Chauncey Billups knows: The cliche is crapola. The harder part is faking it after you’ve made it.

“The biggest thing, and me being in that position and having been there before, the biggest thing is just — don’t get bored, man,” Billups, the Denver hoops icon, former Nuggets point guard and current Trail Blazers coach, told me recently when our convo turned to the reigning NBA champs.

“That playoff run is so intense and every game is just incredible. And you come back to a regular season where it’s just like, ‘Oh, here we go, (these are) regular season games. I want that fire and intensity.’ Well, you won’t get that again until the playoffs.”

The summit smells of cigar and champagne. The ascent smells of stale Auntie Anne’s airport pretzels between back-to-backs at Brooklyn and Charlotte.

Mr. Big Shot’s Detroit Pistons won it all in 2004. The next fall, they opened up with a record of 7-7 after 14 games. They were 13-12 at Christmas.

“So a lot of times you get bored with that process,” Billups continued, “and it’s hard to defend against that. But I think obviously, they’ve got the players and the coach to do it. But that’s the biggest thing — you just can’t get bored.”

If the NBA’s bored of them, the league sure as heck hasn’t shown it. The Nuggets freak people out so much right now that the Bucks traded for Dame Lillard, the Celtics traded for Jrue Holiday, and the Suns shipped Deandre Ayton out of town in favor of Jusuf Nurkic and an upgraded bench.

Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are buried so deep inside the Sixers’ collective noggins that Philly’s holding training camp this week at CSU, roughly 1,785 miles from home and approximately 5,000 feet above sea level — or 4,975 feet higher than Pat’s Steaks.

“We’ve gone from being a team that’s hunting the teams in front of us,” coach Michael Malone reflected Monday during the champs’ annual preseason media day, “to being the hunted.”

The NBA’s postseason is America’s best reality television show, a stage where the narratives eat and the stars shine, a long soap opera in sneakers.

The NBA’s regular season is just … long.

“The hardest thing for trying to repeat is just keeping the team together,” noted Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who also earned a ring with the Lakers at the Orlando bubble in 2020. “It’s one of the hardest things for any organization that’s won a championship. You have guys — Bruce (Brown), Jeff (Green), Ish (Smith) … other teams pull them apart from us.”

It’s up to the new pieces to combat that boredom, in addition to keeping the line moving. Second-year swing man Christian Braun vowed that he’d spent the last three months polishing his jump shot, ballhandling and beard, although said beard was nowhere to be found Monday. Peyton Watson, another young, critical piece with new responsibilities, said he added 20 pounds of muscle and has shoulders broad enough for whatever weight rolls his way.

“I know what’s ahead of me,” Watson said. “I know we’re here to defend our championship. And I’m ready to go.”

Chasing All-Star love is another cure for the boredom blues, although the Nuggets eschew individual goals, a Jokic mantra that’s in the franchise’s winning DNA. Although even “team guys” have families. And agents. Agents who will remind them how much money the Pacers just chucked at Brucey B.

“Of course we’re mad at him,” the Joker teased Monday when asked about Brown, the Finals MVP’s trademark deadpan already in midseason form. “Maybe we don’t give him a ring.”

Hey, whatever it takes to float the boats until New Year’s. Since the 2011 lockout, only one defending champion has sported a losing record on Christmas Day of the non-COVID season that followed, and that was last winter’s Golden State Warriors.

The average record for the last 10 champs — save for the ’19-20 Lakers, as the coronarvirus forced the ’20-21 season to start late — on Dec. 25 was 22-9 (.710). Two of those 10 pulled off repeat crowns.

“I always use the same reference,” Murray said. “If a fighter goes into a fight (and) he’s not ready to fight, he’s going to get knocked out. So you’ve always got to be the hunter just based on that.”

Those targets on your backs are real. But they’re only as heavy as you allow them to be. No matter how steep the climb.

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By Rick Stroud

Tampa Bay Times

TAMPA — In what may be considered the most important drive of the season, Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales emptied his playbook against the Saints.

The 87-yard second-quarter march Sunday took 17 plays and took nearly nine minutes off the clock. But it won’t be remembered as much for its longevity as it will be for its creativity.

Eight different players touched the football, including receiver Chris Godwin, who not only caught three passes but also threw the first one of his NFL career.

