Season 2, Episode 18- As the Stars Align in Golden State

In this week's special edition episode of "Diehlman at Halftime," I discuss the NBA's All-Star Weekend, including the Dunk Contest, Three-Point Contest, and the big game itself.

"Shooters Gonna Shoot": Three-Point Contest
"Throwdown Showdown": Dunk Contest
"The Main Course": The All-Star Game

Also, listen to the perspective of our featured guest, Ky Carlin! (Follow him on X and Instagram @ky_carlin).

"Aurora" interlude music written by Jeff Kaale
https://uppbeat.io/t/jeff-kaale/aurora
License code: HJ6W88QKKUB00FNS

Intro/outro written by Larry Diehlman

Release date: Monday, Feb. 17, 2025

Chapters

• 0:15 Introduction
• 0:57 Overview of the NBA this Week
• 3:12 Shooters Gonna Shoot
• 5:01 Throwdown Showdown
• 6:59 The Main Course
• 9:20 Ky Carlin Interview
• 25:53 Conclusion

Transcript

**NOTE: Full episode transcript is below except the interview**

Introduction: Hello everybody, and welcome to episode #53 of “Diehlman at Halftime,” the NBA podcast that tops all others! I’m your host, Larry Diehlman. If you’re joining us for the first time, welcome abroad. And if you’ve been a loyal listener, welcome back! We have much to get to today and not a lot of time to do it. We have a few sections that we'll get into, but they may not be the normal ones you're used to hearing.

Overview of the NBA this Week: A three-person arbitration panel sided with entrepreneur Marc Lore and MLB legend Alex Rodriguez last week in a sale dispute against current Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx owner Glen Taylor. Lore and Rodriguez are continuing their pursuit of majority ownership. The arbitrators determined Taylor, who agreed to sell to the two in 2021, violated the sales agreement terms when he backtracked by saying they missed a $600 million payment that would’ve secured an 80% majority control. Six-hundred million? Not that much, right? Lore and Rodriguez have added former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt as partners in funding. The ruling now leads to a vote between NBA owners to decide the franchise’s control. Twenty-three of 30 NBA owners must approve an ownership change.

Like we mentioned last week, Brandon Ingram is getting an extension. The Toronto Raptors’ new forward, who was acquired via trade, agreed to a three-year, $120 million deal last Tuesday. It includes a player option for the 2027-28 season. Ingram’s contract was set to expire over the summer. He’s making $36 million this season. With this new contract, the Kinston, N.C. native will make $40 million annually. Now, Ingram can focus on playing basketball instead of contract negotiations.

Last week was our trade deadline special edition episode. And now this week, we have another special edition. We’ll cover the All-Star Weekend. In this special edition of “Diehlman at Halftime,” we’ll look at the Dunk Contest, Three-Point Contest, and the All-Star Game itself. (Our normal “Highlight, Lowlight, Random Stat, and Game of the Week” will return next week).

This episode is entitled "As the Stars Align in Golden State."

So, who’s raising eyebrows at the moment?

Shooters Gonna Shoot: The Three-Point Contest is always a great showing of the NBA’s top sharpshooters. This year’s contestants were New York’s Jalen Brunson, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Cleveland’s Darius Garland, Miami’s Tyler Herro, Golden State’s own Buddy Hield, Brooklyn’s Cam Johnson, Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard (the two-time defending champion), and the L.A. Clippers’ Norman Powell. The first-round eliminations were Johnson, Powell, Cunningham, Brunson, and Lillard. Hield had 31 in the first round. That tied teammate Steph Curry’s record for the most points in a single Three-Point Contest round! Hield, Herro, and Garland remained to compete in the final round. Herro began with 24 points to set the bar for Garland and Hield. Garland came up short with 19 points. It all came down to Hield. After a slow start, Hield got in a rhythm. He had 15 points heading into his “money rack,” which means all five balls on the rack were worth two points instead of one. In order to beat Herro, Hield needed to cash in all five money balls (for 25 points). He hit all of them… except the fourth one. With a narrow one-point victory, Herro took home the crown. Herro is also the Miami Heat’s fifth Three-Point champion, which breaks a tie with the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls for the most Three-Point Contest champions by franchise. Herro definitely “heated” things up in San Francisco.

