Russell Wilson With Most Pressure in 2023? (Hour 1)

Live from the play show yet not overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City sitting on top of the 10th floor 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Friday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS number to jump on in.

855-212-4227. You can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. We've got a whole lot to get to today. We'll do a little college football fix coming up 20 minutes from now. The head coach of the Tulane Green Wave, Willie Fritz, going to be stopping by. Michael Carter, Jets running back, will join us at the top of the hour and then at 8 20 p.m Eastern, 5 20 p.m Pacific.

Leah McHugh will join us. Great job hosting the studio show NHL on TNT. He will stop by and what a hockey game that was last night. It looked like the Vegas Golden Knights were on the verge of going up 3-0 and then you got Kachuk finding a way to do some damage in front of the net to tie up that game. Terrible call to go to overtime by by the referees. That was not a trip but then in overtime you had the Panthers survive the man advantage for the Vegas Golden Knights and then you did have Carter Verhage with his overtime magic once again comes through and come up big to make this 2-1 and now all of our attention will turn to tomorrow evening because if the Panthers can find a way to even up that series we really then start to have a Stanley Cup final at two games apiece and I hope the way that is how it does turn on out and tonight in the association this is a imperative game four because you look at the Denver Nuggets are the better team compared to the Miami Heat. This is now a 2-1 series. We're going to see if this could be all tied up at two going back to Denver or if this is going to be 3-1 in favor of the dominant duo of Nicole Yochich and Jamal Murray going back to Denver but first up producing this extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than Haute Kiki.

I don't know about that Haute Kiki. Kiki I'm actually going to start the show today with some audio and we're going to do some audio in the football world coming from Garrett Bowles offensive lineman for the Denver Broncos. I think everyone needs a friend and a supporter and a p1 like Garrett Bowles here's what he had to say about his quarterback that's my quarterback in Russell Wilson. I think he's one of the greatest quarterbacks in the game in the last 10 years I mean stats don't lie just because you have one rough season you can't dictate the type of guy and his personality and what he goes through. I was angry with everything that came out because I love him dearly. I take it very personal when people talk about him because nobody knows him like I do or us here and so when you put a heart on the line and you're focused and things go rocky you look like the bad guy but he's not. He's a great dude. He's the same guy every single day he works his butt off and you know I'm ready for that stuff to go away and when it goes you know everyone's gonna eat crow. What I find so fascinating about this is all throughout last season you heard these things through what was a terrible disaster season for the Denver Broncos that were very anti-Russell Wilson how he wasn't able to fit in and he thought he was above everyone in Denver right the office on the second floor his personal QB coach Jake Heaps the input on the offense all that stuff it was a bleep show last year and yes Nathaniel Hackett got fired deservedly so got fired you know Russell Wilson's not going anywhere when you just gave him that big fat lucrative contract and oh yeah by the way gave up all the draft capital that you did to go acquire the services of Russell Wilson but for the most part up until you had Nathaniel Hackett get fired there wasn't many people that were throwing a lifesaver out to Russell Wilson and on the Denver Broncos speaking up and speaking out and supporting their quarterback publicly when all this stuff was going down and that didn't really happen until what I thought was a very fake surge at the end of the season where there was a push by members of the Denver Broncos to go out of their way to support their quarterback but at that point I thought it was too little too late and I didn't really take it in a very genuine fashion I thought it was very forced and I thought it was very quite frankly fugazi what the Broncos were doing in the last two weeks of the season supporting their quarterback but I will say I do appreciate where I haven't really heard many people talking about Russ in a positive way not saying there's been negative things being said about Russ leading up to this season but once you moved on from last year and you gear up for this season there really hasn't been that much conversation so it's good at least to see and encouraging to see someone like Garrett Bowles has been a part of that Denver Broncos organization for a while you know six seven years it's got to be now that he is still going to bat for his quarterback where I thought a lot of times throughout last year the silence from the Denver Broncos in regards to talking about their quarterback did speak volumes and did speak very loudly so I kind of like that hickey that Garrett Bowles is bringing that same energy that he was at the end of the season even though he suffered an injury last year that he's doubling down on it at this point and really that's the only way that you could go sure things need to change with Denver Broncos Sean Payton's coming in it's gonna be a totally different culture totally different atmosphere in Denver he's the captain of the ship right now not Russell Wilson but Russell Wilson we all know is still an enormous piece for the Denver Broncos I think the biggest key here is two things one how