Season 3, Episode 23- Unknown Futures

In this week's episode of "Diehlman at Halftime," Larry and Chris discuss:

Cade Cunningham diagnosed with a collapsed lung
NBA expansion heating up in coming years
Lakers are on a hot streak
Game of the Week: Atlanta Hawks @ Boston Celtics, Friday, March 27, 2026

All music written by Larry Diehlman

Release date: Monday, March 23, 2026

Transcript

Introduction

Overview of the NBA this Week

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hey guys, and welcome to episode number 94 of Dialman at Halftime, the NBA podcast that tops all others. I'm your host, Larry Dielman, joined by my co-host Christy Pietro. If you're joining us for the first time, it's great to have you. And if you've been a regular listener, welcome back. We have a lot to cover today and not a lot of time to do it. We'll look at a general overview of the NBA this week and then discuss some important topics across the association. Let's get to our content for the week. Probably the biggest story in the NBA this week comes out of Detroit. Kate Cunningham has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung. It was reported last Thursday, and Cade will be missing an extended period of time. He'll be reevaluated in about two weeks, but there's optimism he'll be back before the playoffs. Now this sucks for him because he'll most likely miss the 65-game threshold for major awards. The Pistons have been doing really good this year. But what's good news about this, CJ McCollum suffered this injury twice back in 2021 and 23, and he was sidelined for six weeks and three weeks respectively. So hopefully this means that it's not as long of an injury as we think, or he'll get back to form sooner rather than later. The Pistons right now have a four and a half game lead over the Celtics for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. Chris, this is a huge blow for the Pistons and their playoff hopes as they're trying to lock in that number one seed. Hopefully Cade will be back before then, but just not an injury you want to deal with right in the middle of March.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Yeah, just really awful timing for this. You know, like you said, hopefully he doesn't miss any any playoff games. I did some research though into this injury. He's only he's one of only five players in the last 15 years in the NBA to have a collapse along. Gerald Wallace had one, CJ McCullum, uh, as you mentioned, had two, Terrence Jones having the other. They missed an average of roughly 26 days, which is gonna be cutting it real close with playoff time if Kate happens to miss that amount of time, or more, hopefully not. Um, but the Pistons are 2-0 without him since losing him to the injury and 3-0 if you count the game he got hurt five minutes into. Their final 12 games are a little difficult, but it's not too crazy. I could see them maybe winning eight to ten of them. Uh, they're still a very good team without Cade. They're seven and two without him this season. They have a plus nine point seven net rating with him on the court, but still a very, very respectable uh plus five point nine without him. And Boston is four and a half games behind the Pistons right now, so I still think it's pretty likely they hold on to the one seed because Boston hasn't looked great recently um either. So, and they have a lot of catching up to do in these last 11-12 games. So I think Detroit probably will hang on to the one seed here. Uh but but it just sucks for Cade. You know, he he was in MVP talks throughout the year. He's had an amazing season, not only for him, but the Pistons. And uh yeah, hopefully he's he's fresh for the playoffs.