There were rollouts, shuffle passes, end-arounds and the little gadget play by Godwin.

The drive ended when quarterback Baker Mayfield flipped a 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cade Otton, giving the Bucs a lead they never relinquished in a 26-9 win.

“Man, I love it,” coach Todd Bowles said Monday. “It’s important to keep teams off-balance when you’ve got them on the run. You don’t want to do the same things over and over again. It keeps everybody interested. Everybody can touch the ball on offense. It makes everybody want to play harder, play faster and it’s motivational. He did a heck of a job calling it.”

Six days earlier, Canales watched the Bucs’ offense get neutralized by the Eagles in a 25-11 loss to the defending NFC champions. That wasn’t going to happen Sunday.

“It’s fun, for sure. To that point, the guys do enjoy that,” Canales said. “As long as they’re a part of the play, because again, that’s a lot of mileage if we’re not giving them an opportunity for the ball. But I think in a drive like that against a defense like [the Saints’], you know I wasn’t going to try to make it like this macho  mano-y-mano kind of thing. There are ways to do that and make them work.

“I think coming out of the first three games that maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough just to get first downs. So make yards while we’re learning the core of our system, while we’re trying to learn the fundamental blocking schemes that we’ve got to get good at.”

Not only did the Bucs average 5.3 yards per play Sunday, they did it by getting huge contributions from young receivers such as rookie Trey Palmer and second-year pro Deven Thompkins, who each caught a touchdown pass.

Evans was forced to leave the game late in the first half with a hamstring strain. Godwin played even bigger, catching eight passes for a season-high 114 yards.

But it was “the puppy pound,” as Bowles calls Thompkins, Palmer and Rakim Jarrett, that picked up the slack. They combined for seven catches, 54 yards and two scores.

Canales knows he can improve as a first-time play-caller, and the Bucs rank 19th in the NFL with 19 points per game.

“Just the run-game flow, just understanding what the defense’s plan is to take away some of our core runs and being able to make the transition to the run game better,” Canales said. “That’s I think my biggest growth curve. I’ve watched coordinators do really good with that. I was with Brian Schottenheimer, Shane Waldron, Darrell Bevell. I feel like that’s a place I haven’t really wrapped my brain around yet.”

But for one drive, the Saints didn’t know who — or what — hit them.

“We always talked about not being afraid to rotate those young guys in. We’re going to need them at some point,” Canales said. “They’re not playing perfect ball. There’s a lot they can clean up. There’s a lot of sloppy plays that happen but they played with a lot of juice, a lot of confidence and [Mayfield] feeds off that as well with a lot of those guys flying around.”

By Rick Stroud

Tampa Bay Times

On the first play of Sunday’s 26-9 win over the Saints, receiver Mike Evans beat Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore for an 18-yard reception.

But the most anticipated man-to-man matchup, the heated one with Lattimore that has resulted in Evans being suspended twice and fined more than $100,000, never materialized Sunday.

Evans left the game in the second quarter with a hamstring strain and never returned, finishing with three catches for 40 yards.

But that didn’t mean things got easier for Lattimore and the Saints defense.

Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield threw three touchdown passes, including one each to rookie Trey Palmer and second-year pro Deven Thompkins.

“Just taking advantage of our one-on-ones,” Mayfield said. “Just trusting our guys. I think you saw that in the game and obviously it was unfortunate to lose Mike during the game, but our young guys played well. I think you saw that firsthand.”

It was the second touchdown of the season for Palmer, the rookie from Nebraska who was taken in the sixth round. He had two TD receptions in the preseason.

Thompkins’ score — a 5-yard pass that put the game away with 3:44 remaining in the fourth quarter — was the first scoring reception of his career. He was second on the team Sunday with four catches for 45 yards, including a 26-yarder.

“That’s what we do,” Thompkins said. “Production doesn’t go down whenever our big two, like when Chris [Godwin] and Mike go out, we understand that we have to step up when it comes down to that. We’re ready in every single way.”

Thompkins’ TD, in which he fought to get in the end zone, was the result of Mayfield buying time in the pocket on a scramble drill.

“It was good,” Thompkins said. “You know, we worked the scramble drill. We always preach about keeping up the energy. So just keep running and then me and Baker locked eyes and he just went ahead and threw it.”

