Season 2, Episode 34- Thunder and Lightning

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

Highlight: Oklahoma City Thunder
Lowlight: Indiana Pacers
Random Stat: "Game of the Week" predictions review / Tyrese Haliburton has hit a game-winner or clutch shot in each playoff series

Also, listen to the perspective of our featured guest, Chris Smith! (Follow him on Instagram @chris_smith8).

"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, June 9, 2025

Chapters

• 0:15 Introduction
• 0:58 Overview of the NBA this Week
• 4:51 Highlight
• 6:27 Lowlight
• 7:58 Random Stat
• 11:45 Chris Smith Interview
• 30:53 Conclusion

Transcript

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

Introduction: Hello everybody, and welcome to episode #69 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 four sections that we’ll get into: a general overview of the NBA this week, and our usual “Highlight, Lowlight, and Random Stat.”

Overview of the NBA this Week: Woah, woah, woah, Larry. What happened to "Game of the Week?!" I said in the previous episode that since we’re down to the last matchup of the year, we’re done with "Game of the Week" for the rest of the season. "Game of the Week" gets a well-deserved break, and we’ll substitute it with other segments in the meantime.

Despite a successful season, the New York Knicks made a shocking move on Tuesday. Head coach Tom Thibodeau was relieved of his duties! Thibodeau is now the fifth NBA head coach to be fired this season, and his four predecessors were canned midseason: Mike Brown of the Sacramento Kings, Taylor Jenkins of the Memphis Grizzlies, Michael Malone of the Denver Nuggets, and Mike Budenholzer of the Phoenix Suns. The Knicks were eliminated in six games by the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals a little over a week ago. Acquiring Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns in the offseason was supposed to help the Knicks beat the mighty Celtics. They did, but Indiana avoided the same fate. Fans and media members always point out Thibodeau’s short bench rotations as his biggest weakness; although, he was breaking from tradition a little bit in the Pacers series. Thibodeau’s overall regular season record with New York was 226-174 (.565), and he was 24-23 (.511) in the playoffs. In his five seasons with the Knicks, they missed the playoffs once, lost in the first round once, made the Conference Semifinals twice, and, this season, New York appeared in the Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.

The Phoenix Suns made a hire on Wednesday. Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Jordan Ott will become the team’s new head coach. He and Johnnie Bryant, Cleveland’s associate head coach, were the final two candidates in the running. Ott was apparently the top choice for Suns superstar Devin Booker. Ott will look to stop an alarming trend for Phoenix, since he is the Suns’ fourth head coach in four seasons. Monty Williams was fired in 2023, Frank Vogel was canned last year, and Mike Budenholzer was shown the door in April. The 40-year-old Ott has been an NBA assistant since 2012. He was the Atlanta Hawks’ video coordinator from 2013-16, an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-22, a Lakers assistant from 2022-24, and an assistant for the Cavaliers last season.

Lastly, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, in a press conference before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, said the league will discuss expansion at next month’s board meeting, and there’s some optimism that it’ll be recommended to be formally explored. If that were to happen, he mentioned the next steps would involve researching markets, and economic and media opportunities. Expansion, Silver said, is not automatic, however. Seattle and Las Vegas are heavy favorites to be the cities for expansion, if the NBA favors it. In addition to U.S. expansion, the league is also in early stages of European talks. Silver said that it might be a couple of years before this is a reality, but the NBA is trying to add a new league in Europe. The NBA and FIBA are aiming for 16 teams. When asked about a potential launch date, he mentioned the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as “a good launching pad for an announcement around a new competition.” London, Manchester, Rome, and Munich are expected to have interest.

This episode is entitled "Thunder and Lightning."

So, who’s raising eyebrows at the moment?

Highlight: Erasing a tough loss with a strong bounce-back win is crucial in any playoff series, and this is no different for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder are tied 1-1 in the NBA Finals with the Indiana Pacers. Their Game 2 domination was a good sign, since they honestly should be up 2-0. Game 1 just slipped away at the wrong time. Blowing a 15-point fourth-quarter lead can set the tone for a series, but the Thunder didn’t let that collapse stick with them. Oklahoma City’s “Big 3” of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren were cooking in Game 2 on Sunday, with Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way with 34 points, eight assists, and four steals. Holmgren was aggressive, especially in the first half. He was nearly invisible in Game 1. The Thunder even saw 38 combined points from Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins off the bench! The biggest change to Oklahoma City’s Finals approach was head coach Mark Daigneault subbing in Cason Wallace into the starting lineup for Isaiah Hartenstein. Wallace’s gritty defense has been on display against the Pacers, with at least one steal and one block in each game. The series now shifts to Indiana for the next two contests. The Pacers are 6-2 at home this postseason. Let’s see if Oklahoma City can carry over their Game 2 momentum. Game 3 is on Wednesday, June 11 at 8:30 p.m.