NBA Expansion Heating Up in Coming Years

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Just unfortunate timing, especially for the number one seed, just for a team that's had such a great story over the last couple of years, going from a tanking team to you know one of the best teams in the NBA next to the Thunder. So hopefully he gets back to form soon, and the Pistons can hold things down in his absence. We'll see what JB Bickerstaff has up his sleeve for his squad. This episode is entitled Unknown Futures. So, who's raising eyebrows at the moment? One of the biggest stories in the NBA, not only recently but expanding over time, is the rumors of NBA expansion. These rumors have gone on for years about oh, bring back the Seattle Supersonics and will there ever be another team? Right now, the NBA is at 30 teams and there's always room for more. The NBA will actually vote this week to explore adding Las Vegas and Seattle teams to the league with a potential start date for the 2028-29 season. So that is three years away still, but getting very close. And what's interesting about the NBA adopting this idea is that other leagues in professional sports have expanded or relocated. For example, the NHL with the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken, the NFL with the Raiders moving from Oakland to Las Vegas, and the A's of the MLB now going to Las Vegas, and I believe they're currently in Sacramento in this waiting period. This whole thing has just been interesting because Las Vegas has been this site for the NBA. You see them with the NBA Cup. They're hosting at the uh T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and I think Summer League is played in Las Vegas at times along with Salt Lake City. So I think Las Vegas and Seattle, two of the worst kept secrets in the National Basketball Association, and I know fans have been crying from day one when the Thunder were created that they wanted the Seattle Supersonics back. And it's looking likely that they may come back and be right back in Seattle. Now, what's interesting about this story is that, well, how do you balance the league? NBA executives believe that either the Memphis Grizzlies or the Minnesota Timberwolves would move to the Eastern Conference in this scenario. I would also like to add the New Orleans Pelicans just because they're kind of right there geographically. Memphis probably makes the most sense because let's be honest, they are not a West Coast team. But I think this would be a very interesting topic to explore once it gets to that point, and then you got to worry about expansion drafts, and another thing, too, would be what happens to all the assets and all the history. The Oklahoma City Thunder would actually have to transfer all their assets, most likely, back to Seattle from the Supersonics days. Now, think about it with the Charlotte Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans. It was the same thing. The Hornets started out, well, the they were the New Orleans Hornets, then they went to Oklahoma City with Hurricane Katrina, they went back, and then New Orleans gave all their history back to Charlotte, and the Pelicans were basically an expansion team. So it'd be like that with the Thunder and the Supersonics. The Thunder would give the Supersonics back their history, and the Thunder would just pretty much be an expansion team. So, Chris, a lot of excitement here in the NBA coming up with the potential adding of a Las Vegas team and maybe the Supersonics coming back and seeding all that history back to Seattle as if they never left. But, you know, a lot of movement, a lot of a lot of money involved, a lot of moving parts, an expansion draft would have to be done. But this is just crazy for the NBA.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

