Season 2, Episode 21- Shangri-La

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

Highlight: Detroit Pistons
Lowlight: Brooklyn Nets
Random Stat: The legend of "Ramadan Kyrie"
Game of the Week: New York Knicks @ Golden State Warriors

"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 10, 2025

Chapters

• 0:16 Introduction
• 1:01 Overview of the NBA this Week
• 3:47 Highlight
• 5:25 Lowlight
• 6:57 Random Stat
• 8:36 Game of the Week
• 10:15 Conclusion

Transcript

Introduction: Hello everybody, and welcome to episode #56 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: The Dallas Mavericks are having an all-time bad year this season. Star guard Kyrie Irving tore his ACL on March 3 against Sacramento and will be out for the season. The injury report in Dallas is piling up: Irving, Anthony Davis, Olivier Maxence-Prosper, Jaden Hardy, Dereck Lively, P.J. Washington, Kai Jones, Brandon Williams, and Daniel Gafford. Oh, and don’t forget the Luka Dončić trade (he wasn’t injured, just traded). So it’s not like Dončić could take over the load with Irving out. I think we can go ahead and say that the Mavericks’ season is officially over. With 17 games left in their regular season, they’ll probably flame out in the play-in tournament or miss it entirely. What a shame.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: LeBron James broke another record. The L.A. Lakers superstar surpassed 50,000 points for his career (regular season and playoffs). He’s the all-time leader in points scored in the regular season and playoffs separately, and now he stands alone at the top of the combined list. Last Tuesday, James needed one point against the New Orleans Pelicans to hit the milestone. He had 34 that night. James is still averaging 25 points per game at 40 years old, by the way! I think it’s safe to say that no one is catching James in points anytime soon…or ever.

Finally, Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokić did something on Friday that no one in NBA history has ever accomplished. He had a 30-20-20 game. “The Joker” had 31 points, 21 rebounds, and a career-high 22 assists against the Phoenix Suns in overtime. As a reminder, a center had 22 assists, and that’s actually an NBA record for most assists in a single game by a center! Jokić is now the third player in league history to have at least 20-20-20 in a single game. Teammate Russell Westbrook had 20-20-21 in 2019 while with Oklahoma City. And Wilt Chamberlain had 22-25-21 in 1968 with Philadelphia. Yes, 1968. Jokić is one of the best NBA players ever, and all he cares about are his horses in Serbia. Crazy.

This episode is entitled "Shangri-La."

So, who’s raising eyebrows at the moment?

Highlight: Unlike the team that we’ll discuss next in the “Lowlight,” the Detroit Pistons are actually making strides toward the future. The Pistons are 36-29 and sixth in the Eastern Conference. Currently, Detroit is 5.5 games above Atlanta for the top spot in the play-in tournament. Potentially going from the worst team in the league to avoiding the play-in tournament is impressive. They tied the NBA record for longest losing streak in NBA history last year, and now they nearly have triple the amount of wins from 2023-24 (14). Cade Cunningham, who was a first-time All-Star this season, is averaging a career-high 25.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and a career-high 9.2 assists per game. Ausar Thompson is putting up 1.8 steals per night. Jalen Duren is a double-double threat in the paint. Detroit even has shooters like Malik Beasley and Dennis Schröder. Overall, J.B. Bickerstaff has a good core of young talent on his hands. Assuming they stay put at sixth, their most-likely playoff opponents could be New York, Milwaukee, or Indiana. The Pistons’ inexperience might not be in their favor come April, but I wouldn’t mind being wrong. Their next game is tomorrow, Tuesday, March 11 at 7 p.m. They will host the Washington Wizards.

Lowlight: The Brooklyn Nets were our first “Lowlight” of the season, and they haven’t disappointed in that regard up to this point. Brooklyn is 21-42, 12th in the East, and sporting a seven-game losing streak. The Nets are definitely in the “Capture the Flagg” sweepstakes, which references Duke forward and potential 2025 first-overall pick Cooper Flagg. That is, unless Flagg remains a Blue Devil for another year (there have been some rumblings, but nothing definitive). In the meantime, Cam Thomas has been a scoring threat for Brooklyn this season, averaging 23.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. D’Angelo Russell made his return to the Nets back in December via trade. He previously played for them from 2017-19. The Nets have had some roster turnover this season. Dennis Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith were shipped off in separate trades. Ben Simmons was finally handed a one-way ticket out of New York. Brooklyn is under the direction of rookie head coach Jordi Fernández. As of now, the Nets have some pieces for the future, like Cam Johnson and Nic Claxton. But, they aren’t going to see a postseason berth any time soon. Their next game is tonight, Monday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m. They will host the L.A. Lakers.

Random Stat: Although we spoke on Kyrie Irving’s injury earlier in the episode, we’re going to talk about him now for a different reason: the legend of “Ramadan Kyrie.” For those of you that don’t know, Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It’s believed that it was the month the Holy Qur’an was revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Part of this observance for Muslims includes strict fasting from dawn to sunset. No food and water. During last year’s Ramadan, which was from March 10 to April 9, Irving was averaging 26.1 points, five rebounds, and 5.7 assists on nearly 51% shooting. The Mavericks had a 13-2 record at the time, and Irving even hit a left-handed buzzer-beating hook shot against Denver. His best performance was on April 7, where he scored 48 points on 60% shooting in a 147-136 overtime win vs. Houston. Irving scored 48 points and played 45 minutes without water or Gatorade! We unfortunately won’t get to see another addition of “Ramadan Kyrie” this season due to his ACL tear. Although, he did have 31 points against Milwaukee on March 1, which was the first Mavericks game during this year’s Ramadan. Hopefully next year, Irving will light up the court with more dazzling Ramadan performances.

Game of the Week: Before we get into this week's "Game of the Week," let me go back to last week's for a second because I almost got it on the money. So last week's "Game of the Week" was Pistons-Clippers. My prediction was Pistons 122-115. The actual result was Clippers 123-115. Man, I'm going to get it one of these days. Don't you worry. I had one back near New Year's [where] I was off two points. I got the team; I was off two points. Anyway. For this week’s “Game of the Week,” we’re going to pick New York Knicks @ Golden State Warriors. This game will be on Saturday, March 15 at 8:30 p.m. The Knicks will be without Jalen Brunson for two weeks due to an ankle sprain. But, I think this could be a good primetime game. San Francisco will be the last stop on New York’s five-game West Coast trip. Interestingly enough, what was the Knicks’ last home game before this trip? A 114-102 loss to Golden State on March 4. Players like Karl-Anthony Towns, O.G. Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges will have to take on larger scoring loads. Meanwhile, the Warriors have been cruising since acquiring Jimmy Butler from Miami. This game will be the fourth in a generous seven-game home stand. In his last five games, Steph Curry has averaged 30 points and eight assists per game. However, I’ll take the Knicks 117-110.

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!