Season 2, Episode 36- Veni, Vidi, Vici (I Came, I Saw, I Conquered)

In the season two finale of "Diehlman at Halftime," I discuss:

Highlight: Oklahoma City Thunder
Lowlight: Indiana Pacers
Random Stat: Playoff bracket review

Also, listen to the perspective of our featured guest, Nick Earnshaw! (Follow him on X and Instagram @nearnshawradio).

"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 23, 2025

Chapters

• 0:16 Introduction
• 1:00 Overview of the NBA this Week
• 5:37 Highlight
• 7:35 Lowlight
• 10:01 Nick Earnshaw Interview
• 28:48 Random Stat
• 31:00 Note from the Author
• 33:14 Conclusion

Transcript

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

Introduction: Hello everybody, and welcome to episode #71 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: This is now the second Sunday in a row we’ve had a trade. The Phoenix Suns are sending Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in Wednesday’s draft, and five second-round picks! Despite the Suns’ championship aspirations with Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, they never lived up to the hype. This was the second failed super team Durant was a part of after his time in Golden State, the other one being Brooklyn with James Harden and Kyrie Irving. The Rockets are pairing Durant with Alperen Şengün, Jabari Smith, and Amen Thompson. Houston was the #2 seed in the West behind Oklahoma City, but they lost in seven to the Warriors in a first-round upset. Houston’s window of contention is open for the next few years with Durant showing no signs of slowing down. Meanwhile, Phoenix receives some badly-needed draft picks. Green can grow next to Booker as the Suns start a new chapter under head coach Jordan Ott. NBA free agency opens next Monday, June 30, so we’ll see if other major moves happen soon.

Another team is about to be under new ownership as of Wednesday. The L.A. Lakers are being sold to TWG Global CEO and chairman Mark Walter for $10 billion! This sale will become the largest sale of a professional sports franchise in the world. The previous record was only a few months ago, when the Boston Celtics sold for $6.1 billion. Jerry Buss bought the Lakers in 1979 for $67.5 million. In terms of a profit or percent increase, going from $67.5 million to $10 billion is an increase of 14,714.8%! When Buss died in 2013, the Lakers were passed to his children. His daughter, Jeanie, has run the Lakers since then, and she will continue her role as governor after the sale is completed. This isn’t Walter’s first time buying sports teams. Walter, a Lakers minority stakeholder since 2021, is also the primary owner and chairman for the MLB’s L.A. Dodgers, the WNBA’s L.A. Sparks, Andretti Global racing, and the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). He has other minority stakes as well. The Lakers won 10 championships under Jerry Buss, and, under Jeanie, they won a title in 2020 in the Orlando COVID “bubble.”

Finally, when you’re applying for a job, especially in the pro leagues, first impressions are everything. For one draft prospect, not so much. Rutgers star Ace Bailey, expected to be a top pick in this week’s draft, abruptly cancelled his visit with the Philadelphia 76ers. Bailey was supposed to fly to Philadelphia on Friday for a workout and dinner, but news of the cancellation came out on Wednesday night. He hasn’t done any pre-draft workouts yet, and he’s even declined ones from teams expected to take him in the top 10. Despite this, the 76ers aren’t ruling out taking him at #3. Bailey believes he’s a top-three pick, but he also “seeks a clear pathway to stardom.” Interestingly, in Philadelphia, Bailey would be at least the fourth option on offense, after Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George, respectively. With this breaking development, will Bailey still be selected near the top on Wednesday night, or will he slide a few spots?

The Oklahoma City Thunder won the 2025 NBA Finals in a thrilling seven-game series over the Indiana Pacers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named Finals MVP. Even though it’s technically the second title in team history, it’s the first in Oklahoma City. The Thunder’s predecessors, the Seattle SuperSonics, claimed a championship in 1979.

This is the season two finale of "Diehlman at Halftime," and this episode is entitled "Veni, Vidi, Vici (I Came, I Saw, I Conquered)."

For one final time this season: so, who’s raising eyebrows at the moment?

Highlight: We just witnessed one of the greatest runs in NBA history. The Oklahoma City Thunder defended home court in Game 7 on Sunday, 103-91, and took the Larry O’Brien trophy. It all started in the regular season with a 68-14 record. They ran away with home-court advantage in the Western Conference. Two of the Thunder’s series were blowouts, and two went the distance. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.6 blocks in the Finals. He’s only the fourth player in league history to win MVP and Finals MVP, and be the scoring champion in the same year. The others? Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Michael Jordan. Gilgeous-Alexander is on a Hall-of-Fame path if he keeps this up. Next to SGA, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are great, young talents. Williams took over in Game 5 with 40 points. In Game 7, Holmgren threw a block party with five rejections. The Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein offseason acquisitions were home runs. Caruso’s gritty defense and Hartenstein being relentless on the glass were instrumental in this title. Cason Wallace and Lu Dort’s defense made life miserable for their opponents. How could this get any better for the Thunder? This core is young, and they have a war chest of draft picks, including #15 and #24 in the first round of the NBA draft on Wednesday. The Thunder could draft new players or make trades. Oklahoma City has all the tools they need to dominate for years to come.