I'm glad you took the logistics angle because that's something I did not touch on at all. And I think it is really interesting. The transfer of the assets and the the contracts that were made at the time of the um the relocations and all that. I think that's a fascinating angle of all this. My thoughts on this, I I had I had plenty. Um, first off, I think 32 is just a great number for a league. The NFL does it so well, but mainly because I think it allows for much needed realignment in the league and and and potentially even a re-establishment of divisions. I hate how divisions are like the least important thing in the basketball standings. And I think it's so fun how in the NFL, like obviously people keep tabs on the whole league for the most part. Um, but there's almost like a little subdivision of of the ecosystem of the NFC East or the or the NFC North or the or the AFC West or whatever. Um and people kind of keep up with what's going on within the division, and you know, a team getting better in your division is something to take note of. Where, you know, if we're talking about the the Atlantic division and the Eastern Conference of the NBA, and it's like, oh, you know, Boston got better this offseason, it's like it's it's just like bad news for the 15 teams in the East, which which is a very broad group. It's not, it doesn't mean anything for the rest of the teams in the Atlantic division. So I kind of really like that dynamic, um, especially in the NFL with the whole league and then the NFC and the AFC and then and then the divisions within them. And it's like everything that happens within your division is important because there's actual stakes on the line. If you win your division, you're in the playoffs. Um, and I would love for something like that to happen in the NBA. As it pertained to what's which team gets moved over to the the East, because obviously Seattle and Vegas would be in the West. Um, I don't know why New Orleans isn't being talked about as much. You know, not only geographically, which is a a huge reason, it makes a ton of sense. They just do not feel like a West team at all. Like, like, like they suck, and that kind of makes them feel like an East team inherently. So, yeah, I I I I can almost certainly say it's gonna be Memphis or New Orleans. I I don't get Minnesota, like I like I think it makes the least sense geographically, and um, in the same way the Pelicans feel like an East team, I feel like the the Timberwolves feel like a West team. See, it'll be interesting to see uh how the realignment goes and and and hopefully uh we can get a heavier emphasis on on divisions in the NBA, which would be awesome. I love Seattle getting a team, I think they're a really awesome sports town. Uh I'm pretty indifferent towards Vegas. It I mean they're kind of getting teams in every sport now, and it's it's you know the gambling uh capital of the world. So it's whatever. I'm indifferent towards Vegas, but but Seattle's awesome. I love that they'd be getting their team back. They they they seemed pretty distraught over losing their supersonics. Um, so it'd be super sick to see them uh get a team back. I think this might be the most deep and talent-rich league we've ever seen in the NBA. Uh, really good players will be harder to come by with two new expansion teams, which I think is a good thing for for team building and and the the entertainment aspect of that. So generally, I mean I think all of this is a good thing, but this is extremely dependent on them nailing the tanking solution, which which is a huge if. We already have a third of the league that doesn't care about basketball and hasn't since January, which is a a huge issue. And if we get two new teams that end up with Zach Levine and Kyle Kuzma, respectively, as their star players in an expansion draft, we're just gonna be adding two more teams to this list of teams that don't care about basketball, which I think by itself would make expansion a failure. Like if we grow this tanking problem somehow with expansion as opposed to shrinking it, like uh like I don't care how much money it's bringing in. I I don't I don't care for the the the fans of the in the cities that get these teams. Like if this tanking problem grows any further, which it really has the potential to do with two new expansion teams, it's a failure. So so they have to kill it with this tanking solution um for expansion to be a success, in my opinion. Another thing, I think this might give them the NBA the financial leeway uh to make arguably the the best potential fix to the to the league, in my opinion, which is to shorten the season. Obviously, games will matter more, uh bad team seasons will drag less, good team seasons are are that much more exciting game by game, and there's gonna be way less injuries. And the only logical reason they're not doing this, which in my opinion is not the most logical reason, is because of money. And it's it's it's a bit frustrating because the league would benefit so much more from a shorter season. Um, I think two new expansion teams would make more money for the league, and and hey, maybe that makes them think about finally shortening the season to I don't know, just cut it 10 games. You know, we don't gotta go down to 60 games, just let's call it 72 games. It would make the league so much better and smoother and and more fun to watch and just a way better product. So maybe they think about doing this post-expansion. So so yeah, I th I think there's a lot of good that can come of this, but um, you know, like I said, if they don't nail the tanking thing, then then I I don't think anything else matters. I I think it will make the league worse, regardless of anything else, if they don't nail the tanking solution.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Yeah, the tanking solution is definitely something I didn't think of. And like you said, if it's bad now, wait till they get two more teams. And the expansion draft, I think usually you protect your top eight players that you want, and then anybody who's not protected is fair game. Like they're eligible to be drafted by these new teams. Now, going back to a point you mentioned earlier, you know, why the Timberwolves are involved with this. I looked at the map and they're kind of like on an island compared to the Western Conference. Like New Orleans and Memphis, you know, they're close to like Oklahoma City, they're close to Texas, and you have, you know, the Rockets, you have the Mavericks and the Spurs. With the Timberwolves, the closest Western Conference team to Minnesota is the Nuggets, and they're 700 miles away. Like they have all these Eastern Conference teams here. Minnesota, you know, you're kind of. That's true. That's a good point. Minnesota, you're near Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, and then you look out west. I mean, it doesn't matter the pro leagues or college teams, like everybody out west is just it's just tumbleweeds out there. In the Eastern Conference, everybody's over here. And with the West, I mean, you have Denver, you have Utah, you have potentially Las Vegas, you have four California teams, and that's about it. And then you obviously in the the southern part with like Phoenix and all them, but you know, it's just kind of slim pickings, you know, for Minnesota. So they they might make a little more sense that way. If you want to go geographically, I'd say Memphis, and you know, they suck too right now, so I don't think it really matters with that. But um, you know, just very interesting points with expansion, you know, giving back all this history to the supersonics. It and it's weird because two teammates who play with each other, you know, like with the the Thunder, Kevin Durant was drafted by the Supersonics, and Russell Westbrook the very next year was drafted by the Thunder. So, you know, who would the first pick be in Las Vegas' history, or who would be the first pick in Seattle's new team potentially? Like we're still a few years away from all this, and uh like you said, fixing the tanking situation is gonna have to come first. But I think, you know, at the end of the day, it's all about money, and if Adam Silver sees an opportunity to introduce a new team, he'll do that. I think at this point it's Las Vegas and Seattle or bust. That's pretty much it. They're going as a combo pair, and that's pretty much all there is to it. So we'll see how this works out in the near future, who's moving to the east, and we'll see maybe what these new teams are. Probably the Supersonics, what this Las Vegas team would be, who knows? But uh the NBA is rapidly growing.