much will Russ show to the guys that he's changed but also how long is it going to take or how quickly will it take if you want to look at it from a positive way will Russell Wilson win back the trust of those teammates that he may be rubbed the wrong way last year with the with the Denver Broncos and that to me hickey the the latter part is really what is going to determine how much success the Denver Broncos could have this year not that you really should have a lot of guys on the offensive side of the ball that should be petty and that should be tough to win over but just because I don't look at the Denver Broncos as having all these great names on the offensive side of the ball if you can't build that that synergy and that chemistry with your quarterback then you're absolutely screwed and you're just destined to fail from the start so for me that's going to be the biggest key when talking about Denver it is how quickly can Russell Wilson get on the same page with the rest of his offense because there was many times last year where he wasn't even looking at one half of the field you saw players on the offensive side of the ball just so frustrated at the end of the game throwing their helmet down just irate because the ball wasn't going to them when they were wide open that hickey is the biggest part in determining what is going to happen with Denver and I don't know how long that's going to take to smooth over the problems from last year but I'll give Russ credit Russ showed up in shape Russ looks committed and that could only go so far but it's a good start and even though you look at Garrett Bowles you're like okay what else should should you expect him to say he knows he's got to go down and go down if you're going to go down go down swinging and supporting your guy in Russell Wilson but also if he didn't sense that maybe Russ was starting to genuinely change and maybe this was a different Russ in year two that doesn't mean that you just have to blindly support your quarterback and go out of your way to not only support him but also then say I can't wait to basically throw back in the face of the media and have them eat crow everywhere that's been criticizing him I hope it's genuine it is June so it's very easy if you're Garrett Bowles to kind of throw flowers and say oh Russ is going to be great Russ is going to be great but yeah hopefully it is early so far he's seen the buying from Russell Wilson is starting to believe it's weird to say because he was crushed rightfully so last year but Russ almost got a mulligan last year when you kind of had Nathaniel Hackett get fired like the blame sure was still in Russ but the guy right was Hackett now especially with Sean Payton here if let's say Russ repeats what he did in 2022 again in 2023 you still might not be able to trade them just through the contract but they're like the blame is going nowhere else by Russell Wilson like you're not firing Sean Payton I bet you if they had to choose one the other they're choosing the head coach of the quarterback so hopefully also Russ realizes I have basically no safety valve like I got no out here I can't point the finger at the coach I can't point the finger at the players it's on me he's slimmed down hopefully that means he's taking it seriously and no longer a sack of potatoes right Garrett Bulls comments are more about he is seeing the change in the buying from Russ rather than just hey I'm the lineman he's a quarterback it's June it's easy to kind of feel good and forget about last year and kind of more blindly believing that Russ will be better last year just because it can't get any worse he has two years to turn this around because we used to have this perception about dead cat money that a certain number there's no way that you're going to move off of that guy but that really changed when you saw Jared Goff get dealt when you saw Carson Wentz get dealt shortly after signing big-time deals you look at the dead cat money this year and next year clearly he's there this year it's 107 million dollars in 2024 on the surface it's 85 million dollars but then in 2025 hickey hickey and remember at that point I think Russ will already be like 37 years old in 2025 the dead cap is 49 million not that that is nothing and you can't just like look at that and go up yeah that's easy you can just move past that but you can move off of a quarterback if it's been three years in Denver and you don't have that belief regardless of what that dead cap is that dead cap is manageable enough in in football terms in the last few years where yes it's not ideal but you can move off a quarterback if the dead cap is 49 million so this year and 2024 hickey are going to be enormous years for Russell Wilson because if he does not play well this season you will get that chatter about should they trade Russell Wilson should they just release him should they get rid of him but with George Payton making that call in that front office and that was his big move to go on out there and get Russell Wilson and how much they gave up for him and how they went out of their way to give him an extension right away I would assume he's going to get two years more in Denver this year and then the year after that and then if a disaster after that there's no more defending this guy one thing I wonder is if 2023 is a repeat of 2022 we know the NFL is a copycat league can it really be a repeat though I don't get me wrong I don't know if Russ is ever going to be a great quarterback again but he was putrid last year his play was rancid is it really going to be that bad this year for a guy that has been so good for so long you got to think bare minimum with just Sean Payton coming in even with myself not loving that offense and the way that that offense is is is designed this year in terms