Sevvy

The Orlando Tragic

Although I’m from Akron, and am ultimately a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, I can’t help but to pull for the Magic whenever they aren’t playing LeBron. But wow, it’s hard to get excited when they play.

How many times are we going to watch them build a double digit lead, then squander it in the 4th quarter with relaxed defense and questionable decision making? Apparently a lot. That’s exactly what happened last night. After dominating the Celtics from the 1st to the 4th, they let the Celtics go on a 13-0 run late in the 4th, to go up by 3 points. From there, the 2 traded fouls en route to a 92-88 Celtics victory.

Now let me touch on something here. When you’re up by 3 points at the end of a game, you intentionally foul a guy, he gets 2 Free Throws. Something just isn’t right about that. Some genius needs to come up with a good rule in that situation where you get a Free Throw and the ball if you’re intentionally fouled within the last 24 seconds of the game when you’re behind. Something! I don’t know.

Anyway, back on topic. You can’t choke against the Boston Celtics. Ask the Lakers. Garnett or no Garnett, it is inexcusable. The Magic got away with it against a sub-par 76ers team that was playing without its big man. But the Celtics are a whole different beast. Their bench is deep. And their playoff experience is even deeper. Even though many have questioned Doc Rivers’ coaching ability, after losing the team’s emotional and defensive leader in Kevin Garnett, he’s done a remarkable job of keeping his team focused and ready to battle.

The blame for all of this goes squarely on the shoulders of Orlando’s Head Coach, Stan Van Gundy. Why did Dwight Howard only attempt 10 field goals? Why did Rashard Lewis’ first points in the 4th quarter come on 2 Free Throws with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game, when he had the “hot hand” for Orlando? How do you allow your team to lose focus and intensity game in and game out? Especially in games when they should win by double digits. That’s bad coaching. And it didn’t go unnoticed by his own star player, Dwight Howard. Here is what Howard had to say after the game…

“Offensively I have to get the ball, I don’t think you are going to win a lot of games when your post player only gets 10 shots. It’s tough to get yourself going and get a lot of touches without a lot of shots. We have to do a better job with that.”

And he later went on to say…

“You’ve got a dominant player, let him be dominant.”

Can you believe the chickenbag on that kid? Questioning his coach? Yeah, I can. That’s what leaders do. They tell it like it is. They point out the problem. And they pro-actively try to fix it. When Dwight Howard publicly criticized Stan Van Gundy, he was well within his rights. Van Gundy is losing his team’s respect. He’s losing the league’s respect. He needs to fix this now. He’s making Shaquille O’neal smile, I can tell you that much. And I’m sure we’ll here all about it if the Magic lose this series.

If Dwight Howard’s words meant anything to The Orlando Magic, you’ll see an inspired team tomorrow night in Orlando. If not, they’ll be playing 18 holes at Bay Hill while LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers pound the Celtics’ smug faces in. And Stan Van Gundy just may get his walking papers. These epic playoff collapses have to put a sour taste into the entire city of Orlando’s mouth. Not unlike the taste of getting swept in 4 by the Houston Rockers in the 1995 NBA Finals.
Oh well, as it stands now, it looks like my Cleveland Cavaliers get a chance at revenge for last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinal. I’m okay with that. But I would have loved to walk down the street and watch the Cavs duke it out with the Magic. I might just have to deal with watching the series on my giant HD TV. Damn.

P.S. Paul Pierce, if you’re reading this, and I know you are, shave those “sideburns” off your face, please. They look like absolute garbage, man. Seriously. That’s what my sideburns looked like… in 8th grade.