Season 3, Episode 28- Survive and Advance

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

Timberwolves lose Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo to injuries
Round 1 series discussions
Game of the Week: Atlanta Hawks @ New York Knicks, Tuesday, April 28, 2026 (Eastern Conference First Round, Game 5)

All music written by Larry Diehlman

Release date: Monday, April 27, 2026

Transcript

Introduction

Overview of the NBA this Week

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hey guys, and welcome to episode number 99 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. The biggest story in the NBA this week is coming from Minnesota. The Timberwolves lost Anthony Edwards and Dante DiVincenzo in game four versus the Nuggets due to injuries here in the first round. Anthony Edwards is expected to miss multiple weeks with a knee hyperextension and a bone bruise. There was no ligament damage, but he's going to be sidelined for the rest of the first round, and it might affect the second round if the Timberwolves advance. Dante, meanwhile, tore his Achilles and will probably miss a majority, if not all, of next season. It's the same injury Jason Tatum had, and it honestly was the exact same looking play where he went to go forward, he put his foot like he planted his foot in the ground backwards to kind of propel himself, and you could just see in slow motion the Achilles pop in the back of his leg. It was not good. He went to the ground, he left in a wheelchair, and that was the end of Dante. The Timberwolves currently lead the Nuggets 3-1 in their first round series, which we will get to in just a few moments. So potentially finishing off the Nuggets on Monday would allow them to rest in time for the conference semifinals and give them a chance to regroup. Chris, the Timberwolves dealt a humongous blow in their backcourt. Dante obviously out for the rest of the playoffs. Anthony Edwards looking to get back as soon as possible, but you do not want to rush back from a knee injury. Just bad news despite being up three to one.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, it's really bad. Um, especially for Dante. I mean, that's just super unfortunate. And like you said, that's kind of like how all of these Achilles injuries are starting to look. It's that negative step, that false step backwards, planting the heel in the ground behind the body. That sort of step is what's causing all of these injuries, it looks like. And it's really unfortunate to see because we're at the point now where you can almost tell live watching the game, you know, you know, as soon as I saw Dante go down, it's it's it's like everybody knew what was happening. Um, you know, given how publicized Tyrese Halliburton injury was, and how how publicized and seen Jason Tatum's injury was, you know, being on these large stages, it's like the world knows what an Achilles terror looks like. And, you know, as seen as as soon as you see Dante go down, you kind of knew what was going on. It's just it's just super unfortunate for him. Anthony Edwards as well, um, going down with thankfully less severe of an injury, but maybe a more impactful one for the series and the Timberwolves playoff hopes. They're hoping it'll just be maybe a two-week injury for Anthony Edwards, but um, I mean, that is a lot of time in the playoffs, and they are up 3-1 in the series. We'll talk more about it later. So they've built themselves a solid cushion, and you know, Aodusunmu put on his best heroic efforts there in game four to to um, you know, he really took the reins of the team there, dropping 40 points, essentially not missing a shot. He he's he's he's a great player. Um, and and he's he's capable of of stepping up, I think, and and making a huge impact for them. But you never feel comfortable losing a player like Anthony Edwards for as much time as he's going to miss in the playoffs. I'd imagine this is gonna linger into their second round series if they're able to get past Denver, which I think they will. Um, but just just a brutal game injury-wise. And Aaron Gordon was playing through a calf injury that game, and and you know, after seeing Dante and especially after seeing Anthony Edwards, um that that was like the only thing on my mind. I was like, please don't tell me Aaron Gordon's next, because we know players get these injuries, um, these Achilles tears while fighting through these calf injuries. So yeah, it was just a really ugly, scary game injury-wise, and it was unfortunate because we're watching a great series unfold. But yeah, definitely hurts Minnesota's chances going forward.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

The winner of this series will take on the winner of the Spurs Blazers series. And if it's the San Antonio Spurs, that would not be a good matcher for the Timberwolves without Anthony Edwards to start. We'll have to monitor this situation. Hopefully, Ant can get back soon. Dante out for the rest of the playoffs and probably most of the 26-27 year. We'll have to see what the Timberwolves can do in the meantime. This episode is entitled Survive in Advance. So, who's raising eyebrows at the moment?

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Alright, so we're gonna take a stroll down playoff lane here. We're gonna start in the East in the 1-8 series, the Detroit Pistons in the Orlando Magic. As of right here on Monday evening, the Magic are up two to one on the Detroit Pistons. Who would have thought we would be here after some of those Orlando Magic end of season slash start of the play-in tournament and games? Um, this team looked broken, and they really put it on the Charlotte Hornets um in that final play-in game to steal a playoff spot from them, and they have not looked back, they've looked like a different team. The non-Kade Cunningham minutes uh in this series have been an atrocity for Detroit. Jalen Dern's field goal percentages this season. Let's walk through them. Game one, he was three of four from the field, um, which is not bad, but you definitely want to see more volume out of him. And he was a game low minus 21 in the plus-minus department. Game two, he shot four for ten from the field. And game three, he shot three for ten from the field. That is awful. That is not the Jalen Duran we watched all season long. I mean, these are three of his worst games of the season in the three biggest games of the season. He's been really bad. Danais Jenkins has been bad for them after being such a crucial spark plug for them this season. Uh Kevin Herter is having a bad series. He's shooting 40% from three, but he's missed every single field goal attempt he's taken inside the arc. And uh from the Orlando angle, Paulo Pancero has just been infinitely more threatening from range than he was in those play-in games. And honestly, in the majority of the season, I mean, um, he's kind of turned into a player during the biggest games of their season, in which you have to respect him from outside 15 feet. And that was his issue all season. That's where his inconsistencies this season were coming from. Teams were starting to realize how much he relied on his downhill game, and they were straight up leaving him open, and they were not afraid of the jump shot. Um, and rightfully so, he was a really poor jump shooter this season, like like concerningly bad for for the you know, for for the outlook on his career. I mean, uh if he's not gonna start hitting these jump shots, we have to start questioning who Paulo Banquero is as the number one option. But lately he's been punishing teams for leaving him open. He's been punishing the Pistons, he's been great this series. Uh Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs been great this series. And I said this before the series, the the the Orlando Magic are maybe one of the few teams in the NBA that can really challenge Detroit from a physical perspective, which is obviously the angle Detroit kind of takes on against their opponents. You know, that's what they lean on. Their identity is being a strong physical basketball team. And Orlando is one of the few teams in the league that is big enough, strong enough to hang with them. And it is more than showing in this series. Wouldn't have guessed the magic would be up 2-1 in this one. I believe I predicted a 4-1 Pistons win. Uh, but yeah, a big surprise here looming in the east in this 1-8 matchup.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