of the talent on the roster or what I look at it the lack of it on the offensive side of the ball don't you got to think bare minimum Russ is going to be average I'm not asking for him to be great like I'm not saying that he has to be great he should be what they give up for him and and also what they paid him but don't you think bare minimum he could be average this year well I think he's gonna leave him to the playoffs so I'm high on Russell Wilson but I'm saying if if there's not much of an improvement from last year if it's still a lot of the same old same old and even Sean Payton can't kind of get this offense right with Russell Wilson what I was going to say was with it being copycat league we saw yes that the NFL now is or teams are going to be more open to absorbing more of the dead cat money after Jared Goff after Carson Wentz were traded wanting to keep an eye on that I wonder could impact the Broncos the Arizona Cardinals if they are bad enough in 2023 where they have the number one overall pick and they will have a massive dead cap number on their books if they do move off of Kyler Murray I just wonder if Russ stinks again this year and you see the Cardinals move off and kind of eat that number if the Broncos will then say you know what another team did it we'll do it as well I don't know again what retreat you can work out but if you are just that sick of Ross and said anyone but him or we got this trade lined up and it's going to hurt our books but we could still do it NFL against a copycat league and if you see the Cardinals absorb a dead cap number that starts with eight in the 80 million dollar range I think it makes it a little more palatable for the Broncos to do the same if Russ doesn't improve and they're just so sick of them where they just kind of go you know at this point anyone but him is an upgrade. And also you got to remember Drew Brees when he did go to New Orleans that wasn't via the draft that was via free agency with the whole Miami physicals they've been wanting him the doctors wouldn't get him and all that stuff he winds up in New Orleans I wonder yes if you're Sean Payton the reason why he left New Orleans was we all know he didn't have a quarterback and you go to Denver part of you has to believe in some capacity in Russell Wilson with that being said though I just wonder if they do get rid of Russ how much of a how much of an excitement is there from Sean Payton to maybe try this a different way where he for the first time gets to draft a quarterback in the first round that he believes in down the road and develop that young quarterback because even though he walked away from the game a few years ago that was just a small blip and eventually continue your coaching career a year later the guy's only 59 years old he could go coach Sean Payton for what another 10 years if he wanted in this league so I wonder how much of that really does intrigue Sean to go down the road get a quarterback in the first round and mold that quarterback and develop a new relationship with that quarterback and I wonder how much real estate that takes up in his brain right now clearly the option number one is to fix Russell Wilson but I wonder how set he is on fixing Russell Wilson before maybe that other part of his brain just takes over and he goes you know what Russ doesn't have it anymore Pete Carroll was right he's just absolutely cooked and that's what I fear Russ you got to take this here very very seriously it's unlikely that they move off you kind of like with Jimbo Fisher last year we're kind of talking about him and his massive buyouts unlikely if things go south but I don't think it's like a zero percent chance or I guess a hundred percent chance I should say he's back in 2024 no matter what so he's got pressure on him I'm rooting against Denver this year and it has nothing to do against the organization it has nothing to do with the roster it has nothing to do with me hating Denver like I've been a pretty vocal proponent of the Denver Nuggets for the last four years now but I just I'm disappointed in you Hickey and your stubbornness really does show where last year you said that team was going to go to go to the Super Bowl and Russ was going to win the MVP and now a year later you're doubling down on them I thought you would have learned your lesson by now where you're picking them not to go to Super Bowl but you're picking them to win the playoffs man I will be vocally all throughout the football season rooting against the Denver Broncos rooting against the Denver Broncos and also now my guy Brandon McManus is no longer there since he's now kicking it with the the Jacksonville Jaguars so I have no incentive to root for Denver well I have lessened expectations no they're a wildcard team playoff team you shouldn't go back to the well with this team it is belief in Sean Payton good it's not like they're running it back and I'm just gonna say oh this is the year they figure it out it's oh they have an established coach who is exactly what Russ needs to get back on the on track here and I'm gonna buy into Russ still having some left in the tank and I'm gonna buy in that you're gonna be wrong and I'm gonna trust those percentages right there real quickly who's the quarterback under the most pressure this year in the NFL I think it's Russ I think the quarterback we'll talk about the most is Aaron Rogers I got a group Russ and Deshaun Watson together because it's one thing when you like Lamar just got paid Geno Smith just got paid but when you look at guys like Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson they not only got paid those teams gave up significant draft capital for them and for Russ last year was a disaster Deshaun Watson I'll just chalk it up to knock it off Russ but both of those guys this