The Bucs also were fortunate that even with Evans out of the game, they could lean even more on Godwin. He led the Bucs with a season-high eight catches for 114 yards.

It was the 19th time Godwin went over 100 receiving yards in a game during his career, second only in club history to Evans, who has 34.

“To be honest, it doesn’t change my role too much,” Godwin said of Evans leaving the game. “I think more than anything else it provides opportunities for some of the young guys in the room and they did a phenomenal job of stepping up and making the plays that came their way. It was no surprise to us or anybody on the team. …

“[Thompkins] is one of the more explosive guys I’ve ever been around. Day in and day out, he does some things and I look at him like, ‘That’s just D.T. stuff.’ ”

By Kristie Ackert

Tampa Bay Times

ST. PETERSBURG — John Schneider hadn’t been to Tropicana Field in three months and was hours away from managing his Blue Jays in a heated American League East battle, but already he was grumbling about the Rays’ home stadium.

“That roof, the turf and the sticky handrails in the dugout,” Schneider said with a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, it’s great to be back here.”

No visiting player or manager is ever truly happy to be back at the Trop. It’s known across baseball as old, rundown, inconvenient, empty, dark, weird and, perhaps most importantly, a difficult place to win.

When MLB Network radio was going over the Rays’ postseason outlook a month ago, one of its hosts, Eduardo Perez, gave the Trop its props: “It’s so bad,” he said, “it’s good for the Rays.”

The Rangers, whom the Rays will host in the American League Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday night, won four of the six games between the teams this season but dropped two of the three at the Trop.

The Rays, who had a whole spring to get reacclimated to the Trop due to hurricane damage to their Port Charlotte site, opened the season a franchise best 30-6 at home this season. Only the legendary 1932 Yankees had a better start at home. The Rays finished the year 53-28 at the Trop.

“It’s just weird, right?” the Angels’ then-manager Phil Nevin said, waving his hands at the Trop roof. “I mean, it’s the only place in baseball with that kind of roof that changes its brightness based on the weather. It’s tilted … and it’s just different than any other place these guys play.”

Nevin said that when he brought a young Angels squad to the Trop in September, he had to address the big white dome looming over them.

“It was kind of like Gene Hackman in ‘Hoosiers’ when he took out the measuring tape before the big game,” Nevin said. “I had to remind them the infield is the same; the game is the same here. It just doesn’t feel like it.”

It starts with the roof (the only nonretractable dome in baseball), the catwalks and the speakers that hang down from them.

“It’s definitely different than a lot of places,” Mariners first baseman Mike Ford said. “It’s strange because it’s a roofed stadium, but if it’s a day game the roof is brighter, so it’s harder to see the ball when it’s in the air. Then the ball just ricochets off the catwalk and different things out there.

“I played here a lot when I was with the Yankees, and I always did well here, so I felt kind of comfortable here. When guys kind of haven’t played here a lot, it’s a little bit different.”

It’s not only the roof that makes the Trop tough on visiting players. It’s the field, too.

“I don’t want to piss on everything here, but it’s all the things that you have to deal with here,” said Red Sox infielder Justin Turner. “The roof is the worst, and the AstroTurf is the hardest in baseball.

“I think the hardest part is this AstroTurf is different than other domes, and it’s just hard. It puts a lot of wear and tear on your body. I think it’s especially tough on outfielders. It kills your knees and backs, and to run around on that turf, it can be brutal.”

It’s not just the physical characteristics of the Trop that visiting players dislike. It’s the atmosphere, too.

“It’s kind of hard to play here when there is no one in the stands, and then when they pack the place — like they did when I was with the Yankees — it’s really loud and weird too,” Nevin said. “The sound of this place is different than any other place these guys play. They just aren’t used to it.”

Blue Jays reliever Chad Green has plenty of experience playing in front of the bigger crowds at the Trop from his time with the Yankees. He acknowledged that the building presents some problems but said the biggest one is the team that it houses.

“I think that it has its challenges; it’s not ideal,” Green said. “But the biggest challenge is them. The Rays are a really, really good team. They are used to it, and they play well here.

“So, of course, teams don’t want to come in here. The Rays are just hard to play.”

