Posts Tagged → Stan Van Gundy
Sneak Preview: Orlando Magic at San Antonio Spurs
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Leave it to Stan Van Gundy to compare one of his starting forwards to one of baseball’s best sluggers. A couple of years ago, Van Gundy — a lifelong baseball fan — responded to the calls of doom and gloom when the Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera started a season poorly. Van Gundy remembers telling someone then that Cabrera would hit .300, hit 30 home runs and drive in 100 runs. And that’s what Cabrera did. The same goes, Van Gundy says, for [Rashard] Lewis. The starting forward started the year poorly, but might have some traction now after scoring 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting Saturday night in Indianapolis. ‘Rashard’s going to shoot his percentage,’ Van Gundy said. ‘You’re going to have slumps. When it’s at the first of the year, it looks ugly, because your numbers don’t come down from 47 percent to 42 percent. All you’ve got’s the slump, and it looks ugly. But he’s too good a shooter to continue shooting that way. If he continues to play hard and play with energy, he’s going to shoot the ball well.’ ”
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “Charles Barkley, TNT studio analyst, didn’t mince words when talking about Dwight Howard and the Magic’s title chances. He’s not a fan. ‘He is getting better, but the Magic have no chance of beating the Celtics or the Heat. Dwight Howard has to become more dominant. He is still not dominating. He is not making them double him every time,’ Barkley said. ‘Unless Dwight Howard becomes more dominant, like a young Shaquille O’Neal, the Orlando Magic are just going to be a good-looking regular-season team with a bunch of good players. They are not going to beat the Heat or the Celtics going to Vince Carter with the game on the line. No disrespect to Vince Carter, but he is not going to take them to the next level. It has to be him [Howard] or Rashard [Lewis] and right now I don’t have faith in either one of those guys. It has got to be Dwight Howard.’ ”
- Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: “When the Spurs played the Bulls in a game televised nationally by ESPN, analysts Marc Jackson, the former All-Star point guard, and Jeff Van Gundy, the former coach of the Knicks and Rockets, weighed in on the abundance of top-tier point guards in the NBA this season. Each was asked to rank the top five in the league. Missing from both lists: the Spurs’ Tony Parker. Van Gundy did the best to hedge, saying he would add Parker to his No. 5 spot, along with Chicago’s Derrick Rose, Denver’s Chauncey Billups and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook. Van Gundy had Utah’s Deron Williams, New Orleans’ Chris Paul and Boston’s Rajon Rondo in his top three spots, as did Jackson. Ironically, Parker matched up over the past five games with three of Van Gundy’s expanded list of the top five point guards and held his own.”
- Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News: “Maybe there are more Texas A&M and Baylor football fans among Spurs fans than I thought. But here’s something that left me scratching my head, considering typical attendance patterns and the Spurs’ quick start . You would have thought that a team playing its best basketball in more than two years playing on a Saturday night would have no trouble packing its arena. But not so for the Spurs, who attracted a season-low 16,982 fans to the game Saturday night. After drawing sellouts for the first two games against Indiana and New Orleans, the Spurs failed to sell out in their next three games before drawing a capacity crowd against Chicago last Wednesday. Saturday night’s attendance was the first time the Spurs failed to attract at least 17,000. But I would expect that to change Monday night when Dwight Howard and the Magic come to town. And if they don’t sell out for that game, there might be something tremendously significant in that trend.”
- Andrew A. McNeill of 48 Minutes of Hell: “The interesting thing is how Splitter is being inserted into the lineup. At this point in Tiago’s NBA career, he’s almost exclusively handcuffed to Matt Bonner in live action. This is both an advantage for the Spurs and a necessary partnership. Tiago Splitter is excellent at running the pick-and-roll, as his performance last night indicates. Pairing Splitter’s talents on the offensive end with Bonner’s floor-stretching ability creates a dangerous offensive second unit. [...] One player who you will almost never see Splitter in the game with is DeJuan Blair. Both have similar skillsets that don’t necessarily complement each other. Offensively both are pick-and-roll players with extremely limited shooting ability. You also have to pick and choose when to throw the ball in the post to them. If Splitter can develop a similar big-man-to-big-man passing chemistry that DeJuan Blair enjoys with Tim Duncan, eventually Splitter can be the game-closing big man that many hope to see.”
Recap: Orlando Magic 90, Indiana Pacers 86
In a game that turned from an offensive shootout to a defensive slugfest, the Orlando Magic were able to defeat the Indiana Pacers by the score of 90-86 and win their season-high fourth consecutive game. For the second time this season, Jameer Nelson was the hero for the Magic in the waning moments. With Orlando down by a single point, Nelson’s fallaway jumper with 33 seconds left in the fourth quarter proved to be the winning basket. The shot, plus the foul and the free throw, put the Magic up by two points at 88-86 and after James Posey missed a potential game-winning three for the Pacers, Vince Carter‘s free-throws iced the game and polished off another victory. Orlando was led by Dwight Howard, who had 25 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks. Rashard Lewis broke out of his shooting slump and chipped in with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
This was a fascinating game to watch.
In the first half, neither team could stop each other.