Throwdown Showdown: He did it. Unlike the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, Mac McClung won the Dunk Contest for the third year in a row. He’s now tied with Nate Robinson for the most Dunk Contest wins ever, but he’s the only person to do it three consecutive times. This year’s Dunk Contest participants were McClung of the NBA G League’s Osceola Magic, San Antonio’s Stephon Castle, Milwaukee’s Andre Jackson Jr., and Chicago’s Matas Buzelis. Baron Davis, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Richardson (a former back-to-back Dunk Contest winner) were the judges. While everyone had decent attempts to start, McClung did a reverse slam over a car to open his night. Yeah. As Kenny Smith once observed, “Let’s go home, ladies and gentlemen!” Jackson Jr. and Buzelis were eliminated in the first round. Jackson Jr.’s two attempts looked kind of similar. Buzelis underwhelmed. McClung, who finished with two 50s in the first round, and Castle, would battle it out for the title and bragging rights. In the final, Castle caught a lob and put it through his legs for a slam. His last dunk was a 360 as he passed the ball behind his back. McClung’s second-to-last dunk was throwing two balls in the hoop, while one of the balls was from a person spinning on a hoverboard. He finished with touching the ball on the rim and throwing it down while jumping over 6’11” Evan Mobley on a platform. McClung finished with four 50s... four perfect scores! Castle had a great night as well. Now, should we just pencil in McClung for the four-peat?

The Main Course: This year’s All-Star Game was the first of its kind, as they played a tournament style instead of one full-length game. Three members of the NBA on TNT crew, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny “The Jet” Smith, and Charles Barkley, were “general managers” of their teams. WNBA legend Candace Parker was the fourth. The two semifinal games were Kenny’s Young Stars vs. Chuck’s Global Stars and Shaq’s OGs vs. Candace’s Rising Stars. The goal of these games, including the final round, was to hit or surpass 40 points. There was no clock. Chuck defeated Kenny 41-32. Shaq defeated Candace 42-35. In the end, Shaq took down Chuck 41-25. It’s funny because Shaq always makes fun of Chuck that he has more rings (four for Shaq compared to none for Chuck). Now, Shaq can add one more “win” over Chuck. Golden State’s own Steph Curry was named the NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player. The main issue fans have had with the All-Star Game recently is the players’ lack of defense and effort. No matter what you think of this tournament format, at least we saw a little bit of both this year. Defense was more noticeable in the first two games than at the end of the Shaq-Chuck game. However, it was there. This time around, fans had problems with there being more “show” and commercials than actual basketball. And heck, even the players didn’t like it! And someone please take Kevin Hart’s microphone away!

Interview Segue: To get more insight into our All-Star Weekend analysis, and to look at the second half of the season this week, we have our seventh guest on “Diehlman at Halftime” season two. Let’s get into it!

Ky Carlin Interview

Conclusion: Well, that’s all the time we have for today. If you haven’t already, make sure to follow me on social media. I have two X (or Twitter) accounts and two Instagram accounts. The podcast accounts are under @Diehlman_NBA for both X and Instagram. My personal X account is @LarryDiehlman18, and my personal Instagram is @mr_sports18. They’re also in the description on Buzzsprout, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And thank you to Ky Carlin for being our guest this week on the podcast. Remember, you can follow him on X and Instagram @ky_carlin. And don’t forget to spread the word about “Diehlman at Halftime!” Just a reminder as we said earlier, next week, we will go back to our normal programming of "Highlight, Lowlight, Random Stat, and Game of the Week."  See you next time, fellow hoops fans!