On Sunday afternoon when Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields put on a throwing clinic, Denver needed a disruptor in the pass rush, and second-year outside linebacker Nik Bonitto stepped up to the challenge.

In the fourth quarter, with the Broncos on the brink of overcoming a 21-point deficit, Bonitto burst into the backfield. When Fields turned to his right, preparing to throw the ball, the Oklahoma product forced a fumble. Fellow outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper recovered the ball and scored a 35-yard touchdown to tie the game at 28 with 6:55 remaining.

In the Broncos’ 31-28 victory over the Bears, Bonitto’s strip sack was game-changing. According to Next Gen Stats, Denver’s win probability was 3.5% when it trailed 28-7 with 4:18 to go in the third quarter. The Broncos’ chances jumped to 37.2% after Bonitto’s big play.

“(Bonitto and Cooper) deserve a lot more credit than they’re going to get,” Broncos defensive tackle D.J. Jones said. “They’ll get it when it comes time for a paycheck. Love both of them.”

Bonitto’s forced fumble was one of the biggest plays of the game, but his overall performance created more value for himself. Bonitto, who earned his second career start, finished with four tackles (two for loss) and 2 ½ sacks in a season-high 48 defensive snaps.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton said he decided to start Bonitto over outside linebacker Randy Gregory because the team wanted to look at a different rotation.

“It’s somewhat deceiving,” Payton said. “The starting offense depends on what play we’re going to run. Defensively, we’re in a rotation. We’re trying to do what’s best for our team.”

Bonitto certainly took advantage of the opportunity. On the Bears’ first drive, they tried to execute a designed run with Fields, but Bonitto read it and tackled him for a 1-yard loss. On the following play, Bonitto sped past Chicago offensive lineman Nate Davis before wrapping up Fields for a sack.

Denver’s defense has struggled through four games. The secondary has been middling, while the Broncos have struggled to generate consistent pressure, ranking 24th in sacks (8) and last in quarterback pressures (15). Even though the Broncos held Chicago to seven points in the second half, they allowed 21 points in the first two quarters as Fields completed 15 straight passes.

Despite Denver’s struggles, Bonitto has shown flashes of his potential. This season, he has 13 tackles (six for loss), a team-best 3 ½ sacks and six quarterback pressures.

Broncos defensive end Zach Allen called Bonitto a big-time player with “all the athletic ability in the world.”

“I haven’t played with someone like that since (Eagles and former Cardinals outside linebacker) Haason Reddick. He’s still growing, and it’s exciting to see where he’ll be,” Allen said.

Gregory, who was signed as a free agent in 2022 to add another dimension to Denver’s pass rush, has yet to live up to his large contract. He has nine tackles and a sack, prompting Payton to try a different look Sunday. How the team’s outside linebacker rotation might change after Frank Clark (hip) and Baron Browning (knee) are fully healthy remains to be seen.

Either way, Bonitto has proven that he could develop into an impact player.

“(Bonitto is) getting more reps,” Payton said. “He’s got (to) continue to stay at the level of the quarterback, not behind the quarterback.”

Extra Points

• In addition to Bonitto getting the starting nod, Denver had cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian play more time in the nickel spot over Essang Bassey. McMillian played 43 defensive snaps, while Bassey was in for only seven.

• By leading Denver to a 21-point comeback win, quarterback Russell Wilson has 32 career fourth-quarter comebacks — postseason included — as he moved up to 10th in NFL history in that category. Wilson has nine touchdown passes through four games. Last season, the nine-time Pro Bowler didn’t reach that total until Week 14. He is currently ninth in passing yards (1,014) and has the third-best passer rating (106.7).

“He’s a lot like (former Saints quarterback) Drew (Brees) in this way,” Payton said. “They kind of see the game as a glass half full. At a time when you’re down 21 points, that momentum can swing very quickly. He was certainly feeling that confidence that, ‘Hey just get us the ball and here we go.’ I think that’s somewhat contagious.”

• Running back Jaleel McLaughlin’s 18-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter marked the third time in four games that the Broncos scored on their opening drive. Payton said the team puts together 12-15 plays for the opening drives based on the opponent.