Lakers are on a Hot Streak

SPEAKER_02 16:04

We have to talk about the Los Angeles Lakers and how they've been playing lately. They've won 12 of their last 13, only one loss to the Denver Nuggets, and they've won their last nine games. And probably the biggest reason for that has been the play of Luka Doncic, who in that nine game span has been averaging 40 points, including a 60-point game. Um, eight rebounds per game, seven assists per game. This is one of the best stretches we've seen from Luca in his entire career. He looks as fit as ever, he looks as in control as ever. He's been absolutely incredible lately for the Lakers. Huge reason why they're starting to kind of turn their season around. The Lakers always kind of hung towards the top of the west. But you you could tell when you were watching them something wasn't quite right. The defense has been pretty bad like all season. It's been a weird dynamic with with um LeBron, Reeves, and Luca finding out, you know, who are our ball handlers. Because obviously, you know, Luca's pretty much always been the one all season, but um you have this young, promising player who's who's shown he's he's certainly capable of being a secondary ball handler in Austin Reeves, but then you have probably the greatest player in the sports history um competing with him. So it's it's been a weird dynamic figuring that out. Um they have a they just have a really poorly constructed roster. The defense has been bad. So so something's always been shaky about their their standing in the West, but this looks like a team that is third in the West right now, lately, that we've been seeing uh from the Lakers. I think the next thing to note um about the Lakers streak, besides the play of Luka Doncic, which I've I kind of just alluded to, has been LeBron James's role. I'm not saying there's exactly any causation between these two things, but um, I think LeBron has visibly embraced being the screen slash move off ball slash create looks slash affect the game without the ball guy. And the Lakers have been playing better, much better. JJ Redick said it himself that the best version of this Lakers team is probably with Austin Reeves as the secondary ball handler, and that's what we've seen lately, and the Lakers have really turned a corner here. And LeBron's certainly not playing bad by any means. Um, he's averaging 19 points, six rebounds, six assists himself over these last nine games, and he's shooting pretty well, but we're watching his role kind of kind of morphing in front of our eyes. I think the last thing to note about the Lakers here um that I've seen, like I said earlier, they just have a very poorly constructed roster outside of their three-headed monster. Um, they they have really bad defensive infrastructure, I'll call it. You know, Luca and Austin Reeves are great, but um they're not exactly the guys you want on defense. They're certainly the guys you want on offense as your backcourt, but there's certainly questions about that duo defensively. The center rotation has been really bad this year, um, especially on defense. Uh DeAndre Ayton and Jackson Hayes, Luke Hennard, Rui Hachimura, not great defenders. Jake LaRavia, not a great defender. They just have a very poorly constructed roster, especially defensively. But lately, during this, you know, 13-game stretch and and and this nine-game win streak they're on, it really seems like the entire roster has been bought into playing with at least the defensive effort that they've lacked all year. Um, you know, that the you know, if you're just looking at this roster on paper, there's no question that this is gonna be a tough group of guys to create defensive success with. But what can change with the flip of a coin, the snap of a finger that has changed has been their effort. They look really bought in into playing hard um and with energy. And that's something where when we watched the Lakers earlier this season and they're still up there in the West, but something felt off. That was maybe the the greatest thing um that you could point to about why we were all so uneasy about the Lakers. The effort was very shoddy, but but lately, again, regardless of how poor this team is constructed on defense, they're really bought into playing hard, and it's made such a big difference. Um the has the defense looked otherworldly? No, but they're holding their own consistently in a way that we haven't seen yet from this version of the Lakers. It's not an optimal group to piece together a great defense, but JJ Reddick is clearly squeezing all he can out of these guys during the most important stretch of the season, you know, right before the playoffs. This is when you want to get hot, this is where you want to be playing hard, this is where you want to be winning games, and JJ Reddick is getting the most out of this poorly constructed roster right now during the home stretch of the regular season, right before the playoffs. So, how far the Lakers can go in these playoffs, how sure I am about their defense, despite how much better they've been playing lately, I don't know. Um, but but they they're the hottest team in the NBA right now. They look like a real contender for the first time all season, in my opinion, despite how they've always kind of hung around the three-spot in the West. We had to touch on them. They're the hottest team in the league. And also, you know, despite how strongly uh Shea has his grip on the MVP right now. I mean, with how Luke has been playing lately, it's it's it's unbelievable how he's almost played his way back into this race so late in the season. Um, he's been incredible. The the Lakers, this is a different Lakers team um these last 10 or so games that we've seen all season. So we had to touch on the Lakers here. Um, what do you Think about the Lakers and their uh their playoff prospects here?

