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 and Derek Fisher had the ball in their hands with
seven and six and five seconds to go), while defending his decision to banish
Rafer Alston to the end of the bench after a game-changing third quarter that
saw the Magic only score 14 points.

On Jameer Nelson 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 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 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
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 was 12, Pau Gasol 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 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 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 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.

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