year in an AFC that's going to be very tough to make the playoffs and both of their divisions are extremely challenging as well I don't want to hear any excuses you're making the money that you're making your team invested in you the way they did giving up all those draft picks and they believed in you you got to go to the playoffs this year and I can't sit here with any confidence right now and tell you that Denver or the Cleveland Browns are going to be in the playoffs that's just the way that I look at it so I think those are the two quarterbacks that are under the most pressure this year Deshaun Watson and then also Russell Wilson and it's that guild show on CBS Sports Radio we'll take a break we'll come on back with a little college football fix experiences are what people love most about travel with Viator you can browse and book tours and activities so incredible you'll want to tell your friends they offer everything from simple tours to extreme adventures in over 190 countries there's something for everyone download the Viator app now and use Viator 10 for 10% off your first booking one app over 300,000 experiences you'll remember do more with Viator you're listening to the Zach Gelb show we miss college football Bennett takes the snap and the shotgun throws for the corner Brock Bowers one-on-one caught touchdown he ate him alive falls down into the end zone six more for Georgia we can't wait for the 2023 season Caleb Williams throws the fade in the corner oh my touchdown Trojans and we're counting down the days to kick off are we there yet oh I said no are we there yet what's wrong with your ears here is your college football fix only on the Zach Gelb show 85 days away from the Tulane Green Wave kicking off their football season up against South Alabama Tulane last year had a remarkable year where they went from two wins to 12 wins won the American Athletic Conference had that wild comeback against USC in the final four minutes in the Cotton Bowl and now joining us is the head coach of the Tulane Green Wave and that of course is Willie Fritz coach appreciate the time as always how are you I'm doing great thanks for having me on Jack well I love the video that I saw right after you guys won the Cotton Bowl up against USC and you guys were having a parade and when you were addressing the crowd you jumped into the crowd and you started doing a little crowd surfing that had to be a fun time for you coach yeah great time I you know I became the head coach in 1993 at William Junior College down in Brenham Texas and you know we all always had kind of done this little victory song and I was standing up high when I was doing it and the kids wanted me to jump out and land in and so I've done that ever since so it was a lot of fun doing it after a Cotton Bowl victory though how do you relive all these months later looking back at those final four minutes because coach between us I had money on you that day and I was very happy when you guys had that crazy comeback well Zach I can't talk about all that stuff you know that but uh you know it was just you know everything went well and all that kind of stuff it was it was just uh you know we had a big special teams play a big play on offense with a big play on defense you know just uh you know a complimentary type victory with all three phases being involved in it and you know so we needed a little bit of luck we had the drive before we fumbled the ball and I think we would have gone and scored on that uh so we needed some good fortune and luckily we got it what did Tulane coach Willie Fritz show the world last year with what you guys were able to accomplish well I think we've got a really nice job of developing players you know we take pride in you know you know kicking guys that are they're good football players but maybe they need a little time to get a little taller a little longer a little faster you know maybe guys that are under the radar a little bit who are dynamite division one football players we've also got some guys that were recruited by a lot of people but you know we've got quite a few heck I got a lot of guys in the NFL that we're their only division one offer Tarnell Mooney great receiver of Chicago Bears camp sampled great defensive lineman with the Cincinnati Bengals Patrick Johnson he's over with the uh Philadelphia Eagles a great linebacker uh so we've been able to find some guys I feel like our staff is a tremendous job at developing guys it's one thing to develop players but to see a turnaround from two wins to to 10 wins how do you kind of just further explain how your staff was able to accomplish that well we had a lot of misfortune the year before you know we played in three bowl games in a row and we uh you know I had a bad one year we lost four games on the last play on the game that's almost impossible to do but I did it and you know it's we almost had a turn there but didn't quite get it done and then in 21 you know everybody don't dealt with COVID in 20 we had a hurricane ida and so we all had to go to uh Birmingham Alabama I told the guys to pack for three nights and instead we were there for 27 nights uh and just you know it had no place to work out lift weights practice uh half the time we were able to practice and didn't have really meeting rooms uh so we just didn't have very good season and you know that's on me I didn't do a good enough job leading the leading the kids but we knew we had good players and we lost very few guys to the transfer portal after that year and had a great off season great summer and led to us having a great season coach Willie Fritz from Tulane here with us coach I followed your program from afar I did go to temple university so I know the American athletic conference actually uh someone that I know Andrew Zuckerman played