I think I also went with Pistons and 5 on this one. This is like you said, you pointed out, you know, the Magic looked absolutely dead. And I think Magic fans wanted the season just to be over. Jamal Mosley was, you know, I think he was like looking to get fired, or just the way the magic were performing was not up to standard. The magic have been a disappointment this season, even with Desmond Bain coming into the fold. But going up two to one against the best team in the Eastern Conference, or one of the best teams in the NBA, and you stole game one on the road, that's what you're trying to do every time you're the road team, and then you win the first one at home. If the Magic win on Monday, like if they win tonight, the Pistons might be in trouble, despite the fact that they have home court and games five and potentially seven, if needed, would be in Detroit. If they go down three, one, they might be in trouble. Palo Bancaro has awakened from his struggles. He was one assist shy of a 25-point triple-double in game three. And, you know, they've looked really great. They've hit some clutch shots. But it begs the question like, are the Pistons fraudulent or are they just kind of struggling with this matchup? That's going to be the biggest question. I mean, we had this team running to the NBA finals for the Eastern Conference, and if they're struggling with a team like the Magic early on, imagine what they can do potentially in the next round. The winner of this series would go and face the Cavs or Raptors, and you know, we'll talk about that in a second. And they're really tough, too. So such a surprise in the first round.

Eastern Conference First Round: Celtics vs. 76ers

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Absolutely. As we pivot to maybe a not so surprising series here, with the Celtics being up three to one over the Sixers. This has been a series decided by jump shooting, and the Celtics have been the better jump shooting team three out of four games in this series. Uh, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Peyton Pritchard, Sam Hauser all at least have 10 threes made in this series. And I really think this is one of the best playoff series of Jason Tatum's career. He's averaging near 25, 9, and 9, 64% true shooting. This is one of the most efficient Jason Tatum playoff series we've ever seen on this type of volume.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

All an Achilles injury.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Exactly. I mean, that's what I'm getting at here. Like, that like he looks so outlandishly comfortable. I mean, he looks more comfortable in this series than again we've seen in most of his playoff career up to this point. And he has a ring. Like, this is like such a amazing version of Jason Tatum we're watching right now, just zero limitations. Again, like relatively speaking, he is not long into an Achilles injury recovery. Like, he has been back on the court for not even three months now. And this is like some of the best basketball we've ever seen in his career, which which is just wild. Um, I think the Sixers' biggest issue in this series, um, at least so far, if it doesn't end pretty soon, has been going away from Paul George. He's got the exact same true shooting percentage as Jason Tatum in this series, just on way less volume. Nick Nurse has been very sporadic in his willingness to let Paul George kind of take the offense to himself and go get his own shot. Um, you know, there's been moments where Nurse will tell PG, you know, he'll have four straight possessions to himself and then he won't see the ball for two and a half quarters. So it, you know, despite not really being able to get into a uh a consistent rhythm, Paul George has been great in this series, but they just have not been going to him much. Not to mention the Sixers are also getting eaten alive on the on the boards. Um Drummond, Bona, Embiid came back in game four this series, and it was the ugliest game of any of the four for the Sixers, especially on the boards, which you wouldn't expect. Um uh they're just getting out-hustled, out-muscled, out shot. It's it's tough to watch as a Sixers fan, but um it's it's partially what we expected here. And like I mentioned, Joel Embiid returning from uh his appendix surgery. We were expecting some sort of you know offensive jolt from that at least. And it proved to be quite the opposite. The Sixers could not get comfortable all night, and they just got severely outworked, and the Celtics were just raining threes on them. It was a really ugly game. So, so yeah, as as painful as it is for me and Larry to say, this one looks just about over for the Sixers.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

This series has been absolutely painful, you know, with the 3-1 lead. We both, I think, had Celtics in five this series. This was easy money, respectfully. The Sixers got absolutely cooked in game four. I I tuned in kind of in the second half and saw the score was as big as it was. I'm like, yep, this game's over. And this is despite Joel MB coming back. The man coming off an appendix surgery played better than the guys who actually were healthy, which is sad. The Celtics just look so smooth with Tatum back in the lineup. They're hitting everything. Peyton half court Pritchard hitting his shots every single time. I don't know what it is with that man. I don't know if it that's just that's just something he loves to do or he's been.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

He might be the greatest player in NBA history at the end of a shot clock. I genuinely know. It's unreal.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

