Season 2, Episode 20- Resurrection

In this week's episode of "Diehlman at Halftime," I discuss:

Highlight: Memphis Grizzlies
Lowlight: Dallas Mavericks
Random Stat: Luke Kennard's league-leading three-point percentage not in top 50 all-time
Game of the Week: Detroit Pistons @ L.A. Clippers

"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, March 3, 2025

Chapters

• 0:16 Introduction
• 1:01 Overview of the NBA this Week
• 3:59 Highlight
• 5:35 Lowlight
• 7:18 Random Stat
• 9:18 Game of the Week
• 10:29 Conclusion

Transcript

Introduction: Hello everybody, and welcome to episode #55 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 five sections that we’ll get into: a general overview of the NBA this week, and our usual “Highlight, Lowlight, Random Stat, and Game of the Week.”

Overview of the NBA this Week: For the first time since his stroke in November, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, also known as “Pop,” saw his team in-person on Thursday. He held an emotional meeting and told them that he won’t be returning to coach this season. Remember, we said last week that Victor Wembanyama is out for the year with deep vein thrombosis. So now San Antonio is down their superstar and their legendary head coach. The Spurs have been under the direction of interim head coach Mitch Johnson since Popovich’s health scare. His future in the NBA is already uncertain, given his health and age of 76. Despite signing a five-year extension in 2023, it might be time for Popovich to either transition into the front office or just retire. Coaching is a stressful job, and this could be a sign to walk away.

A major development was announced on Friday. Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid will be sidelined for the rest of the season with a knee issue. The 76ers are looking for solutions to help their star’s knee, which hasn’t responded well to treatment lately. The team has consulted dozens of doctors to find answers. Fans have been frustrated all year because this was supposed to be a strong campaign with Paul George being signed in free agency. Perhaps playing in the Olympics, despite Team USA winning gold, wasn’t a great idea. Sitting Embiid now is an interesting choice because of the 76ers’ top-six protected pick. If the 76ers land between #1-6 in the upcoming draft lottery, they keep their pick. Otherwise, Oklahoma City gets it. In just 19 games this season, Embiid averaged 23.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.

Finally, Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler is facing a lawsuit for failure to pay $260,000 in rent and for over $127,000 in damages to his home he leased while with Miami. The house is valued at about $10 million. The lawsuit alleges that Butler changed the locks and refused to hand over the key to the property owner (which prevented maintenance workers from entering the home). Additionally, Butler supposedly failed to maintain the pool and air conditioning, the latter of which led to extensive mold damage. The plaintiff is seeking payment of $257,282 and the right to keep Butler’s $130,000 security deposit.

This episode is entitled "Resurrection."

So, who’s raising eyebrows at the moment?

Highlight: It’s always good to see a team bounce back from hardships (like injuries) and compete. The Memphis Grizzlies are 38-22 and fourth in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies had a rough year last year with injuries, resulting in a 27-55 record and finishing 13th in the conference. Now, we’re seeing what a healthy team is capable of. Ja Morant is the leader of the team, averaging 20.9 points, 7.4 assists, and 1.2 steals per night. Jaren Jackson Jr. is good for about 23 points per game, but his defense of 1.3 steals and 1.7 blocks makes him lethal down low. Jackson Jr. also dropped 42 points on the Spurs on Saturday in a 130-128 loss! Yes, a loss. Rookies Jaylen Wells and Zach Edey are giving Memphis solid minutes, starting most of the games they’ve played this season. As of now, the Grizzlies are sandwiched in the standings between Houston and Denver. No one is catching the Thunder any time soon, but Memphis could climb as high as #2 if they string some wins together. The Grizzlies have the highest-scoring offense in the NBA. They should be able to figure things out. Their next game is tonight, Monday, March 3 at 8 p.m. They will host the Atlanta Hawks.

Lowlight: What a time to be a Dallas Mavericks fan. The Mavericks are 32-29 and 10th in the West. Coming off an NBA Finals appearance, if someone told them that they would be trading their franchise, Luka Dončić, midway through the following season, they’d call you crazy. Everyone would call you crazy. But, here we are. With Dončić gone, Kyrie Irving is the guy in Dallas. Irving averages 25 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. He also hovers around 50-40-90 shooting. Anthony Davis, who is still a defensive double-double machine, was the centerpiece of the Dončić deal. However, he got injured in his first game in blue and white. Dallas’ frontcourt is quite thin with P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, and Dereck Lively out injured. One positive from the trade aftermath has been Max Christie, who’s increased his points per game 55.3% (8.5 to 13.2 going from L.A. to Dallas). Nonetheless, the Mavericks have a short window to compete for a championship with this core. Mavericks fans already want general manager Nico Harrison’s head on a platter. If they can’t at least get back to the Finals with Davis, their franchise could be set back years. Their next game is tonight, Monday, March 3 at 8:30 p.m. They will host the Sacramento Kings.

Random Stat: In what seems like a short amount of time, NBA teams went from shooting threes occasionally to shooting about 40 triples a night today. Memphis Grizzlies guard Luke Kennard is leading the league in three-point percentage at 46%. On the all-time single-season list, that doesn’t even crack the top 50! The top five in single-season three-point percentage are Kyle Korver (53.6%), Steve Kerr (52.4%), Tim Legler (52.2%), Jon Sundvold (52.2%), and Kerr again (51.5%). In total, there were eight instances of a player shooting 50% or higher from downtown for a whole season. Kerr made the top eight three times! Even Kennard barely missed the cut at #9, when he shot 49.4% in 2022-23. One can make the argument that today's players, despite shooting more triples, aren’t making them at higher clips. For example, the most recent player on that top eight I mentioned was Korver... in 2009-10. After Kennard in 2022-23, the next most recent player is Joe Harris at #28 in 2020-21 (47.5%). Even a star like Jayson Tatum is taking 10.1 triples per game this season. He’s only hitting 35.2%! So, there’s two questions that emerge from this. One, are more threes better? Two, should we do a study on if players whose last name starts with “K” are known to shoot better?

Game of the Week: For this week’s “Game of the Week,” let’s go with Detroit Pistons @ L.A. Clippers. This game is on Wednesday, March 5 at 10:30 p.m. The Pistons have arguably been the league’s best feel-good story this season, as they looked like a G-League team in 2023-24. Now, they’re in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race led by Cade Cunningham. Meanwhile, James Harden’s Clippers are trying to stay above the Western Conference play-in tournament seeds. With the way Paul George has been playing in Philadelphia, it seems like L.A. made the right choice to let him go in free agency. Kawhi Leonard, even though he’s nearing his mid-30s, is still one of the Clippers’ best defensive options. Both teams have interesting rosters surrounding their stars, especially Detroit. With Cunningham and Harden averaging nine assists per game between the two of them, we’ll see plenty of scoring and playmaking. I’ll side with the Pistons 122-115.

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 don’t forget to spread the word about “Diehlman at Halftime!” See you next time, fellow hoops fans!