Season 2, Episode 28- From the Victor's Perspective

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

Highlight: Cleveland Cavaliers
Lowlight: Milwaukee Bucks
Random Stat: Memphis Grizzlies tied the record for the second-largest blown lead in NBA playoff history
Game of the Week: L.A. Clippers @ Denver Nuggets

Also, listen to the perspective of our featured guest, Noah Levick! (Follow him on X and Instagram @noahlevick).

"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, April 28, 2025

Chapters

• 0:15 Introduction
• 0:59 Overview of the NBA this Week
• 3:32 Highlight
• 5:02 Lowlight
• 6:55 Noah Levick Interview
• 20:03 Random Stat
• 21:39 Game of the Week
• 22:50 Conclusion

Transcript

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

Introduction: Hello everybody, and welcome to episode #63 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: Don’t you just love when refs interfere with the outcomes of games (or at least you think so in your biased opinion)? Game 4 of Pistons-Knicks on Sunday was a great example. New York was up by one point in the final seconds. Josh Hart clearly fouled Detroit’s Tim Hardaway Jr. on a three-point shot, but the refs kept their whistles silent. The Knicks won 94-93 to take a 3-1 series lead heading back to Madison Square Garden. Crew chief David Guthrie later admitted that a foul should have been called. This would’ve given Hardaway Jr. three free throws to potentially win the game and tie the series 2-2. Guthrie called Hart’s contact with Hardaway Jr. “more than marginal.” Go watch the replay if you haven’t. Hart was smothering Hardaway Jr. These are calls that affect the playoffs. I’m not saying every call is going to be perfect, but the Pistons maybe being tied instead of down 3-1 is huge. We’ll see if Detroit can rally back from this missed call or if their season is all but over.

Some of the NBA awards have begun to drop. Cleveland Cavaliers center Evan Mobley was announced as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard took home Sixth Man of the Year. Mobley is the first player in Cavaliers history to claim the honor. He beat Dyson Daniels of Atlanta and Draymond Green of Golden State for the award, taking 35 first-place votes. Cleveland has a small dilemma because of Mobley’s contract. One of the incentives of his rookie contract extension signed last year included a $45 million increase if he won Defensive Player of the Year. His rookie extension, across the next five years, now goes from $224 million to $269 million. Meanwhile, Pritchard has had a career year off Boston’s bench, averaging 14.3 points on 47.2% shooting in 28.4 minutes per game. Beating Malik Beasley of Detroit and Ty Jerome from Cleveland, Pritchard earned a whopping 82 first-place votes. The Cavaliers and Celtics are the top two seeds in the East, respectively.

This episode is entitled "From the Victor's Perspective."

So, who’s raising eyebrows at the moment?

Highlight: Cruising through a playoff series is always a nice feeling, especially if you’re the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers are up 3-0 in their first round series against the Miami Heat. Having home court advantage is a great benefit of being a top seed, but don’t forget about the fact that you face weaker opponents early on. Cleveland has run away from the rest of the league all year, and it’s translating well in late April. Star guard Donovan Mitchell has averaged 24.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 steals so far this postseason. Evan Mobley, the newly-crowned Defensive Player of the Year, mans the paint with 16 points and 6.3 rebounds per game this series. Heck, Ty Jerome, who was a Sixth Man of the Year runner-up, had 13 points and 11 assists in 22 minutes in Game 3! Two of the three Cleveland-Miami games have been blowouts of at least 20 points, and Cleveland has dropped at least 121 points in every contest. Still recovering from the Jimmy Butler deal, Miami just doesn’t seem to have any firepower to match Cleveland. See you in the Conference Semifinals, Cavaliers! Their next game is tonight, Monday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Miami, as they aim to finish off the Heat.

Lowlight: There are two kinds of teams in the NBA postseason: teams attempting to assert dominance, and teams looking to not fall short of expectations. The Milwaukee Bucks are in the latter. The Bucks are down 3-1 in their series with the Indiana Pacers. Milwaukee fans may be experiencing déjà vu, considering that the Bucks lost to the Pacers in the first round last year. The series isn’t over yet, but someone needs to steer the ship instead of allowing it to crash into the iceberg. On Friday, superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo just won his first playoff game since 2022 (when healthy)! Reminder, it’s 2025. Then again, it doesn’t help when he’s averaging 33.8 points, 14.3 rebounds, and five assists per game in this series…and losing. Kyle Kuzma and Taurean Prince dropping goose eggs in Game 1, and Brook Lopez in Game 3, won’t help any team, let alone Milwaukee. As we mentioned last week, Damian Lillard amazingly returned to the court for Game 2 from deep vein thrombosis. He’s been struggling in his first games back. However, in Game 4, he suffered a torn Achilles. If Milwaukee loses in the first round for the third straight year, the offseason might get uncomfortable. Game 5 of this series will be tomorrow, Tuesday, April 29 at 6 p.m. back in Indiana. 

Interview Segue: To get more insight into our “Game of the Week” this week, we have our 14th guest on “Diehlman at Halftime” season two. Let’s get into it!

Noah Levick Interview

Random Stat: We’re not out of the first round yet, and someone’s already embarrassing themselves. On Thursday, the Memphis Grizzlies blew the second-largest lead in NBA playoff history! Well, tied for second. The Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) blew a 29-point advantage against the L.A. Lakers in 1989. Back to the present. At home in Game 3 against the Oklahoma City Thunder (hello again), Memphis led 69-40, a 29-point lead, in the second quarter. The Thunder won 114-108. A 74-39 turnaround. The biggest collapse was in 2019, when the L.A. Clippers beat the Warriors after Golden State conceded a 31-point lead. Remember, that game had a healthy Warriors team of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green! What didn’t help in the Grizzlies-Thunder game was the fact that Ja Morant went down with a hip injury and was later seen in crutches. The Grizzlies were up 27 at that point. After Memphis suffered two beatdowns in Games 1 and 2, it’s crazy that the Thunder were in this hole to begin with. One could argue this series might be 3-1 or even 2-2 instead of being over in a sweep if Morant hadn’t got hurt (or maybe not). However, this can be a good lesson in adversity for Oklahoma City as they go further in the playoffs.

Game of the Week: For this week’s “Game of the Week,” let’s do L.A. Clippers @ Denver Nuggets. This first-round Game 5 is tomorrow, Tuesday, April 29 at 10 p.m. The Clippers and Nuggets are tied 2-2, and this is arguably the best series of the first round. As the kids say these days, it’s “a movie.” With the exception of Game 3, each game has been decided by three or less points. L.A. had a chance to go up 3-1 going back to Denver, had it not been for Denver’s Aaron Gordon hitting a game-winning buzzer-beating put back dunk. He threw down a dunk after Nikola Jokić’s stepback three-pointer was off-target. Even in slow-motion replay, the game was so close to being sent to overtime. Either the Nuggets win and will have a chance to win the series on the road, or the Clippers take it and will look to close the series out at home. Jokić vs. Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. Fasten your seatbelts twice. Give me the Clippers 103-93.

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 Noah Levick for being our guest this week on the podcast. Remember, you can follow him on X and Instagram @noahlevick. And don’t forget to spread the word about “Diehlman at Halftime!” See you next time, fellow hoops fans!