SPEAKER_01 22:04

They're always going to be a good team to get in the playoffs, and they're always gonna give somebody hell. The Lakers, you know, are are really doing great right now. 46 and 25, third in the West, nine-game win streak, and they just beat the Magic the other day. Luke Kennard hit the uh the game winner in Orlando, adjusting his shooting sleeve. Man had all day to shoot, adjusted his shooting sleeve, and hit the dagger, which was something that I don't think I could do myself. During this stretch, Chris, they've they have not been beating bum teams. They've been beating they beat the Rockets, they beat the Rockets twice, they beat the Nuggets in overtime, the Timberwolves and the Knicks. These are damn good playoff teams, and especially the Rockets twice and the Nuggets in OT is you know something to really take note with. I mean, you already mentioned Luka Doncic averaging around 40 points a game right now, a 60 burger, near triple doubles of 51 and 40 points respectively, and two 30-point triple doubles. I mean, the man is stuffing the stat sheet, and he's averaging 2.6 steals in his last nine games. And Luca is not usually one to play solid defense, and he is doing everything in his willpower to bring this Lakers team to the top of the Western Conference behind the Thunder and Spurs. Austin Reeves, too, has been playing 40 minutes in three of his last four, with one of them being 39 minutes. So they're really squeezing every ounce of him on the floor and just not really going to the bench unit. They're really just trusting Austin Reeves, you know, and Luca to really get the job done. And, you know, yes, is this roster poorly constructed, but I think if they can get some pieces in the offseason, maybe go to free agency, get a young draft pick, not name Bronny James. Maybe, you know, we'll see if LeBron eventually retires. And maybe LeBron's retirement high key, not low key. High key might be the answer to their problems because maybe LeBron is like kind of holding this team back, and maybe he only wants certain players. It's not his team necessarily anymore, but you have to think Le GM has some influence on this team, and we'll see how JJ Reddick can get this team together despite kind of being you know, having his hands tied behind his back at times with Rob Polinka. Rob Polinka makes good moves, Rob Polinka makes bad moves, and then you have Luka Doncic that falls into your lap and kind of makes you look better when you make a move like that. But then out of the ten moves you made, nine of them are bad, and one of them just happens to be a generational talent.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

Yeah, he he's he's not a good GM. He he should have been fired a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Magic Johnson knew when to call it quits, so I don't know what Ralph Polinka's excuse is.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