From half court, forget Steph Curry, forget Clay Thompson. It's it's Peyton Pritchard at half court. What I found hilarious about this matchup is that I was seeing people on social media, despite Chris and I, we have a group chat and some people were countering us, but I said, nay, nay. There were posts, and Chris backed me up on this. There were people on social media who thought this series was going to be competitive. There was like, oh, well, if you look at this matchup, I think this could actually be competitive. And you know, look at this. And you know, you have Ubre in this and Drummond in that. And I'm like, this is the Celtics we're talking about. The Celtics have had the Sixers number for years, and it's not going to change now. And Chris backed me up and he said, Yes, there were people that thought this series was going to be competitive. Tatum came back, the series was over. When it was announced the Celtics was the Sixers opponent, the series was over. I watched game one, and within five minutes, it was a blowout. Joe Mazzula was calling out plays. He said there was, you know, here's a downscreen or something. He knew what the Sixers were running. He knew what the Sixers were running before he knew what the Sixers were running. So I don't know what's going to happen here. Game five is on Tuesday, seven o'clock in Bean Town, most likely going to be the dagger. And if it somehow gets to game six, that will be the series finale as well.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Yeah, you're definitely and you were definitely right. I mean, there were delusional Philadelphia fans that thought this would be somewhat of a series, you know, like I mentioned uh last night in our group chat. I mean, I mean, there were people saying that Kelly Oubre versus Sam Hauser was some blowout for the Sixers. Like, are are we are we for real? Like, I mean, it was ugly from Kelly Ubre last night, and it has been a lot from Kelly Ubre's Sixers' tenure. He can hit a big three now and then, you know, he he's an energizer, but Kelly Kelly Oubre is just not a winning basketball player. Like, he is so frustrating to watch sometimes, and Sam Hauser is just a lights out three-point shooter. I have no idea why anyone thought that would have been a win in the matchup for us. You know, people were acting like Andre Drummond and Nimiish Keda with some wash. Like that, that's unreal. Like, Keda has been great this season, and like Andre Drummond is pretty conservatively washed at this point. Yeah, you you you stole the words out of my mouth. I mean, he is he he is just um I mean he used to lead the league in rebounds, and and watching him play sometimes you wonder how that ever happened. It's ugly, man. It's uh it's it's getting uglier by the game here.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

The series the series was over the moment Adem Bona started game one. Oh my god.

Eastern Conference First Round: Knicks vs. Hawks

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Don't even get me started on the Adam Bona minutes. Um, you know, he he's a great defender, but maybe the most uncoordinated player I've ever watched play in the NBA. I'm sure Larry and I could vent our frustrations for the rest of the podcast, but unfortunately, we are going to have to transition to the New York Knicks versus the Atlanta Hawks. This has been an awesome series so far. CJ McCollum has been the best player on the court for maybe 75% of this series, and having a guard who can consistently and confidently get to his spots, make shots efficiently, not turn the ball over, is so invaluable for this Hawks team. And it's something Trey Young could not do for them at this level that we are seeing from CJ McCollum, which is just so ridiculous to say. Like, like, who would have thought that we would be saying this in April 2026? CJ McCollum has has taken over Trey Young's role and more than excelled in it. It's it's April 2026. Like, like, what is going on right now? Like, CJ McCollum is taking over a tip a playoff team and beating a team we thought had championship aspirations. It's unreal at the level he's been playing in this series. And the Knicks are crushing the Hawks by the metrics in this series, but the late game shot making from McCollum is making every difference. It's ridiculous. Um, the top of the Knicks lineup, Bronson, Kat, OG, they're all having great series. But Mikhail Bridges, notably his his game three cardio fest, zero points, um, got a lot of outcry from that one. Um, also Josh Hart and Landry Shamit, they are not shooting well enough for the Knicks to be hitting their ceiling, to be playing at the level we think they can play at. They just haven't been rising the occasion as much as the top of the lineup has. And and I just cannot speak enough as as to how well CJ McCollum has been playing this series. It's it's unreal. Like like he Brunson has been great. Like Brunson has been playoff Brunson, like he he's been awesome, he's shooting really well, he's scoring at a high clip. But who would have thought April 2026, CJ McCollum is going band for ban with Jalen Brunson? Like, what in the world is going on?

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah, this has been an absolutely great series, probably one of the best in the first round, east or west. You know, we got a tied 2-2 series. It's not like the Knicks are running away with this one, so there will at least be a game six. This is it's been a nail-biting matchup. I mean, the Hawks won back-to-back games by one point each. One in New York and one in Atlanta. CJ McCollum has been on fire. I I think I was watching game three when he hit that clutch shot and the Knicks fell apart on that last possession. CJ at 32 in game two. Jonathan Kaminga has been revitalizing his career. Sorry, Steve Kerr, but I think Jonathan Kaminga actually can be a useful basketball player on a winning team. Mikhail Bridges basically like a soft benching in game three, as you said, running cardio out there, not hitting any shots. He got paid a lot of money, and I think he got traded for five first-round picks. That's not what you want to see from a guy that got traded for five first-round picks. And I think this is going to be a really good one. If the Hawks pull this out, what an improvement that would be. And to see CJ McCollum dominating like this in 2026 is mind-boggling considering Jalen Brunson is on the other sideline. Game five, well, we'll get to that in a little bit, and you'll see why.