“Yesterday, it was apparent right away (that) we were going to get a lot more Cover 2 (with two safeties deep),” Payton said. “We thought that might be the case with some of the injuries they’ve had. Then, it was just making enough plays. The screen pass on third down was a big play by Jaleel and Russ. It was well-blocked.”

• Denver’s offensive line had its fair share of discipline issues Sunday, committing five false starts. But when it came to pass protection, left tackle Garett Bolles was solid. He allowed no sacks or quarterback hits in 31 pass block snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.

“I thought our offensive line did a tremendous job,” Wilson said. “They didn’t blink the whole day.”

If one thing is clear for Magic star Paolo Banchero, the 6-10 forward has set high expectations for himself and Orlando entering his second season and the team’s 35th in franchise history.

He kept his answer short and sweet Monday when asked during Magic Media Day at the AdventHealth Training Center about what a successful season looks like for him in 2023-24.

“A successful season for Paolo Banchero looks like making the playoffs, being an all-star and winning the in-season tournament,” he told the Sentinel.

All three goals aren’t out of the question for Banchero and the Magic but they won’t come easy either. Orlando hasn’t reached the postseason since 2020.

Recent examples of second-year players to make the NBA All-Star game include Dallas guard Luka Doncic, New Orleans big man Zion Williamson and 76ers center Joel Embiid.

As for the in-season tournament that begins in November, the Magic see it as a great opportunity for high-level competition that comes earlier in the year compared to having to wait for the playoffs that open in April.

Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley shared what it will take for Banchero to take that next step and continue to grow his game.

“For any rookie since you now understand the game, you see the pace of the game, the things that you can be good at, what you need to do work on … He’s just going to continue to raise his level of efficiency,” Mosley told the Sentinel. “Whether that’s shooting or making quick decisions, all of those pieces are what he’s going to add to his game.”

Banchero agrees with his coach and said becoming more efficient starts with taking better shots, making quicker decisions and shooting more catch-and-shoot 3-point baskets.

“Last year being a rookie and feeling my way through the league, there were some nights where I took some bad shots and I could have gotten something better for sure,” he said. “I was able to go back and watch all of that stuff to see how I can improve.”

Of course, having a year under his belt will help make that progression more natural. Last season, Banchero led the team in scoring (20 points on average) and became the first Magic player to win Rookie of the Year since Mike Miller in 2001.

Banchero shared what he learned over the course of his first season in the league and why he believes the only direction is up for the Magic.

“I have the opportunity or the chance to be one of the best players in the league,” he said. “Obviously I’ve got to keep putting it together, keep getting better and keep working but [during] my rookie year, I felt like I came in and left my mark. It’s just going to continue.

“Every year is going to be better and this year is going to be a great year for me and the team.”

Email Jason Beede at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on X, known as Twitter, at @therealBeede.

Sean Payton already had that feeling as he discussed his first win as Broncos head coach Sunday afternoon that the good vibes wouldn’t last long.

“There will be some tough tape,” he said at one point.

“We’re going to face a lot better teams,” he said at another.

But he did allow a smirk as he encouraged his players to enjoy their first win of the 2023 season, for a few hours at least, before turning their attention to a circled-on-the-calendar Week 5 matchup.

“Then, we get ready to go next week and we can dive into the whole Jets fiasco stuff,” Payton said.

The fiasco, of course, stems from Payton’s explosive comments to USA Today during training camp. He called the 15-game tenure of former Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett — now the Jets’ offensive coordinator — ”maybe one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. That’s how bad it was.” He suggested the Jets leaned into the Aaron Rodgers hype machine this offseason and could well fall short of expectations. He questioned the way in which the Broncos front office, including general manager George Paton and other he now works with, handled Russell Wilson’s first year in Denver.

So on and so forth.

Then the next day he walked some of it back.

Now Week 5 is actually here. Hackett and the Jets are coming to town Sunday as a 1-3 team trying to find its way after Rodgers, who called Payton’s comments a signal of insecurity, tore his Achilles tendon four plays into his tenure in New York.

Payton wasn’t actually going to dive in Monday, though.

Asked if he had reached out to Hackett or Saleh since July, Payton only said that he addressed that, “the day after” during camp.

He didn’t, really. He expressed remorse for blasting Broncos brass and said Paton and the ownership group were among the reasons he wanted the Denver job in the first place. But regarding any offense taken in New York, Payton said that he’d reach out to Saleh, “at the right time.”

