make them a contender every year. First of all, it's funny you mention, you know, how great he seems at motivation and, you know, always having the right thing to say because at the end of our conversation yesterday, off tape, Roz Goldenwoody had asked him, you know, kind of like, hey, when you grew up, like, did you read, like, psychology books? Did you go to college and you were like a psychology minor? And he just laughed. He was like, you know, no, like, I don't really have any of those skills. But his father, who worked in the NBA, he was not on the operations side, you know, the basketball operations side. He was more on the business side. His dad worked for the Portland Trailblazers, the Buffalo Braves.

I think he was even in Denver here for a brief moment. But he said his dad would always have these, you know, psychology type books that were around and he would make his son read them. So he thinks maybe some of that, you know, he just, you know, kind of absorbed and uses it.

But you're right. He's so good at it. He's such a great coach. You know, his roster was undermanned completely, you know, through all these rounds.

So it's just remarkable. I mean, just think about it. You know, we talk about how things could change. You know, if Kevin Durant has his foot beyond the three-point line, Mike Budenholzer probably doesn't win a championship in Milwaukee, right, in the second round in that seven-game series a couple of years ago. And then I just think that, you know, the Heat were down three with three minutes to go in the second play-in game after losing the first one at home. And if they don't come back and win that game, you know, we have a completely different bend on this Miami Heat team.

Not so much on Spoe. I think he's already written his resume, you know, for the Hall of Fame. But, you know, Jimmy Butler, you know, beating Milwaukee, the number one seed, you know, beating Boston, the number two seed in the conference finals, you know, in a seventh game on the road, it just goes down as a disappointing season if they lose to Chicago.

And so he just can do more with less. We've seen it time and again. And they've gotten some important questions to answer this offseason because it was befuddling why they did not play well in the regular season.

It really was. So I have no doubt. They're great cat people. They'll get in some good players. Hopefully, you know, Jimmy Butler certainly will be healthy by then.

Bam Adebayo is a terrific player. And they'll probably have seven more undrafted guys that they'll, you know, turn into really good NBA players. They don't seem like they're ever going to tank. They're always going to be either in the middle or toward the top. That would go against Pat Riley's religion. He cannot do that. And I wish they would not always take the most difficult path to success, but they do.

They refuse to do anything the easy way. That's the Miami Heat. All right. So all this prep that you do hours and hours and hours as you traverse the country, it clearly pays off. Do you have Wendy Fever? Because I think that's next, the NBA draft.

Yes. After 17 years last year, I wiggled out of hosting the draft. I did the hour pregame last year and it looked like I was on the hook to do it this year.

And I got my notice like last week that I once again have wriggled out. So I will host the the first hour before the draft next Thursday on ESPN radio. And but I still love it as much as it's a chore.

And I was glad to not have to do it anymore. I will be going to Summer League on July 6th or 7th, whenever that starts. And working the draft and talking to all the guys who are in the green room is basically your prep. And so I have to do a little double prep when I get to Las Vegas. So the good and the bad, a little time off coming, which is fun. A little time off, a little travel, too much prep. That's what I always say about Mark. Every time I talk to him when he's on the road, he's got, I've got a couple more hours of prep before I can sleep. But it pays off.

Like what more prep do you need to do? You've seen these same teams five times. I know I did say that too. It's because I have great confidence in your ability to regurgitate all this information. All right. Thank you for unloading, for letting me unload it. This is the final end on your show.

You got to use it. You can find Mark on Twitter. Mark Kestercher, M-A-R-C K-E-S-T-E-C-H-E-R, long time ESPN radio voice, voice of the NBA finals. I know you haven't done a hundred yet like Mike Breen, but you got to be getting close, man. Oh, I don't think so. He was about 10 years ahead of me. So I've been in the 30s somewhere.

So I got a long way to go to catch him, but seven times calling the finals and 13 times before that hosting the finals. So it's been an honor to be able to do this for 20 years and hopefully I could squeeze out a few more before they tell me to ride off into the sunset. Put you out to pasture? Just kidding. Stop it. I hope not.

Blue factory for me. No, stop. We're so old. There was an article today that was released about me. I got interviewed by my colleague Peter Schwartz. It was all about how after 20 years, after two decades, Amy Lawrence has not finished. I'm thinking, holy crap, but my old two decades. I had one on air where Jeff Green checked into the game and I was like, man, you want to talk about old? This guy was drafted and played for the Sonics back in those sevens.

He then looked at me with like eyes of fire and he goes, you know who coached that team? And I said, oh yeah, you're old. That's right. So good. Old and seasoned. Well, I prefer seasoned and mature. So mature. All right.

Well, thank you. That's a good one. Seasoned and mature and wise.

Experienced. Yes. There you go. Used.

No, we don't like that. Well, travel safe. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. Congratulations. Incredible call as always, my friend. Good to talk to you. Appreciate it, Amy.

Always great to be on your show. T-Mobile's network can help keep you connected to all your favorite podcasts when you're out and about, whether you're an early bird looking to dive into a daily news podcast or a night owl who wants to catch up on the latest reality TV drama, T-Mobile will keep you connected on their strong and reliable network. T-Mobile covers more highway miles with 5g than anyone.

So if you need great coverage, especially when you're on the go, check out T-Mobile find out more at tmobile.com slash C Y that's S E E W H Y. Your points are worth more than you think. This first class flight to Tokyo, you can book it in your credit card portal for 1.4 million points. Yowzers. With PointMe, you could redeem just 120,000 points for that same flight.

Now that's more like it. PointMe gets you six to 12 times the value for your points. Your credit card points are worth more than you think. PointMe, better flights, fewer points.

Get started today at point.me. That's point.me. Hey, can you hear me? Okay.

Okay, good. Well, so can your potential customers right here on your Odyssey station. You might be used to skipping social ads, but you are still listening to me right now. And so are your clients. To learn how to drive more business and how Odyssey can help get your message to your customers, visit stateofaudio.com. That's stateofaudio.com.