Season 2, Episode 31- Parity's Prelude

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

Highlight: Minnesota Timberwolves
Lowlight: Boston Celtics
Random Stat: One of the final four teams will make history by winning the championship
Game of the Week: Minnesota Timberwolves @ Oklahoma City Thunder (Western Conference Finals, Game 1)

Also, listen to the perspective of our featured guest, Eric Vincent! (Follow him on X and Instagram @iamericvincent).

"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, May 19, 2025

Chapters

• 0:16 Introduction
• 1:00 Overview of the NBA this Week
• 4:35 Highlight
• 6:23 Lowlight
• 8:20 Eric Vincent Interview
• 22:18 Random Stat
• 24:05 Game of the Week
• 25:16 Conclusion

Transcript

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

Introduction: Hello everybody, and welcome to episode #66 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: A story that sent shockwaves in the NBA this season added a twist last week. The Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Draft lottery and now will most likely draft freshman Duke forward Cooper Flagg! The Mavericks had a 1.8% chance to grab the top pick, but they beat out Utah, Washington, and Charlotte, who each had a 14% chance. (If you think that’s crazy, the Dallas Wings, the Mavericks’ WNBA counterpart, also selected Paige Bueckers #1 overall last month). Even at this point in time, no one completely understands the Luka Dončić-Anthony Davis trade. Dončić was the franchise cornerstone in Dallas, and the reports of why he was traded were mind-boggling. Now, Flagg will pair with Davis and Kyrie Irving (the latter of whom won’t play at the beginning of next season due to a torn ACL). Fans on social media are claiming the lottery was rigged. They claimed that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told the Mavericks to trade Dončić to L.A. to put the Lakers back on the map, and he would give them Flagg. I don’t know about that, but wouldn’t that be something! The 2025 draft is June 25-26 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The Celtics took a major hit last week, as superstar Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles. In Game 4 against the New York Knicks, Tatum was going for a loose ball when he fell to the ground and was rolling around in extreme pain. As he was helped off the court, he couldn’t even put pressure on his leg, and he was eventually placed in a wheelchair. Tatum would have surgery on Tuesday, but now the recovery begins. The timeline to recover from a ruptured Achilles is 9-12 months, so Tatum is expected to miss most, if not all, of the 2025-26 season. What a blow to Boston’s immediate future.

Lastly, it was announced on Tuesday that the Portland Trail Blazers are up for sale. The estate of late owner Paul Allen has started the process to find a successor. Nike co-founder Phil Knight said he’s not interested in purchasing the team, despite Nike’s headquarters being in Beaverton, Ore. (less than 10 miles from Portland). Knight apparently had interest to buy the Blazers back in 2022, but Allen’s sister, Jody, rebuffed the offer. Paul, who died in 2018 from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, is the co-founder of Microsoft. Jody is the current chair of the Blazers, the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, and she’s the trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust. During Paul’s lifetime, he also had a stake in the MLS’ Seattle Sounders. The Boston Celtics were sold for $6.1 billion in March. A CNBC report said the Blazers are valued at about $3.65 billion.

We have reached the end of the Conference Semifinals, and there are more eliminations.

Second round Eastern Conference eliminations: Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics

Second round Western Conference eliminations: Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets 

This episode is entitled "Parity's Prelude."

So, who’s raising eyebrows at the moment?

Highlight: With the older stars of the NBA not having guaranteed Finals runs anymore, the younger stars are taking over. The Minnesota Timberwolves are in their second consecutive Western Conference Finals after beating the Golden State Warriors in five. This is the first time the Timberwolves have had back-to-back trips to the Conference Finals in franchise history (then again, their all-time postseason history…woof). Along with Indiana, Minnesota has been steamrolling their opponents so far in just five games each. Getting past LeBron James and Luka Dončić was an eye-opener. Some fans might say Minnesota getting past a Golden State team who was missing Steph Curry for all but 13 minutes of that series was “fraudulent.” What are they supposed to do, though? Lose and be ridiculed? Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle, the latter of whom was acquired last offseason in the Karl-Anthony Towns deal, have been on fire. Edwards averaged 26.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.2 blocks in the Warriors series. Randle posted a 24-point triple-double in Game 3 and shot 72.2% in a closeout Game 5. Impressive. Now, the Timberwolves face the Oklahoma City Thunder to decide who will represent the West in the NBA Finals. Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals is tomorrow, Tuesday, May 20 at 8:30 p.m. in Oklahoma City.