Lowlight: Despite a tough loss on Sunday, the Indiana Pacers stole home court advantage on Thursday. And that’s all that matters. As we mentioned in the “Highlight,” the Thunder would’ve been up 2-0, had it not been for the “Cardiac Pacers” and another Tyrese Haliburton dagger in Game 1. Haliburton is averaging 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, six assists, one steal, and 1.5 blocks against the Thunder. An interesting stat so far in this series is that Indiana hasn’t had a 20-point scorer yet. Their team-high was 19 points from Pascal Siakam in Game 1. The Pacers’ main rotation has been consistent. Bennedict Mathurin has his moments of being an off-the-bench spark plug. Andrew Nembhard is a good ball handler, and head coach Rick Carlisle is putting him on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on defense (Nembhard and SGA grew up together in Canada). Aaron Nesmith has had at least two triples in four of his last five games. However, Haliburton needs to be aggressive with his scoring. Yes, Oklahoma City’s defense is stellar. Yes, I think it’s clear that he’s more or less a pass-first guard. But, if your team needs to slow down an opposing run, the stars need to channel their aggressiveness. At least one win in Indiana will go a long way in determining the eventual champion.

Random Stat: Instead of a “Random Stat” about a team or player, I’m going to turn the spotlight on myself (not in a narcissistic way). Like we did last year, we’re going to look at how I did with “Game of the Week” predictions. So we are doing some form of “Game of the Week!” In the last 33 episodes, there were 32 “Games of the Week” (special edition episodes had none, and we did five for our Christmas episode). Drum roll, please… based on who would win the games, I had 18 correct and 14 incorrect (.563). This is actually a decrease from Season 1, where it was a 22-11 correct/incorrect ratio. Man, I gotta lock in. What am I doing? The predicted margin of victory average for my 32 games was 6.8 points. The actual margin of victory average was 10.4. The 10.4 is slightly skewed, since some of my “Games of the Week” were blowouts. The highest predicted margin I made was 15. There were two games won by 26 points, and one by 41! I’m happy to say that there were two predictions that were nearly exact. In episode 11, on Dec. 30, I had Grizzlies over Suns 119-112. The final was Grizzlies 117-112. In episode 20, on March 3, we did Pistons-Clippers. I had Pistons 122-115. The actual was Clippers 123-115. No, I don’t have inside sources. No, I can’t predict the future. Maybe we can get one exactly right next year.

Oh, you thought we were done? No, no, no. “Random Stat” is in two acts this week, in lieu of “Game of the Week!” Tyrese Haliburton has been on a heater this postseason, and it’s continued against Oklahoma City. Haliburton has hit a game-winner (or just a clutch shot) in every playoff series. Against Milwaukee in the first round, he eliminated the Bucks in Game 5 with a driving layup with 1.3 seconds left. In Cleveland in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Haliburton hit a step-back triple with 1.1 seconds. For Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at New York, he forced overtime with a step-back jumper (he thought it was a three-point buzzer-beater, but his foot was on the line. That’s why I said game-winner or just a clutch shot). And against Oklahoma City in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, he made a pull-up jumper with 0.3 seconds. How could these get any cooler? First, the Thunder game-winner was the latest game-winning shot in a Finals game since Michael Jordan’s buzzer-beater vs. the Utah Jazz in Game 1 of the 1997 Finals. Second, Indiana was trailing in every one of those scenarios. Third, each of Haliburton’s shots except the Milwaukee one was on the road. Haliburton has been breaking hearts in arenas not named Gainbridge Fieldhouse (the Pacers’ home arena). As we transition to Games 3 and 4 in Indiana this week, I don’t know what we can expect. Just know that the game isn’t over until the final buzzer.

Interview Segue: To get more insight into our “Finals Preview” this week, we have our 19th guest on “Diehlman at Halftime” season two. Let’s get into it!

Chris Smith 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 Chris Smith for being our guest this week on the podcast. Remember, you can follow him on Instagram @chris_smith8. Just a reminder like I mentioned last week. If the series goes to five games, (I said four or five last week, but with it being 1-1, the series is not going to be a sweep now), if the Finals goes to five games, then next week will be our season finale. If the series goes past five games, there will be two more episodes after today. Now let's say for example one of the teams is up 3-1 after four games. Game 5 is next Monday, the 16th. If it looks like a team's going to win in Game 5, then there might be a possibility that next week's episode will be on Tuesday, June 17. So just keep that in mind. I will keep everybody updated on social media, but keep that in mind. And we will see how the Finals turns out this week. And don’t forget to spread the word about “Diehlman at Halftime!” See you next time, fellow hoops fans!