Eastern Conference First Round: Cavaliers vs. Raptors

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Alright, and as we navigate here to the final series in the East in this first round, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, 2-2. Uh, this was looking really ugly through two games. Cleveland was having their way. They were up to nothing. But Scotty Barnes has taken over. He's been the best player on the court in this series. He's averaging 26 points, uh, five rebounds, seven assists, a steal, and a block on 63% true shooting. He's been lights out from three, uh shooting 47%. This is some of the best basketball we've seen from his career in the series thus far. And man, rookie Colin Murray Boyles for the Toronto Raptors, what a difference he's made as a rookie. He's a truly great defender already, just a Swiss Army knife on defense. And his offensive game has come along further in year one than we may have ever expected in his entire career. That was the major concern coming out of South Carolina for Murray Boyles. He showed everything and more you would have wanted on the defensive end, but as the game has become so nurtured to three-point shooting, it's it's a skill you need in today's NBA. You cannot just be a great defender, and that was the worry with Murray Boyles. Um, but but he's been great. I mean, like, he's looked better on offense at moments than James Hard and Donovan Mitchell. Like, we he's he's getting to shots and and hitting shots at such an efficient clip that that again we we didn't really expect from him. And some people didn't expect him to ever develop in his career. And he's doing this in the playoffs as a rookie, fearless. He's been awesome for them. And him and Scotty Barnes are just terrorizing this Cleveland offense, who we've known to be inconsistent, who we've known to kind of lack an identity. Evan Mobley, there's been moments in this series where he just looks super dominant, super assertive, and then there's been moments where he'll miss five straight shots and he'll kind of take the back seat. Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, they've shown their inconsistencies this series, um, despite a very strong start out the gate. This is a very intriguing series. It's been a war so far, and it's not often you feel so strongly about the outcome of. Series after two games and feel the exact opposite two games later. So clearly Toronto has the momentum in this one at the moment, but um again, we've already seen that momentum change on a dime just like that in this series so far. So who knows? Maybe Cleveland comes out game five at home. We see 40 points from Donovan Mitchell. We see, you know, Colin Murray Boyles getting fried. Who knows? Like, like this series, we've we've seen the extreme ends of this series in terms of both teams' ceiling of performance, and it's gonna come down to these last three games. I'm really excited to watch the end of the series.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Now, I hope when you mean fried, it means on the defensive side, not something else.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Truly, truly. That is truly what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

So yeah, this Chaos Raptors series, I think you had this going all the way to seven. I did. And it's looking likely so far. You know, 2-2. None of the road teams have won. It's been the home team. So if we're keeping this up, Cleveland has a chance in game five, which is on Wednesday, by the way. Game four came down to the wire. They forced a backcourt violation at the very end. The Raptors did. Colin Murray Boyles has been the X Factor for the Raptors. And I saw a stat, Chris. You ready for this one? And it should not be a surprise. James Harden, this playoffs. 20 made field goals, 20 turnovers. That's the James Harden we all know and love. You know, James Harden has had some.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

That's the playoff James Harden we know.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Playoff James Harden has had his issues in the past. He's been known as a playoff choker. Regular season, he's a goat. Playoffs, he's not a goat. And you know, hopefully he can kind of turn things around because they traded for him. They got rid of Darius Garland. They're going to need him. Evan More.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

What a great end of his season in Los Angeles, by the way. So do with that what you will.

Western Conference First Round: Thunder vs. Suns

SPEAKER_01 23:48

The Cavs need their core to step up. You know, if they can stop Scotty Barnes, but Scotty Barnes is a tough man to stop. Yeah, that's another great series along with the Knicks. We'll see how that can go. That is the end of our Eastern Conference breakdown. Let's go over to the West. All right, we are now in the Western Conference first round. A lot of good matchups over here as well, as we just talked about the East. And we're going to start with the Thunder and Suns in the 1-8 matchup. And yeah, this has been a murder. The Thunder are up 3-0 in this series. They're looking for the sweep tonight on Monday. That will be in Phoenix at 9.30. Every game has been a double-digit blowout. It was 35 points in game one for crying out loud. Phoenix has no answers for Shea Gilgis Alexander. Jalen Williams is out with a hamstring stream, but OKC is stacked. They don't really need him at the moment. It'd be nice. Obviously, you don't want your second star to be injured, but they really don't need him at this point in time. We're just expecting the Thunder to punch their ticket to the conference semifinals. They would get the winner of the Lakers Rocket series. Chris, this has just been a murder. Watching some of these games, it's over within a few minutes. And, you know, the Suns, they've had a great season. Jordan Ott has been the answer for the Suns this season. Dylan Brooks has been great. Jalen Green has had his moments, but uh there's not many positives for the Suns right now.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah, there's not a whole lot to say here. Besides, Shea has been incredible in this series. He is comfortably the best player in the world at this point. I have no doubt about that. He's averaging 35 and 8 this series on 67% true shooting. And his game two was all time. 42 points on 15 for 18 shooting, getting doubled all night long, getting helped all night long, talking. We are watching one of the best pure scores of this century. This level of efficiency, making shots versus missing shots, at his level of volume is like nothing we've ever seen in NBA history. And naturally, that's gonna be just a little too much for Dylan Brooks to handle. Now, shout out Dylan Brooks. He's having a great series, okay. We respect Dylan Brooks. I respect Dylan Brooks. I don't know about you, Larry, but real ones, real ones like me respect Dylan Brooks, what he brings to a team, the fire he brings. He's trying to get in Shay's head. He's playing really well, but Shay is just overwhelming him. And Shay is just going to overwhelm anybody he runs into for the rest of the playoffs. It is unreal what we're seeing from him right now. He he is this is the most locked-in player we've seen in the last six years since Kawhi Leonard in Toronto. I mean, Shay is on a mission right now, and also, like you mentioned, the Thunder lose Jalen Williams again to a hamstring injury. All NBA guy, you know, one of the faces of the team, and nobody bats an eye. That says so much about what the Thunder have built. It's insane. They can lose one of their best players, and again, like no one bats an eye. When Jalen Williams went down, nobody was like, oh man, this could get frisky. I mean, I mean, Phoenix could really put up a fight here. No, like I think I joked in our group chat. They're their their odds of winning the championship went from minus 250 to minus 245 after the Jalen Williams injury. One of their best players, all NBA player. It doesn't matter. They just have guys on guys on guys on guys on guys. Like they they are one of the deepest teams we've seen of all time. So yeah, I mean, you can't say enough good things about the Thunder. Shout out the Suns. They're really having a great season. And I really like what Jordan Knott's doing over there. And you know, they have guys I really like. Uh, but you know, it's the Oklahoma City Thunder. This is gonna be a sweep.