Lowlight: Give the Indiana Pacers their flowers, because they were so close to their first championship. The Pacers set the tone in Game 1 in Oklahoma City. Tyrese Haliburton’s pull-up jumper with 0.3 seconds left let the Thunder know this wouldn’t be an easy series. Indiana had answered every obstacle in their first three series, and they were answering the Thunder’s too all series long... before they were dealt the final blow. In Game 7, Haliburton suffered a torn Achilles in the first quarter and was ruled out for the game. He was off to what could’ve been an all-timer, hitting 3/4 triples in seven minutes. With Haliburton out, the Pacers’ core struggled. T.J. McConnell was an exception with 16 points off the bench. McConnell, who was great all series, dropped 12 straight third-quarter points in Game 7. It was Indiana’s lone source of offense for a stretch. Pascal Siakam was quiet in the later stages of Game 7, which made a Thunder win more imminent. Guys like Bennedict Mathurin and Myles Turner had inconsistent moments this series, but Mathurin had a team-high 24 points in Game 7 off the bench. On a positive note, Indiana put together one of the greatest playoff runs we’ve ever seen. (I know I just said that about the Thunder, but the Pacers did too). Upset after upset, comeback after comeback. Unfortunately, the Pacers now shift from getting over a heartbreaking loss to questioning how good they’ll be in 2025-26 without Haliburton. He’ll be out most, if not all, of next year. With Turner being the only major free agent (and assuming he re-signs), can Indiana shock the world again next season?

Interview Segue: To get more insight into the NBA Finals Game 7, we have our 21st and final guest on “Diehlman at Halftime” season two. Although the Finals are now over, please note that this interview was recorded before Game 7. Let’s get into it!

Nick Earnshaw Interview

Random Stat: With the 2024-25 season behind us, let’s laugh at Larry’s playoff bracket predictions! My Finals winner back in April was Boston over Oklahoma City in six. After the first round, my bracket fell off a cliff. Starting in the play-in tournament, I correctly predicted the seventh seeds of Golden State and Orlando. The two eighth seeds were wrong, though. Memphis and Miami made it instead of Dallas and Chicago. In the first round, Oklahoma City, Cleveland, New York, and Boston were my correct picks to advance to the Conference Semifinals. This would be good, except the latter three are from the East. The Thunder are the only Western team here. Basically, the Western Conference quickly decimated my bracket. But, I called New York in six and Boston in five. Once the Knicks took down the Celtics, that part was busted. I thought Cleveland would at least get to the Eastern Conference Finals; the Pacers didn’t agree. However, I did predict an Eastern Conference Finals of six games. Over in the West, Oklahoma City steamrolled their way to the Finals. I had a hunch they would, given their firepower. Although I took Clippers instead of the Nuggets in their first-round series, I was correct for the seven-game prediction. The Lakers’ lack of a center and the Rockets’ youth ended another chunk of my bracket. Lastly, since the Finals went to a Game 7, my guess of six games was wrong. At least I had the Thunder in the Finals to begin with. Out of 36 predictions (combining series outcomes and number of games), I had 14 of 36 (.389). Last year’s percentage was the exact opposite (22/36). So, I saw decreases for both “Games of the Week” correct predictions and playoff bracket predictions from season one?! Everybody relax. I’m due for a bounce back next season... hopefully.

Note from the Author: As we've done in years past, I'd like to conclude this episode with a section I call "Note from the Author." We have reached the end of season two of the “Diehlman at Halftime” podcast. First and foremost, I’d like to thank my amazing guests this season (and I’ll try to go quickly here): Chris DiPietro, Lloyd Wilson, Danny Ryan, Nick Earnshaw, Derek Jones, Josh Hennig, Ky Carlin, Austin Krell, Aaron Hook, Sam Prince, Justin Turpin, Josh Reynolds, Keith Pompey, Noah Levick, Sean Barnard, Eric Vincent, Rod Boone, Jerry Donatien, and Chris Smith. To put this into perspective from last year, I had six guests in seven appearances last year (Chris DiPietro was a repeat). This year, we had 19 guests in 21 appearances, with Chris and Nick Earnshaw being repeats. Additionally, this season, we had two guests in the initial 13 episodes. Across the final 23 episodes, I had 19 guests! It’s been awesome to showcase not only my acquaintances, but writers and reporters in the NBA community. I’d also like to thank you, the listeners. While I do enjoy creating this podcast, my listeners are my audience. And that puts a smile on my face. Because of your support, we hit the 50th episode of the “Diehlman at Halftime” podcast on Jan. 27, which was the 15th episode this season. What a great milestone! Next season, most likely during the playoffs, we’ll hit episode #100. At the conclusion of season one, I mentioned about possible changes. Those were the platform shift from Soundcloud to Buzzsprout (and Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.) and more guests. As we transition to season three, there might be some more major changes. Mark your calendars, as we’ll start back up on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. Until then, have a great summer, and see you in the fall!

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 Nick Earnshaw for being our guest this week on the podcast. Remember, you can follow him on X and Instagram @nearnshawradio. And don’t forget to spread the word about “Diehlman at Halftime!” See you next season, fellow hoops fans, and as we alluded to in the title, go out and conquer!