I th I I think Polinka's gonna, you know, I I think you know, we talked on the last episode about how great Will Hardy's job is. I think Polinka's got a great job too, because uh he seems to have all the job security in the world, especially after securing Luka Doncic by by the graces of God.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Genie Buss loves him, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Yeah, and and you know, like for really no reason because he really is just a bad GM. Like, I I believe we call this in the in the industry a social media GM. Like he sees, like, oh, big name DeAndre Aiton, former first overall pick. Let's go get DeAndre Ayton. Well, uh, Rui Hachimura's a good player, let's go get Rui Hachimer. Oh, Lou Kennard, he he can shoot and do nothing else, but he's a great shooter, you know. Let's go get him. Um, he doesn't have an eye for for winning players. And and and Lawrence, you dissed Bronny James a second ago. I think Bronny James has at least the the ceiling and and the the the makeup of a winning player more than maybe 75% of this roster. Like like Bronny's like a like a like an okay defender. And he and he's got the he's got that, you know, like smaller guard defensive menace type attitude to him. And and he is and he's a a crazy athlete. Um, but like when you bring in a player like Luke Kennard, like okay, shout out Luke Kennard, you know, he hit the game winner. It was it was a cool moment. Um, I saw a post where it was talking about how Luke Kennard played on LeBron's AAU team when LeBron like managed like an AAU team and and he was on it, so that was pretty cool. But like, you know, Rui Hachimura, like like not a well-rounded player. Lou Kennard, not a well-rounded player. Jake LaRavia, not a well-rounded player. Like, like Bronny, like, Bronny, like, I think if you put Bronny on the thunder, like they turn him into a rotation player within like 20 games. And like, I I would not say that about like La Ravia or Kennard or or Hachimura. I I think Bronny's got the makeup of a potentially winning player. But but but yeah, like the reason Pelink is so bad is that like he he just does not go get winning players. Like, like like a lot of deficiencies on defense, um, a lot of kind of one trick ponies, a lot of big names. So yeah, it it's it's a really it really is a poorly constructed roster. And I I don't I don't think it's on LeBron either. Like LeBron, like, yeah, he's not like LeBron of of 2018, but with him bought into this new role, like I think he plays great in within his role. Like, there's nothing to complain about with LeBron. Like, just because he's not in as large of a role doesn't mean that like he was playing bad and now he's in a smaller role. Like, like, no, I think I think this role perfectly suits the type of player he is at this point. I think he's been great for the Lakers. The Leg GM influence he might have, I think that might be a valid question, but uh, I I think he's playing fine, uh, more than fine. He's been playing, he's been playing well, definitely. Um, but yeah, it's good it's gonna be interesting to see um, you know, how how real this run from the Lakers is come playoff time. Uh the that we've seen them collapse in the playoffs, but but they're they're playing very well right now, and maybe the most promising version of the Lakers we've seen since the the bubble days where they won their championship. So we'll see how real this is, but they're undeniably one of, if not the hottest team in the league right now.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Former first overall pick, DeAndre A. In, former top ten pick, Rui Hachimora. Hey, Chris, they have former defensive player of the year, Marcus Smart, though, too. He's been great for them.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Like, shout out Marcus Smart. Like, like, that would be a name where like if the Lakers had just signed him like five days ago, I'd be like, oh god, like here goes Rob Palenka again, just like signing like a player he actually knows because he like doesn't watch basketball. So he's gonna go out and sign Marcus Smart. But but like I'm sorry I was not familiar with your game, Rob Polinka. Like, he's actually been like awesome for them this year. No, I'm actually I take it back. I'm not giving Rob Polinka credit for that. I'm giving JJ Reddick and Marcus Smart credit for that. Um because that that is just such a Rob Polinka signing. Marcus Smart was. I mean, just big name. He he has he has an accolade. So so of course Rob Polinka's gonna bring him in. He's he doesn't actually watch basketball. Um shout out Marcus Smart, though he's been great. But yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see how how the Lakers kind of wrap up their season here. They they're they're looking very promising as of late.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

And I think they have the potential to add to this winning streak, Chris. They got some interesting competition coming up. So they're gonna face in Detroit the Caitless Pistons. Then they'll be at Indiana versus the Nets, and then they get a date with whatever's left of the Wizards.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

That's a promising schedule.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Next score looked pretty damn good.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Yeah, we could see this extended to a 13-game win streak very shortly here.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

We'll see if the Lakers keep going near playoff time and see if Rob Palenka can redeem himself in the future.