Western Conference First Round: Spurs vs. Trail Blazers

SPEAKER_01 27:37

First round Oklahoma City Thunder. Don't mess with them. Coming up next in the 2-7 matchup in the West, we have the San Antonio Spurs and the Portland Trailblazers. It's been a good series, but the Spurs have a commanding 3-1 lead. This one looks all but locked up. Portland Blue, both home games with double-digit leads, even with Victor Wemanyama out for the Spurs in game three due to a concussion. Wemby and Stefan Castle have looked great. They've really looked locked in. Wemby had a great game four. Scoot Henderson for Portland with a game four goose egg. And, you know, Chris, obviously, you know, Portland getting their feet wet here in the playoffs. I don't think anybody expected them to take this big of a leap this quickly. Denny Ovdia has been a blessing for them. He has really turned this franchise around, rip Wizards fans because he used to be a Wizard. He was their top draft pick many moons ago. The Blazers, they have a nice young core. Drew Holliday has really stepped up for them in a veteran with championship experience role. Donovan Klingon has had his moments. Shaden Sharp is athletic, and Tiago Splitter has done a heck of a job commanding this team after, as we've said a thousand times, with the Chauncey Bill ups crap with the organized crime. Tiago Splitter has done a great job, but the Spurs, they're just running circles around them. Second half, these last couple games, it has just been San Antonio and the Mitch Johnson show. I mean, this one has really gone the Spurs' way. Game five is on Tuesday in San Antonio. This one should pretty much be a lock.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Larry, do you remember who the Wizards traded Denny Avdia for?

SPEAKER_01 29:19

Uh wasn't Westbrook, was it?

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Close. Older point guard.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Older point guard. No.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

The Wizards traded Denny Avdia for CJ McCollum. Whoa. CJ McCollum balling out right now. Great player. Still got it. Larry, what team is CJ McCollum on right now?

SPEAKER_01 29:38

The Atlanta Hawks.

Western Conference First Round: Nuggets vs. Timberwolves

SPEAKER_00 29:39

The Wizards just can't get it right, man. They just can't do anything right for Wizards. But yeah, I mean, yeah, the second halves in in this series have been have been a big yikes for Portland, especially last night. I mean, God. I mean, Portland had a 15-point lead. I mean, we were thought they were gonna even up the series here. And I I think the Spurs outscored them by like 20-something points in the second half. It was crazy. Um, but yeah, this this nonetheless, this has been a good series. Uh, definitely, you know, more competitive than I think anybody was expecting. Um, and it really was looking kind of frisky for a bit with uh Wemby missing game three due to the concussion he suffered in game two, which Portland ended up taking. But Dylan Harper, I think, had his career-defining moment up to this point in that game three. He had 27 points and 10 rebounds. He virtually didn't miss a shot. And as soon as Portland got testy with him, notably Scoot Henderson, you could see a fire light up inside him. He was talking and he was backing it up. It was so cool to see from such a young player. Scoot and and Dylan Harper have been going out of this series. It's been really cool to see because we haven't really seen much of Scoot Henderson at all in his NBA career. It's been pretty unfortunate. He's dealt with a lot of injuries, and seeing him play a lot of playoff minutes, getting the ball a lot. It's been really cool to see. And and he's been confident, despite his goose egg. You know, that's what you're gonna get from Scoot Henderson sometimes, apparently. Uh, he's really he's really not the greatest shooter, but nonetheless, I think it's been really cool to see him play with such confidence in his first playoffs after missing a lot of the start of his young career. So I I think it's been really cool to see Scoot doing what he's doing. Um, Denny Abdi has been super intense this series. He's been great for them. Donovan Klingon's been great. I mean, Portland's having a great series, you know, given what we were expecting out of them. But yeah, I mean, San Antonio just have to win one of these next three games. They will get it done. But yeah, this has been a fun series, no doubt.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