for you guys as well so so I've seen your quarterback Michael Pratt uh before but for people that are just tuning in I know he's been there for a few years and haven't been able to watch Michael Pratt how would you describe your quarterback oh I think he's just uh he just he's just really tough and he's got a lot bigger I think he's 175 180 pounds when he got here and you know he's 215 great straight line speed sometimes a little too tough I gotta remind him about you know first down touchdown get down uh but he's uh great arm strength great accuracy I think he's a definite draft pick uh you know we're just looking forward to him having another fantastic year for us and just the nature of the sport right now at the transfer portal I know that his sister transferred over to play for the basketball team so that probably helped did you expect to lose in this off season or did you always know that Michael was going to be back no he's gonna be a loyal guy serving leader he's uh you know his best friends he's gonna have the rest of his life gonna be the guys you played with here at Tulane I think there might have been some guys who were uh in schools that might have been possibly contacting him in one way or the other I don't know but uh you know he was always firm with being here at Tulane Willie Fritz what do you challenge your quarterback to do this year you guys just won the American Athletic Conference you just won a cotton bowl you only lost two games last year what did you really challenge him to do this off season well we really get to know the the offense you know every single guy on on the field their responsibilities this is going to be the first season and Michael has had the same coordinator two years in a row you know and there's going to be notes we're adding some things offensively but we're not changing things and I think that's going to help him out big time for your program how do you go about replacing Tajay Spears we know he got drafted by Tennessee and last year was just enormous for the success of your football team it's gonna be tough you know I just got done talking to him here about five minutes ago he's he's a special player special young man you know I'm so excited about his opportunity there with Tennessee we feel like we got some good back so we've got really good depth you know like on the defensive line for us we've got nine guys on the front forward who started at least two ball games for us in their in their career so got a lot of good depth all the way around and all positions and that's a big deal for us this season we want to we want to be a consistent winner we don't you know want to just go to bowl games we want to go to meaningful bowl games win conference championships you know so that's what we've been talking about with our guys how we got to improve offense defense kicking game in order to accomplish that I know every kid is different and you never know how people are going to handle success but no one's going to be sleeping on you guys this year with the season that you just had and you guys are now viewed as the top dogs in the conference just how do you think your program will handle the success and build off of that I think we're going to handle it well I've got a bunch of mature guys a lot of guys that have been in the program for a long period of time they love the success we had and they want to continue to to have that type of success year after year I don't know I as a head coach I you know every game is its own season and we just you know I worry about that I don't you know irregardless of whether we're playing you know on a hot streak and won a bunch of games or or maybe they haven't you know we want to improve every single week and one of the things we talk about our programs don't want to know every week don't want to know every day that's what it's going to take for us we got to continue to keep doing that in order for us to you know have the sustained success that I feel looted too late over the years coach earlier you mentioned that you're 63 I don't know how much longer you plan to do this I know that you said that you want this to be your your last stop what made you want to stay because you know I saw your name was rumored um at least in that Georgia Tech job so what made you want to continue to see things out with the Tulane Green Wave oh we love it here my wife loves it here I love it here it's been a tough bill it really has been uh with the history of you know Tulane's had great players they've had great teams they just haven't done it you know over a long period of time consecutively so we just enjoy being here it's it's good people to work with and for uh you know our kids really enjoy going to school here at Tulane our you know we're in a beautiful area of New Orleans you know it's a great education our top academic schools in the country you know so there's just a lot of great things about it I'm I'm very lucky to have this job what's your favorite meal out of New Orleans it's one of my favorite places to visit but what does coach like to eat the most oh my goodness I tell you where I'm getting ready to meet my wife in a place here right now but we're uh oh I got so many good favorites uh we did a commercial for a restaurant the other day you know we had you know the char grill oysters and the roast beef pull boys shrimp pull boy uh red beans and rice uh shrimp uh you know uh I had to say just just everything it's just it's different I I've not spent a bunch of time in New Orleans prior to coming here to take this job and I probably put on 10 20 pounds it's been a lot of happy weight that I put on don't you worry I probably put on 10 15 pounds and I went to Mardi Gras all those years ago so so it definitely happens and I was only there for three days wrapping up with