The Jets head coach, though, didn’t seem particularly interested in rehashing the whole order Monday, either.

“From a coach’s perspective, aside from the summer and whatever was said back in training camp, in a football life that’s like 20 years ago,” Saleh told reporters in New York. “So that’s a non-topic.”

What will be a topic, though, is Hackett’s return to Denver. After a 4-11 run as the Broncos’ head coach, Hackett linked up with Saleh and then was reunited with Rodgers, a close friend, before the league-rattling injury on opening night.

Now Hackett’s tasked with helping get 2021’s No. 2 overall pick, Zach Wilson, to a level of play where a stout defense and strong run game aren’t hampered by the game’s most important position.

“For Hackett, obviously it’s going to be a personal feel to go back (to Denver),” Saleh said. “But I think he understands just living it, (being a) coach’s kid and going through this process, he’ll know how to handle himself and he’ll know how to exactly keep his emotions in check and to make sure we do what’s best for this organization and this team as it stands now.

“I fully expect him to be totally fine and level-headed.”

It’s a game full of odd connections in a season full of them for the Broncos. Denver has one former head coach on staff in defensive coordinator Vance Joseph (2017-18). It faced another Week 3 in Miami in Vic Fangio (2019-21). Now it’s Hackett, the most recent.

Not only that, but Hackett was on the other sideline last year when Zach Wilson and the Jets came to town and won, 16-9, despite Wilson finishing 16-of-21 for 121 yards. It was the Broncos’ fourth straight loss and part of a stretch that saw them drop nine of 10.

Each team this year enters the matchup at 1-3 and in need of a win.

For his part, Payton expects a big challenge.

“They’ve obviously gone through an injury at quarterback,” he said. “They’re playing outstanding in the kicking game and on defense. Offensively (Sunday night vs. Kansas City), you saw a much better team in a big moment. They had some brutally tough calls down the stretch. This is a good football team. You can see it on tape. You can see it when you watch them play.

“That’s where our focus will be this week.”

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Omarion Miller barely got on the field in the first half Saturday.

His second half was sensational, however, and on Monday he was named the Pac-12 freshman of the week.

In Colorado’s 48-41 loss to USC, Miller had a breakout game with seven catches for 196 yards and a touchdown.

Miller’s first catch of the game – and of his career – didn’t come until 7 minutes, 14 seconds to play in the third quarter, when he caught a short hitch and went 65 yards.

His emergence helped CU rally from a 41-14 deficit to have a shot to win in the final minutes.

According to the Pac-12, Miller’s 196 yards are the most for any Pac-12 player since 1996 for the same game in which he had his first career catch.

Miller also set a CU freshman record for receiving yards in a game and his total was the eighth-best in program history for any player.

After the game, NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin gave Miller some words of encouragement.

“It meant a lot,” Miller said. “Coming from Michael Irvin, that kind of pumped me up a little bit. That message just telling me to just keep working. I got so much to prove. This is just one game. Y’all ain’t seen nothing yet really. So just telling me to keep working, keep doing what I do best.”

Miller is the second Buff to win the Pac-12 freshman of the week honor this year, joining Dylan Edwards in Week 1.

Other Pac-12 winners on Monday were: USC quarterback Caleb Williams (offense), Oregon State’s Easton Mascarenas-Arnold (defense), California’s Lachlan Wilson (special teams), Oregon State’s Tanner Miller (offensive line) and Utah’s Jonah Elliss (defensive line).

Ralphie update

Several CU fans have wondered what’s going on with the Buffs’ live mascot, Ralphie VI this season.

Typically, Ralphie will take off from the northeast end zone and run to about the 30-yard line on the south end of the field before turning and heading back to her trailer on the northwest side of the field.

At the home opener on Sept. 9, Ralphie ran just past the south 40-yard line, making basically a complete run. But before the second game, Sept. 16, she began to turn around the north 35-yard line and never went past the north 40 before heading back to the trailer. On Saturday before the USC game, she had an even shorter run, turning at the north 30-yard line before going back to the trailer.

Also different from tradition is that the team is not running behind Ralphie as they take the field and instead coming out of the locker room after Ralphie is already back in her tailer.