Game of the Week

SPEAKER_02 29:45

All right, so for our game of the week, we're gonna go over to the Eastern Conference in a game between two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Now, when I say that, there's gonna be one team where you know you kind of expect um when I when I say one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, but there's gonna be one which is a is a newcomer to the top of the east here, a team who is nine and one in their last 10 games. The expected team in this one, the Boston Celtics, who have been top two to three in the East for the entirety of this season, but they will be playing the Atlanta Hawks, who have been maybe one of the hottest teams in the East lately, maybe the hottest team in the East lately. Uh, we just talked about the Lakers, who have probably been the hottest team in the West, if not the league. The Hawks are right there with the Lakers in regards to who's playing the best March basketball right now. The Hawks have been playing great. Seems like they're they're getting comfortable here without Trey Young. Uh CJ McCollum has been awesome for them. Like I he I think they're posting like a plus 16 net rating with him on the court since they've acquired him from the Wizards this season, which is pretty crazy. And that's like up there with the best players in the league, like right among them, if not higher than some of the guys you'd expect to be up there. Like I mentioned earlier with Cade Cunningham, he the the Pistons are on average per 100 possessions, uh 9.8 points better with Cade on the floor. And you know, he's one of the best players in the league. He he's the cog of that Pistons team. And and CJ McCollum is like plus 16. And, you know, like it's it's so much deeper than just plus minus stats indicate. Uh they're fun to look at and they are like fairly representative. But can we say CJ McCollum is seven points better than Cade Cunningham? No, probably not. But we can say that the the the Hawks have been great with CJ McCollum. A player who has, you know, proven to be a winning player in the past, which Trey Young, uh, you know, he's never really had that type of play style to uh inhibit winning uh basketball games, despite that unreal run to the Eastern Conference Finals all those years ago where um he was just on another planet scoring-wise, but it's not like his defense really leveled up during that stretch. Anyway, yeah, the Hawks have been playing great lately. The Celtics, though, definitely higher in the East, definitely a, you know, it's safe to say they're a better team than the Hawks, but but they have not been playing too hot lately in the return of Jason Tatum to the lineup. Their offense has been has been a little shaky lately. It's it's it's been kind of weird for them um getting Tatum involved back into the offense. Tatum has been playing like pretty damn well, better than I thought he would, more than I thought he would. He's playing more than I thought he would coming off of this injury. And he's had his nights of of you know 20 plus points where where he's looked like Jason Tatum in his return from the Achilles tear. But again, you know, that this this Celtics team was was so used to Jalen Brown being the one and the go-to scoring guy and introducing Tatum back into the lineup, who previously was that guy, even with Jalen Brown in the lineup. It's been a little funky. Um they're only six and four in their last 10, and they are in serious danger here of losing the two seed. Um and even Cleveland is not super far behind them. Boston is four and a half games back of Detroit, so don't see them catching the Pistons. The Knicks just a half game behind the Celtics, and the Cavs are three games behind the Celtics here. So the Celtics have been a bit shaky lately, trying to get comfortable amid the return of Jason Tatum. And the Hawks have been playing great lately. Um, they seem to have found a great plug-in at point guard in CJ McCollum uh in the absence of Trey Young, and and they've been playing a lot better with McCollum than they were with Trey Young. So yeah, this is this is a pretty fascinating game of a long-standing Eastern Conference juggernaut in the Celtics this season versus a team who has been playing better lately in the Hawks. And it's also a tough game to call. I think I'm gonna go Boston here and trust Joe Missoula to kind of get things together. I I was low on the Celtics coming into this year without Jason Tatum, and I really wasn't sure how how to feel about uh Joe Missoula's ability to kind of you know turn garbage into gold here with a pretty depleted roster. But that's exactly what he did this season. And and the Celtics, again, they're they have the two C to show for it. Um, even with so many players leaving and Jason Tatum being hurt, Missoula was able to piece this thing together into a really good team. And I trust that, you know, in due time they're gonna get comfortable with Jason Tatum back in the lineup here. And I really do want to take Atlanta here. Uh, but but I'm just gonna blame this this Atlanta win streak on March basketball. Uh I'm gonna trust who the Celtics have been all season. I'm gonna take Boston this one, a close one. I'm gonna go Celtics 119-118.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