Lowlight: Every team that’s eliminated in the playoffs has questions to address in the offseason. One team that might have more questions than answers: the Boston Celtics. No, I’m not kidding. The New York Knicks took out the Celtics in six games. Boston won the championship last season, so at least they got to raise Banner #18 back in October. In my playoff bracket, I had Boston repeating. Oops. As we said in the opener, the last straw was Jayson Tatum tearing his Achilles in Game 4. Before Tatum’s Achilles popped, he was dropping 25 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2.8 steals, and one block per game against the Knicks, including a 42-point performance in his final one. Even with Tatum’s performances, it wasn’t going to be enough. Boston couldn’t hold onto double-digit leads for the entire series. They were chucking triples that weren’t falling. Kristaps Porziņģis hasn’t been himself lately, and his inconsistency of being in and out of the lineup was frustrating. The Celtics said it’s some kind of “illness,” and he was benched during Game 5 because “he couldn’t breathe.” Boston has upcoming cap space issues, so this team might not look the same next year. As the Celtics look to navigate next season without Tatum, can Jaylen Brown be a top option on a contender?

Interview Segue: To get more insight into our “Lowlight” this week, we have our 16th guest on “Diehlman at Halftime” season two. Let’s get into it!

Eric Vincent Interview

Random Stat: With Boston continuing the trend of champions proceeding to bow out in the Conference Semifinals the following year, one thing is now confirmed: One of the four remaining teams will make history by winning the title next month. Obviously, we’ll have a new champion (as opposed to back-to-back) for the seventh year in a row. But this year could be special. There’s a 75% chance that we’ll see a team win their first title in franchise history! The Timberwolves have never been to the Finals. The Pacers lost their only Finals in 2000. The Knicks haven’t won it all since 1973, and they haven’t been in the Finals since 1999. And the Thunder, despite having a 1979 title from their Seattle SuperSonics days, have never won in Oklahoma City. (They came up short against Miami in 2012). The Timberwolves and Pacers are in the Conference Finals for the second consecutive year, losing to Dallas and Boston last season, respectively. Minnesota’s playoff history has been ridiculously bad since their inception in 1989. In every year they’ve made the playoffs, it’s either been a first-round loss or a loss in the Conference Finals, with no in-between. New York hasn’t been to the Conference Finals since 2000. The Thunder haven’t been there since 2016. They infamously blew a 3-1 lead, and Kevin Durant proceeded to sign with the 73-9 Golden State Warriors. There will be plenty of storylines in the coming weeks, and we’re ready for them.

Game of the Week: For this week’s “Game of the Week,” we’re going to do Minnesota Timberwolves @ Oklahoma City Thunder. This game is tomorrow, Tuesday, May 20 at 8:30 p.m., and it’s Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. We already mentioned how the Timberwolves are coming off series wins vs. the Lakers and Warriors. The Thunder sent the Memphis Grizzlies packing in four games in the first round, and they defeated the Denver Nuggets in a thrilling seven-game matchup in the Conference Semifinals. This series could honestly be a toss-up. Oklahoma City has the depth, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has shown why he should be MVP. But, Minnesota has been on a roll. Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle will battle it out against Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams. Two of the NBA’s top coaches will be on display too: Mark Daigneault for the Thunder, and Chris Finch for the Timberwolves. I’m siding with the Thunder to set the tone in Game 1, 120-107.

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