All right, now let's go to the Western 3-6 series. We have the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves. And the Minnesota Timberwolves have a 3-1 series lead, as we talked about in the opener. And the question here: can the Timberwolves close out this series without Anthony Edwards and Dante DiVincenzo? Can the Timberwolves survive even if they advance, with Anthony Edwards being out for a few weeks and Dante for the season? Games three and four in Minnesota were almost the exact same score, interestingly enough. It was 113.96 game three, one twelve ninety-six in game four, both in favor of Minnesota. Rudy Gobert has uh actually been doing pretty good. We've seen him get cooked in these last couple postseasons, most notably in the 2024 postseason when Luka Doncic got him on an island. We all know which play that was. Rudy Gobert has been forcing Nicola Jokic to post tour dates. For those of you that might not know what that means, it's it is what it sounds like. So, like, I'm making this up. Today is April 27th, so maybe four of 27 shooting or like 10 of 25, that kind of like where it's a date, and you know, so he's he's posting tour dates at the moment. Aaron Gordon missed game three. Timberwolves still got the win, despite Denver missing a key starter, and they are playing tonight as well in Denver, game five. Timberwolves could close us out. Denver could extend and go back to Minnesota for a potential game six. This has been an interesting series, obviously, with the injuries. Rudy Gobert, it was it was funny to see Shaquille O'Neal, who is a certified Rudy Gobert hater, and he was basically saying that it's not like he was locking him up or whatever. It was more like Nicole Jokic was just missing shots, and it's hilarious to see Shaq being such a hater for that one. Love Shaq, but this is you know one of the times where he's absolutely incorrect with that. Yeah, Chris, I don't know. Can the Timberwolves survive? They'd be getting, like we said earlier, they'd be getting the Spurs, most likely, in the next round. That is not something you want to see if you're an Anthony Edwardless team.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Well, first of all, you gotta be fired up on Rudy Gobert. People gotta start putting respect on that man's name. It is crazy. He is maybe one of the most disrespected big name players of this century. There are a large group of basketball fans, as they claim, that think Rudy Gobert is just a genuinely bad NBA player. Like, that is unreal. That is so crazy because you know, you see the Luca highlight, and and and you see this time he gets cooked on the perimeter, and you know, you see him air ball a free throw, and and and and so many people just jump to the conclusion that, like, oh, like, like, how is this dude winning depoys? You know, like what like what what are what are these what are these executives and coaches not seeing? Like, this guy sucks. Like that that is so unbelievably disrespectful. People hate Rudy Gobert, you know, people think he's arrogant and and you know, immature, you know, he's he's gotten into scuffles with other players before. People hate his game, but he is one of the highest impact defenders maybe in NBA history, and he is going up against who we thought has been maybe the best player in the NBA the last five seasons. And again, Jokic is posting tour date after tour date, seven of twenty-two, seven of twenty-four, eight of twenty-two, like game after game. Like, this is Rudy Gobert. Like, when are is the narrative gonna start to flip on Rudy Gobert? Like, listen, I you can say what you want about Rudy Gobert's personality. You you you can think he's a bitch, whatever. He is one of the best defenders of the century, and and it's unreal the way I see him getting talked about by some people, especially Shaquille O'Neal. You know, I I need to segue this into the Shaquille O'Neal conversation. Man, like Shaq has his funny moments, Charles Barkley, they have their funny moments. I cannot stand them as as just like a basketball fan. Like they're they're they're due for their entertaining moments. That's why they have the jobs they have. They're they're they're they're trying to make people laugh, they're trying to have viral moments, but it it is so like infuriating hearing them actually talk about basketball. They just don't like basketball, they don't care for basketball, and and they don't even mess with like true basketball fans. Like it's like every single time you see them on TV, they're talking about how bad the series has been, or how bad playoff basketball is, or how these guys couldn't hang back in their day. That could not be further from the truth. We are seeing so much defense played in this playoffs, we're seeing so much physicality, we're seeing so much intensity, we're seeing so much f talking. And all you hear are these two talking heads, these two idiots going back and forth on TV talking about how bad the NBA is nowadays, and it is infuriating because the product has been great, but now you have these two talking heads that are super popular, that are super in the media, and they are influencing these borderline basketball fans into thinking that oh, the NBA just sucks nowadays, it's not as physical, you know, no one plays defense anymore. And people listen to them and people value the opinions of Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley, and it and it's it is infuriating to watch them talk about basketball. So there's my inside the NBA rant. Shout out um Kenny the Jets Smith, shout out Ernie Johnson, those are the boys. Um, but people gotta start putting respect on Rudy Gobert's name. Um, I think the Timberwolves are gonna escape out of this series here. Man, especially if Ayodosumu can play at a fraction of how he played in that game four. That was unreal. Like he was not missing from the moment Ant and Dante went down. They were relying on him. I believe Julius Randle said post-game that he didn't even think Aodosumu was that good, which is an interesting uh comment to make about about a teammate, especially who just dropped 40 points. But I mean, I think Julius Randle honestly was just in shock as as we were watching that game. It was unreal from Aodosunu.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

You know what's you know what was great? I forget it might have been game three. I watched Rudy Gobert, I think, in the same game. He like airballed a hook shot and then like did like a he did like a fake hook shot turnaround over Jokic, and I'm like, wait, wait, you made that, but you like airballed like a floater or like a free throw. I'm like, bro, and then he'll lock up Jokic, and I'm like, what am I watching right now?