All right, dropping a truth bomb there. Very nice. And interesting Mark Zoom off reference with the garbage into gold. Very nice. Shout out. So, yeah, this game should be pretty interesting for uh the Eastern Conference. The Celtics are hosting this one on Friday, March 27th at 7:30. Celtics are 47 and 24 and second in the east, but as Chris said, their second seed hopes could be dwindling. Jason Tatum is averaging about 19 points per game since his return, which is good to see. I mean, he's not going to go right back to 30 points per game coming off, you know, an Achilles rupture or Achilles tear. I mean, this isn't like a paper cut, this is a serious injury. Meanwhile, the Hawks 39-32 and tied with the Sixers for sixth in the East. They are desperately trying to stay out of the playing tournament. Jalen Johnson has had back-to-back triple doubles last week against the Bucs and the Magic. He is really starting to take over as that number one option after Trey Young's exile to Washington. The Hawks had an 11-game win streak snapped by the Rockets on Friday, but they bounced back over the Warriors on Saturday. And I think you had mentioned it in the last episode. The Hawks are going on this big winning streak, and they have literally made up zero ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Like they were the seventh or the ninth seed or whatever, and they stayed up.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Now they have though. They have though since then. Yeah, they were they were the they went on a nine-game win streak and they they remained ninth in the East, but they've since jumped to sixth just like that. So they they weren't definitively making up ground if you were just looking at the standings and their their placement within it, but they they were laying the groundwork to make this big jump, which they have.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

So yeah, they're trying to make up some ground and everybody trying to just stay out of that playing tournament seats. These two have actually seen each other a couple times this season already. Obviously, pre-Jason Tatum return. The Celtics crushed the Hawks in Atlanta on January 17th, but the Hawks got them back in Boston just 11 days later. Slimmer margin. And Chris, this is actually going to be a good game because the rematch is on Monday. In Atlanta. So they don't have much time to dwindle on potential wins and losses. They'll see each other again on Monday, and the Hawks will have home court that time. I'm gonna go with you. Celtics kind of an easy pick. We'll take the Hawks maybe when they are more consistent, I guess. And I'm gonna go with the Celtics. 115-104. So I'm taking that 11-point spread or whatever. I think it should be a it should be a close game. Anytime you play Boston.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

A little disrespectful, I think, Larry. I mean succeed Hawks. They're the you know, they're they're they're one of the hottest teams in the league, you know. Easy pick. I don't know about an easy pick.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Well, I mean, it's gonna be it's gonna be a good game. I just I think anytime you play Boston, everybody kind of has their struggles at TD Garden. It's just a tough place to play the Celtics fans.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

I don't think it's impossible.

Conclusion

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Celtics fans are ruthless, and so hopefully we can see maybe a closer game than we think. Atlanta and Boston doing battle on Friday night. Hopefully it'll be a good one. Well, that's all the time we have for today. If you haven't already, make sure to follow the podcast accounts, Chris and me, on social media. The three podcast accounts on Instagram, TikTok, and X or Twitter are under at Dialman at half. My personal ex and Instagram are at Larry Dialman, Chris's personal ex and Instagram are at Chris Dippy. All seven handles are in the description on Buzzsprout, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, although you can find Dialman at Halftime on major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and YouTube, the main podcast website is on BuzzSprout. The website URL is dealman at halftime.buzzsprout.com. Feel free to send a comment by using the send us a text button located in each episode's bio. With the exception of Apple Podcasts, the text option is available on Buzz Sprout and all the major platforms. Your comment could end up in the fan mail section of the Buzz Sprout website. And don't forget to spread the word about Dealman at halftime. See you next time, fellow hoops fans.