BuffZone contacted CU for comment about Ralphie’s short runs and the team not running behind her. A CU spokesperson told Buffzone, “We’re not discussing either matter regarding Ralphie right now.”

Ralphie VI is in her third season as the Buffs’ mascot.

Notable

CU has had seven players record at least 100 receiving yards this season. That’s already the most for a CU team since 2018. … Colorado is tied for fifth nationally in turnover margin, at plus-7 (12 takeaways, five turnovers). … The Buffs are one of only seven teams nationally to be perfect in the red zone this year, going 17 of 17, with 12 touchdowns.

Nuggets ownership is monitoring the direction other NBA franchises are taking their local broadcast rights as regional sports networks struggle in the streaming era.

But four years into a standoff between Altitude TV and Comcast that has blacked out Nuggets and Avalanche games for a large portion of the Front Range, team president Josh Kroenke didn’t have any optimistic updates Monday. Instead, those games remain unavailable on Comcast and Dish Network even after the former settled a lawsuit last March filed by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.

“We’re looking at everything,” Kroenke said during the Nuggets’ media day. “I know (Utah owner) Ryan Smith with the Jazz very well. I know (Suns owner Mat Ishbia) down in Phoenix very well. They’ve done very interesting things there.

“Our model is slightly different here in Denver. But we’re looking at it all.”

In September, the Jazz unveiled their plan to return games to over-the-air broadcasts on local channel KJZZ, along with the introduction of a team-owned subscription service to stream games called Jazz+. The Suns are also shifting to over-the-air broadcasts on local television, eliminating the need for fans to hold onto cable subscriptions.

Ishbia and the Suns have even gone so far as to offer free television antennas to help fans watch their team’s games live.

“Trust me, as much as the fans are frustrated, no one is more frustrated than myself or my father on this matter,” Kroenke said. “And we’re trying to find a resolution, because we want to show the best teams in the leagues.”

Kroenke talks practice facility plans

A new practice facility for the Nuggets and Avalanche is part of the Kroenke family’s plans for the area surrounding Ball Arena, Josh Kroenke said.

“We have the land around the arena, and over at Elitch Gardens (amusement park),” Kroenke said. “We’re part of a master plan there to develop that out, and the first phase of that will include, most likely, an Avalanche and Nuggets facility. … But there’s a lot that goes into that. We’re working as fast as we can.”

He had no timeline estimate for the first phase.

The Kroenkes are behind multiple redevelopment projects adjacent to downtown Denver, including a 55-acre site currently occupied by parking lots for the arena formerly known as Pepsi Center. Last year, KSE, the parent company of Denver’s NBA and NHL teams, submitted a “large development review” document to the city of Denver, outlining plans to repurpose the 55-acre space.

Stan Kroenke is also involved in The River Mile, a neighborhood being planned for the current site of Elitch Gardens.

The Avs have used the two sheets of ice at South Suburban Family Sports Center in Centennial as their practice rink since 1998, making it one of the oldest training facilities in the NHL. The Nuggets have a practice court at Ball Arena but hold their annual training camp in San Diego.

Jokic on Brown to Indiana: “You need to go and take that deal”

Nikola Jokic, in his usual deadpan tenor, threatened to strip Bruce Brown of his rights to an NBA championship ring after the Nuggets’ sixth man signed with the Pacers this offseason.

Brown, who declined a $6.8 million player option with Denver, signed with Indiana for two years and $45 million, which was well beyond the Nuggets’ price range.

“You need to go and take that deal,” Jokic said before switching tones. “Of course, we are mad at him. We are not going to talk to him. Maybe we’re not going to give him the ring.”

Brown, as well as coach Michael Malone, teased after the NBA Finals that the backup point guard might return to Denver for one more season, but Brown’s value was higher than expected in free agency.

“Yeah, I didn’t have $20 million,” Malone said. “I will say this with all sincerity: I am happy for Bruce. Bruce helped us win a championship, and in doing so, Bruce got paid. That’s what this business is all about.

“We gave Bruce a platform. He showed, he proved and he got rewarded for it. There’s no bad feelings about that. I love Bruce Brown, and I’ll always be connected with Bruce, stay in touch with Bruce, because of everything he did for this city and this team. That’s pro sports. Players come, players go.”