Western Conference First Round: Lakers vs. Rockets

SPEAKER_00 37:53

Dude, he's got a weird game, people don't like it, and you see the low lights, and people beast on those low lights from Rudy Gobert. Um, but but I mean, he's been the best player in this series. Like, Rudy Gobert has been the best player on the court in this series, and and it's unreal the way you see some people talking about him. And you know, I I think they're gonna make it out of this series because of Rudy Gobert. They have enough offensive juice in Randall, in Ayodosumu, to I think get it done against this Nuggets team who is just getting out athleticism, they're getting, you know, they're they're getting physically dominated by the wolves. They're they are just more athletic, they're faster, they're stronger than the Nuggets. And, you know, I I I think the the this kind of era of the Nugg is starting to kind of loom to an end here. I mean, this this is the third consecutive playoff where we've seen them get in trouble because of their lack of athleticism and their lack of physicality. And Jokic just has not quite been the same player since the knee injury. So I think the wolves are gonna get out of this series. Um, I was hoping this series would be a bit more competitive, and and who knows? You know, we we just saw Anthony Edwards go down. Like the Nuggets, this this is as good of a chance you could ask for to climb back into series and make it competitive with the other team star player going down. So who knows? Um, but yeah, the Nuggets have played really bad through four games, and and the Wolves have just physically dominated them.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

And finally, for our Western Conference first round, we have the Lakers and the Houston Rockets. The Lakers have a 3-1 lead, which I don't think anybody saw coming. I had the Rockets in a sweep. My bad. The Rockets, the Rockets were down 0-3 before Sunday, even without Luka Doncic and Austin Reeves in the LA lineup. Houston played with desperation in game four. They look like a team they didn't want to get swept. LeBron James has been turning back the clock in this series. He is he's been putting on some great performances on the offensive end. What I saw in game four was a particularly bad call from the refs. Now, thankfully, it did not affect the game in the final, but it was just a terrible call. DeAndre Ayton got tossed on a flagrant two penalty. He basically, I I forget, I think it was Shangoon. He put his elbow, like he was going to the rim, he put his elbow in, and you know, the NBA defines a flagrant foul basically as like like wind up impact and follow through, and there's like certain criteria. Usually, if it looks like it's a bad hit, it's usually a flagrant one. Flagrant two has to be something ridiculous, like run our test on James Harden to the head kind of thing. I mean, that would be a suspension nowadays, but that's kind of what a flagrant two is is wind up impact follow-through. DeAndre Aiton put a chicken wing out, and they tossed his ass to the curb, and that was the end of DeAndre for the night. So I kind of I had to laugh to myself watching that play unfold. But game five is on Wednesday. It's in LA. Lakers looking to finish out this series. Chris, I don't know how the hell the Lakers have been able to absolutely dominate the Rockets. You called it, you said the Rockets were terrible. The Rockets have just not looked like a good basketball team at the moment. If it was just Austin Reeves out, okay. If it was just Luka Doncic out, okay. Luca and Austin Reeves both out with a 41-year-old LeBron James leading a JV team. What are you doing?