the coach of Tulane uh the Green Wave of course just won the American Athletic Conference last year defeated USC in the Cotton Bowl that of course is Willie Fritz the conference you lose some schools to the big 12 Houston, Cincinnati, UCF welcoming in six new schools the American Athletic Conference well what's your view of what the American Athletic Conference now offers with the changes well I think it should be very competitive we just got back from our conference meetings the other day you know it's uh you know we've added some really good teams great facilities great academic institutions as well you know yeah we lost uh you know UCF and Cincinnati Houston I think we replaced them with six fantastic schools so you know we we've kind of gotten out of that distinction as a power five group of five you know I think in the years that I've been here this is going to be my eighth season I think you know our conference has been ranked above one of the so-called power five schools uh you know six of the seven years so if you haven't had a chance to watch the American you're really you're missing out it's very very competitive football coach one last thing before we let you run you guys win that cotton bowl 46 to 45 what a remarkable comeback it was you did go up against the Heisman Trophy winner and Caleb Williams who had five touchdowns in the game so many people had tuned in they just like to hear people's perspective about the Heisman Trophy winner and Caleb Williams who is projected to be the number one pick in next year's draft just what was your observations looking back at it and what made it so difficult going up against Caleb well he's got all the you know the the talent the ability that you think about with the quarterback arm strength accuracy you know being able to throw all the different type of balls that you want but the thing I was really impressed with was uh his strength I don't know how many times he shook off tackles we we had him wrapped up it was a good job of anticipating uh glitches or someone attacking him with leverage and then beating the leverage and buying himself more time uh and he I I saw after the game I told some people I see why he won the Heisman Trophy he's uh he's a dynamite quarterback coach really appreciate the time thanks so much 85 days away Tulane kicking off their AC title defense up against South Alabama good luck this year coach thank you Joe Zuck I said I you got it will do thanks so much all right roll wave let's walk instead of drive talk instead of text stay out late and count the stars let's get back to the things that matter welcome to Kinston a new site of Sentara in Loveland Colorado for people seeking a new home in a new kind of place where homes are full of character life is full of variety and community means people spending time together models are open and new homes are selling join us at KinstonSantara.com you're listening to the Zach Gelb show Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio I have two things that I'm looking at when it comes to tonight's game four of the NBA finals between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets Denver up 2-1 in this series after a historical performance by Nicole Jokic and Jamal Murray they're the first teammates ever in the history in the history of the sport to go for 30 plus point triple doubles each in one game and then Nicole Jokic becomes the first player ever in finals history from his game three performance to go for 30 plus points 20 plus rebounds and 10 assists for a triple double Hickey I'm gonna try to use your brain here or see where your brain is at what do you think the two things that I'm looking at tonight when it comes to this game I'll tell you right now one is on the Denver side and then I'll say it this particular way the other grouping of players is on the Miami Heat side um in that case with the heat I'll go with grouping of which role players if any can step up they were non-existent and guys use a little play on words here MIA in game three down there in Miami could not find Gabe Vincent could not find Duncan Robinson name the other come on can you do it Caleb Martin no he's been so irrelevant this series he is not well he yeah he has me he's not been very good uh Duncan Robinson max truce yes those are my three and like you sent me a question before the show it was some of the lines of who who needs to show up tonight who who's the the biggest key for Miami tonight and you wrote is it Jimmy Butler is it Eric Spolstra or is it Bam Adebayo and I read that question I was like neither don't neither don't get me wrong they're all important you need Jimmy Butler to have a great performance Bam Adebayo is a massive key for Miami you got to see that with how great he played in the first two games of this series Eric Spolstra you can make the case as the best coach in the NBA but game two is the only game this series where you had Max truce Gabe Vincent and then also Duncan Robinson show up and if they can't get that three ball going they don't have a chance in this series and they need to get that three ball going and look even in game two when they got the three point ball going there was stretches in the game where Denver still looked like they were the better team when Denver did go in game two in that 40 to 14 run and then also in the final two minutes of the game Denver who blew the game then almost took the game back and almost sent that baby into overtime so you look at the toughness and the grittiness of Miami and we talked about all these players that get overlooked I need Gabe Vincent Max truce and Duncan Robinson two out of the three if not all three to start hitting shots from three because if they don't I fully expect Denver to win the game tonight so you got one that was on the Miami