No regrets from Stan Van Gundy in off day media availability session. None from Phil Jackson, either, but you’d get the feeling you’d be laughed out of the conference call if you asked him if there was anything about Game 4 that he’d take back.
And, as you’d expect, either side played the part of the coach of a team either up 3-1, or down 1-3.
Van Gundy still charges that fouling the Lakers with 11 seconds to go in Thursday’s Game 4 would have been too early (forgetting, of course, that Trevor Ariza(notes) and Derek Fisher(notes) had the ball in their hands with seven and six and five seconds to go), while defending his decision to banish Rafer Alston(notes) to the end of the bench after a game-changing third quarter that saw the Magic only score 14 points.
On Jameer Nelson(notes) playing for the entire fourth quarter:
“Obviously in any kind of loss people are going to question anything; that’s fine. But our fourth quarter unit functioned a lot better than our third quarter unit did, so I stuck with what was working.”
He admits to not thinking about possibly giving a defensive-minded guard like Courtney Lee(notes) a shot in the last defensive possession of the game, he doesn’t want to be quoted as blaming Rafer Alston for the struggles in the third quarter (conveniently leaving out the fact that Hedo Turkoglu’s(notes) absence, more than Rafer’s poor play, contributed to the pathetic offense).
Van Gundy also still claims he’s not upset at Dwight Howard’s(notes) free throw frustrations because they were balanced out by the other aspects of his game (rebounding, and an NBA Finals-record nine blocks).
All in all, in was a pinched, frustrated, shoulders-shrugged bit of analysis.
Phil Jackson — and I swear I should have this phrase saved on my clipboard — was typically serene. Wistfully looking back to the struggles of his post-playing days, trying to find secure employment in and out of basketball, musing aloud about how the journey is the thing, how fun this ride has been, and how much he appreciates his team.
On the upcoming Game 5, as you’d expect, the Lakers coach is hoping his team busts out with a singular focus, rather than reacting to largeness of the moment, or Orlando’s desperate crowd.
“The big key is that if we can match that play and the energy that they throw out there on the floor, then we give ourselves a chance. To do that we have to be focused, which is always a coach’s cry, ‘get focused.’ We have to reach the energy level or the emotional level of the game in a way that matches what the crowd and the Orlando team put out there on the floor.”
He mentioned that his players were giddy after Game 4, happy to be this close to a championship, while taking on an even cheerier tone following Friday’s film session.
“What I told them is there’s a chance tomorrow’s practice may be the last practice of the season. That’s also something that gets them pretty excited because practice for players is something that is — at this level of the game, having gone through hundreds or probably more than a hundred-some practices, they’re excited about not having to come to practice again.”
Jackson also gave another mention of Derek Fisher reminding the team about how the Indiana Pacers sent it back to Los Angeles with a Game 5 win in 2000.
That cracks me up, seeing as how just about every player on the Lakers save for Kobe and Fisher was well into their teenage years when that happened (Andrew Bynum(notes) was 12, Pau Gasol(notes) was 17; hell, I had just turned 20), I can’t imagine many or any of those players even remembering that game. I do, but I had a Behind the Box Score to write. Seriously.
***
Discussing the “idea” that Kobe Bryant(notes) is actually the real coach behind these Los Angeles Lakers is a bit like trying to convince someone that the NBA isn’t fixed, or that the sun doesn’t revolve around the Earth. What more is there to say beyond, “you’re daft,” before moving on?
And Alonzo Mourning(notes) is daft, here. He’s never liked Phil Jackson, it’s always been cool to pump up current, hip, players while putting some older guy down, and if you give more than two seconds thought to Mourning’s claims that Bryant “is doing all the work” and that Phil “is just showing up” — honestly, you’re taking unmitigated idiocy to an entirely different level.
To just get into the hours upon hours of work that detailing an offense, breaking down game tape, studying motivation techniques, self-improving so that you can advise others on self-improvement, 40 years of hoarding plays so that you know exactly what to call in a pinch, working endlessly on game preparation so that you can boil that knowledge down and put it across effortlessly to your team in 15 minutes during a walk-through before they lose interest, the ability to … I’ll just stop.
How do you convince someone that they’re wrong, when they’re wronger than anyone’s ever wronged before? You can either write a series of almanacs on the subject, or you can make it the second item in a notes column, 300 words or less. It’s sunny out. I’m going with the latter.
***
Scary news if you’re a Bobcats fan. The team might not even be able to afford a summer league team this year, which kind of strikes me as odd.
I know the economy isn’t at its best, I know the Bobcats have a payroll that probably goes beyond the realm of the fiscally sound, and I understand that the team isn’t exactly raking in the profits from attendance or local TV/radio, and I understand that summer league runs cost quite a bit of money, often for a payoff that isn’t so profound.
But I can’t help but wonder, given owner Robert Johnson’s NBA naïveté heading into his venture as owner of this pathetic team, if this is more of a choice than an end-result. And wonder if there haven’t been teams in tougher financial straights that still managed to make a summer league turn happen. That’s just me, though.
***
If Stan Van Gundy “needs his ass beat,” then where does that leave Jason Whitlock?
Deservedly run over by a cement mixer? Appropriately drawn and quartered? Stuck thrashing around for relevance over the last five years as the rest of the sporting world finally comes to regard him as the prat that he is? If Van Gundy made his mistake at the spur of the moment, what’s Whitlock’s excuse for being allowed time to think and re-think that line?
If this isn’t the biggest tip off that the sporting media absolutely and unabashedly roots for the underdog because they get bored with a game they don’t understand, then I don’t know what else to give you.
Jason Whitlock did not watch an Orlando Magic game until May, but now he’s emotionally invested in the team because — like the fair-weather dorks down at your local sports pub — he’ll root for an underdog winning over a close and entertaining contest regardless of outcome.
And when his underdog fails, he turns into a churlish, childish whiner. And in lieu of actual analysis, he blames the coach. Because it’s the easiest thing to do in sports, a shocking turn run by a columnist who has done nothing but take up the easiest sides in sports for years. And because he’s alone on an island desperate for hits, they allow comments like “Stan Van Gundy needs his ass beat” to run.
Do you think he could tell you, last October, who the coach of the Magic was? I’m sure he’d heard of and remembered Stan Van Gundy, but wouldn’t you bet a week’s pay that Whitlock’s answer to that question would run along the lines of, “hold on … I know this … don’t tell me …”?
You think he knows anything about the history of not fouling when up three points? You think he was angry beyond belief during the regular season when teams didn’t try it? Or in the first round of the playoffs?
You think he felt bad for Lawrence Frank in the regular season when Frank tried, and as the exception to the rule, it came back to bite New Jersey in the ass? You think Whitlock is poring over any NBA statistician’s research on the issue, bound and determined to get NBA coaches to favor the statistics on this issue, and foul?
Or did he just want the plucky underdog to win, and because it didn’t, ranted away like a spurned message board denizen. And will any other “please foul when you’re up three points” rant ever get the sort of exposure Whitlock’s “needs his ass beat” comment will get? No way.
Jason? Who does JaVale McGee(notes) play for? No idea? Then can it, kindly, regarding the NBA.
Or, better yet, give us something we haven’t heard. Discuss this situation intelligently. Don’t make a point to draw attention with foul-mouthed twaddle like that.
You’re the online equivalent of a frat boy, half-watching the Cubs game on WGN on another TV, turning into an NBA genius in June over his four Miller Lites, just in time to forget about the league for another 11 months. Why anyone would give that line of thinking a forum is beyond me.