Game of the Week

SPEAKER_00 41:21

At 41 years old, LeBron James is playing damn near just as well as he was over 10 years ago on the Miami Heat. That is just unfathomable. Um, shout out the dude that said, I believe in 2013 that that LeBron's turning 30 soon, so we won't have to deal with this blank much longer. I mean, just an all-timer from that guy. Um, I I wonder how he feels sitting at home turning on an ESPN and um watching a 41-year-old LeBron James, who he thought would have been washed 10 years ago, drop 30-point triple doubles night after night. Uh, pretty crazy to think about. And pair LeBron's performances with an all-time Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart series, and you know, it would be hard for any team to have an answer, let alone this again what I believe to be a broken Rockets team. I I'm really worried about the direction of the Houston Rockets. I'll start with Alper and Sangoon. He is so reliant on his paint touch. That is how he's made his bread and butter. Getting low in the post, backing people down, and kind of just going vertical and relying on the flick of his wrist to put the ball in the hoop. He that that is that is his game. And his efficiency down there has not at all been what you would like in this series. And honestly, like in this season, like he he has really not gotten better with that paint touch. Like, again, it's such a massive part of his game, but he's really not particularly efficient with it. And that's gonna show in the playoffs, and it has been. I have real concerns about his playstyle and kind of how he fits into a team with championship aspirations. Because you know, for Shangun to be successful, he's gonna have to take a lot of shots. He's gonna have to take a lot of shots in that low post, which again, he's been really inconsistent with it. So I I I really just wrestle with the idea of Shangun being a player you can really build a championship contender around. Also, Kevin Durant has been pretty disengaged this series, it feels like. I mean, he he's kind of just like looked visibly frustrated with the team. I mean, he kind of has all season. Um, of course, we went over the the the Kevin Durant Twitter gate, hit his elite group chat messages on his burner account, which um have been kind of soft confirmed to be true. Him just saying really nasty things about his teammates. And, you know, this team has looked lifeless in the postseason. And and Durant has kind of you know spearheaded that sort of attitude for the team. Um, the non-Amen Thompson minutes in this series have been awful for Houston. He's been their one saving grace. He's he's he's playing really hard, he's playing with a lot of intensity. And, you know, after Durant, Houston kind of has two players where you look at and say, okay, they're building the team around Durant, and then they're building it around Amen Thompson and Alper and Shangoon. And I think this series is revealing to us who is really the player you can have hope in moving forward, building the team around. Shangoon never been a great defender and has been really inconsistent with his paint touch, which is basically his entire offensive game. And I think he's really um messed things up for Houston offensively in this series. Whereas Aamon Thompson, he has maybe even more limitations offensively than Alper and Shangun does, but the level of intensity he's playing with on the defensive end has more than made up for those offensive struggles. And he's he's been aggressive on offense. You know, he's one of the most athletic players in the league. He can get a shot if he needs it, and he's been good this series. And you know, I I I think we're seeing in real time, you know, who Houston should kind of lean to moving forward in terms of their you know, grand scheme picture. Um, it's been a tough series for Alper and Shangun. And, you know, lastly about this series, I think it's so funny how uh we we saw so much talk about LeBron going into this series about you, you know, like you mentioned um on the last episode of the pod, you know, it's crazy to think just a week ago we were talking about LeBron James needing a Zero Dark 30 type performance to even maybe take two games of this series, and you know, you see all these edits of uh Luka Doncic um telling LeBron to you know take over, and LeBron saying, I got you, and it's it's it's these, you know, like like anime edits of LeBron, and it was all kind of fun and games. We didn't really expect this from LeBron James, but he has actually materialized all of those memes, all of those hypothetical scenarios in which he takes over the series and and and wins it for LA. I mean, he's made that happen. I mean, I don't think that can be talked about enough, what LeBron James has been able to do. It it's it's like truly, utterly ridiculous what he's been doing. I mean, he might be a tick worse athletically than he was in his prime. I'm talking like marginally worse. But every other aspect of his game as is like basically just as good as it's been for a while now. It's unreal how he's played this series. Marcus Smart at 30-something years old. Um, I kind of lean towards 35-36 rather than the the brink of 30. He's been playing amazing this series. Uh Luke Kennard has been amazing this series. I mean, the Lakers are just having dudes step up, and it's a real testament to JJ Reddick, I think. Um, I've talked time after time during this season about how I really just didn't trust LA's depth going into the playoffs. But man, they are super locked in right now. We're seeing guys step up that I would have never expected to. And yeah, it's just been a super, super unexpectedly impressive series from LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. All right, so for our game of the week, this might be the best pool of game of the week candidates we've had all season. It's the playoffs. Every game matters, every team is, you know, fighting for their life here. So, so man, we had plenty of good choices, but we're gonna take it over to the Eastern Conference, a series that is two to two, and we're gonna go with game five of the New York Knicks versus the Atlanta Hawks. Um, as we talked about earlier, this series has been super close. The top of the lineup for New York playing really well. Jalen Brunson, Carl Anthony Towns doing their thing, the end of the lineup for New York, not holding up their end of the bargain. For Atlanta, they haven't been rebounding particularly well. Um, Jalen Johnson hasn't been particularly great, who, you know, we expect to be be the star of this team, but all they needed was this emergence from CJ McCollum to make this a competitive series. He has been unreal for them in the in these playoffs so far. I I think I think this is the series I'm looking forward to seeing the the outcome of the most here. And I I think the CJ McCollum development has maybe been my favorite story of the playoffs. Um, it's just you don't see this. You you don't you don't see a 34-year-old who is far from what we thought was the peak of his career, um, just you know, step into a playoff series against one of the best teams in a conference and just absolutely take over. We would have expected CJ McCollum to be, I don't know, maybe the fifth or sixth best player in this series, and even that might be a little optimistic. He has a great case for being the best player in this series, it's unreal. So Tuesday, eight o'clock, about 24 hours from the time of this recording in New York. Man, and and this is an impossible game to pick here because as much as I love CJ McCollum, you know, initially I trusted the Knicks more in this series to just get it done. They're going back home. We've seen the type of magic McCollum can work in the garden earlier this series, but we've also seen just as much magic from Jalen Brunson in this tenure for the Knicks and the amount of big playoff moments um he's had in that arena. I think I'm gonna go with New York in this one. It's it's a really tough game to pick, you know, you know, given what we've seen from both sides in this series. I think I'm gonna take New York in this one, and then I hope, I hope we go back to New York for a game seven later this week. Hopefully, Atlanta can take game six at home. I would I would love to see this go to seven, maybe see a a CJ McCullough masterclass. But yeah, just an awesome series. Can't wait for this game. But I'm going, I'm gonna go with the New York Knicks 105 to 100.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

All right. Yeah, it should be a really close game. And in my prediction, I was thinking like the 120s, but I know I can't do that. I changed mine. So, yeah, this game at the garden should be an electric crowd, game five, eight o'clock on a Tuesday night. And both teams split in both cities, not like the Cavs, Raptors, where the road team is not won yet. The Knicks took games one and four, Hawks took games two and three. Both of Atlanta's wins were one-point nail biters. Carl Anthony Towns had a 2010-10 triple-double to propel the Knicks in game four in the A. Jalen Johnson needs to have a strong performance. He hasn't been like leading the team as opposed to CJ McCullum. Jalen Johnson hopefully can have a strong game, and that will most likely be enough to push New York to the brink of elimination. I mean, I'm not saying he needs to drop 40 points, but that'd be nice. It'd be nice. CJ McCollum has been the man. The Knicks trying to lock him up, and Jalen Brunson just needs to not get cooked in defensive coverages. Jalen Brunson is not an all-star defender, and as long as they can keep him in check, you know, and Jalen Brunson doesn't get cooked, the Knicks, I think, have a chance to do this. If the Hawks steal game five, that's really saying something to how this team is going to perform in game six and possibly the rest of the postseason. I know the Hawks, you know, they're they're they really changed his team this year without Trey Young. If they can steal game five, hey, they did it once, they got game two in a in a tight one. Game five would be even better. And if yeah, if this can go to seven games, that would be a treat in itself. But I am going with the New York Knicks. I wanted to go Atlanta, but I'm like, this is Madison Square Garden we're talking about. So I am going Knicks 111-108.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

Prove us wrong, CJ.

Conclusion

SPEAKER_01 52:19

CJ, we believe in you. 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 dealman 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 Buzz Sprout. 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. With today's episode being number 99, next week we finally hit episode number 100 of the podcast. Chris and I cannot wait to give that to you guys. We're gonna have something really special for you planned. So stay tuned for that. Make sure you tune in next week. Tell a friend, tell a friend's friend, tell whoever. Make sure you're here for episode 100. See you next time, fellow hoops fans.