side now what is it on the Denver side I'd be surprised if you get this um I will I guess go then with kind of similar theme can any of the role players on Denver show up because equally they have been bad Michael Porter Jr. has been terrible uh Contavis called of hope has not been very good um they have again you've gotten superstar efforts rushing game three with Jokic and Murray Brown played well risky to rely on your two great stars to carry you again especially on the road in the finals is it though because that's what Denver's been doing all throughout this postseason I know they've had others step up like Bruce Brown and and Christian Brown as well and you see Michael Porter Jr. go off here and there you've seen Aaron Gordon go off here and there but that duo Joker always shows up but then when Murray gets going that right there just with those two guys in a league of dynamic duos and you're going up against the Miami Heat team that doesn't have the best talent in the world if you just get those two guys to show up I personally think nine times out of ten it's gonna be enough in this matchup especially I mean I think the Nuggets have played like a full team all playoff line I think that's part of why they're here it's just like they are a great team where it's not just two players carrying the team not to diminish what Jokic and Murray have done they've been great but I do think they're here in large part because of what Michael Porter Jr. KCP Aaron Gordon the Brown brothers if you will what they have done as well so yes they're up to one right now but also they've gotten very little support especially the last two games from anyone not named Jokic and Murray not my key for Denver my key for Denver goes back to what Mike Malone said after game two he was appalled by the effort in game two now I'm not surprised in game three that Denver showed up and they balled out but I want to see now this is pretty much a similar situation than what it was going into game two where you have a lead in the series after game one you're up 1-0 now after game three you're up 2-1 I want to see the intensity and the effort level where it's at early on by the Denver Nuggets because clearly Mike Malone was agitated by it after game two and a lot of people after game three said oh they listened to their coach they responded to their coach that didn't really resonate with me if what Malone said after game two resonated with the players you have an identical situation for the most part that after you did after game one let's see how much they really listen to that message because if Denver comes out tonight and plays their game they should be going back to Denver up 3-1 because they have the more talented roster and they are the better team so I want to see tonight will the effort problem that Denver displayed in game two wasn't vindicated to me in game three but will it come through here that message in game four that is to me the thing that I'm most looking forward to with the Denver Nuggets tonight I mean I hope so that's really the only thing that's going to keep this heat team in the series like when the Nuggets are locked in and playing well I don't really see how the heat have a chance in the series whatsoever it's if you kind of let your guard down open the door we've seen this Miami team do it against the Celtics do it against the Bucks they are elite at taking advantage and you maybe are not fully locked in now where are you at on this series I know you're taking Denver to win and I took Denver to win going in in six but you've been Mr. Flip Flop here where you've always stayed with Denver but it was at first Denver in five and then after they won that game two you were like okay I'll go back to Denver in six I know you have that bet that you made of Denver in five did you now flip flop back after what you got to see in game three to now thinking this is going to be over in five games or are you then going to stick with six which you ended up flipping to after which was game two if that makes any sense yeah I think Denver wins tonight so I'm going to say Denver in five okay and that just shows you kind of all the over reaction that was happening after game number two and I wanted to be disrespectful to Miami Miami is a heck of a a franchise we all know what they've been able to do all throughout this postseason down in the second playing tournament game on the verge of not even really getting into the playoffs late in that fourth quarter you go on to take care of Milwaukee in five you dispose of the Knicks rather quickly as well when Jimmy Butler is playing on one ankle you survive up against Boston after being up 3-0 then get into a game seven you blow them out of their home court what Miami has done this year they're already deserving of a bow I just never have thought heading into this series or at any point in this series that if I'm Denver I'm nervous because you go back to game two Miami threw everything that they could at Denver and still there was a chance for Jamal Murray to step up and knock down a shot and if he did the game would have gone to overtime so I could only see Miami getting two games in this series at most and you know what it may be a sucker bet tonight but I'll make a play on this game I'll take Denver and I'll take Denver minus three and a half points that is the spread the other night was at two and a half and it got up to three and a half Denver and I was on Denver tonight it's at three and a half that's a low number for how the majority of people believe Denver is the much better team so is it going to be a sucker bet we'll have to wait and see but maybe I'll end up being the sucker I am taking though Denver minus three and a half so let's win some dinero tonight Michael Carter going to join us next from the jets