And for Indiana, it was the Roy Hibbert show. Similar to when the Magic and Pacers faced off against each other in early January last season, Hibbert was thoroughly outplaying Howard in the first and second quarters. Hibbert executed beautifully from the high and low posts, mixing in a nice blend of face-up jumpers and hook shots that translated into 17 points in the first half. Hibbert could do no wrong, as he was able to get Howard in foul trouble and subsequently take advantage of Marcin Gortat when he checked into the game. Make no mistake, Hibbert was on pace for a huge night for Indiana but the tables turned in the second half.
Wednesday’s Magic Word
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “Word is that teams have inquired about point guard Chauncey Billups, and nobody on the planet can be surprised. If, or when, Carmelo Anthony goes in a trade, why keep Billups around? The Nuggets will be in official rebuilding mode once Melo walks. The [Orlando] Magic have pieces to land them both. Before the Heat land them by, oh, dealing Chris Bosh. I tweeted this weeks ago. Melo is making $17 million, Billups $13 mil this season. The Magic have a veteran package they can hand over to Denver: shooting guard Vince Carter ($17 mill), center Marcin Gortat ($6 mill) and point guard Jameer Nelson ($7 mill). Is it better than the proposed package New Jersey apparently is offering of draft picks and Derrek Favors? I’d say the Magic’s would-be deal is more proven, no question.”
- Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel: “On the Orlando Magic injury front, there’s good news and there’s bad news. We’ll start with the bad news: Jason Williams (foot) and Quentin Richardson (sickness) didn’t practice today. Both are day-to-day, but Q is expected to play Thursday night against Phoenix. J.J. Redick was still sidelined with back spasms, marking the fourth consecutive day he’s been out. He didn’t play in Monday’s game against Memphis because of the injury. The good news? Jameer Nelson (ankle) and Mickael Pietrus (leg) returned to practice. Both players will play Thursday night, barring something unforeseen.”
- Nationally televised games are not kind to the Orlando Magic.
- Evan Dunlap of Orlando Pinstriped Post reveals that the Magic’s use of a traditional lineup has produced some surprisingly good results, so far, in the regular season: “So playing [Brandon] Bass or Gortat at power forward replaces atypically inefficient players with incredibly efficient ones. Bass’ raw shooting percentage of 47.5 doesn’t do him justice, because he’s a volume free-throw shooter with great accuracy. His True Shooting mark of 60.7 percent places him fourth on the team. Gortat, on the other hand, hardly misses from the floor. He leads the team with 65 percent shooting from the field thanks to his soft touch around the rim and the little attention defenses afford him. Add it all up [...] and the Magic’s offense has been 4.85 points per 100 possessions more effective with a traditional power forward in the lineup. But the bigger difference has come at the defensive end.”
- Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: “You’d have thought the Rashard Lewis contract would have bitten them sooner than this, but hey, worse late than never, I suppose. The Magic have one win against a team above .500 and two losses to Miami to and Utah. It’s early yet so they haven’t had many cracks at it, but throw in a loss to the Raptors, and yeesh, not a great start for SVG’s crew. The defense is still excelling, but the offense has fallen off a cliff, thanks in part to Rashard Lewis not being able to hit the broad side of a barn. And yet still, Ryan Anderson gets no minutes. Crying shame, really.”
- Do you believe in Magic? NBA.com writers try to answer that question.
- Dwight Howard is still a flawed player, according to some.
Second Look: Orlando Magic 89, Memphis Grizzlies 72
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Orlando Magic would do themselves a favor if they take mental pictures of what happened Monday night and carry those snapshots the rest of this season. They’d see Mickael Pietrus diving to the floor to bust up an opponent’s fastbreak. They’d envision Marcin Gortat rolling around on the parquet to grab a loose ball. They’d visualize Jameer Nelson taking a charge in garbage time. The Magic will be onto something if they reproduce the intensity they used to smother the Memphis Grizzlies 89-72 at Amway Center. After playing horrid defense for parts of five straight games, Orlando finally overwhelmed another team. [...] Memphis shot just 36 percent from the field, a performance so abysmal that Grizzlies players held a players-only meeting in the visitors’ locker room after the final buzzer. Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph, the team’s top scorers, finished with just nine points apiece. Orlando’s suffocating defensive effort covered up plenty of miscues.”
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Magic have been doing things differently to begin a regular season, and even coach Stan Van Gundy concedes it could cause them to “take a step back.” Stan obviously is talking temporarily, maybe a game here or there where experimenting with lineups or rotations costs them a win, unwittingly. The Magic have been lacking in the player-development department. But that doesn’t mean Van Gundy isn’t interested in winning every game. It’s in his DNA. Van Gundy says securing home-court advantage in the playoffs is still huge, maybe not critical, but you’d still rather play more times at Amway Center. [...] Sounds like we’re getting about six months ahead of ourselves. But I bring this up because the Memphis Grizzlies were in town on Monday night, and the Magic couldn’t afford to have a Toronto Raptors flashback. They need to win games like this because they should, for one. And because they all add up at the end of the year to home-court in the playoffs, perhaps.”
- Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel: “This morning, Vince Carter said the Orlando Magic had a noticeable focus on defense. It was certainly noticeable in Monday night’s 89-72 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. The Magic held the Grizzlies to 72 points on 94 possessions, forced 18 turnovers and kept the Grizzlies’ shooting percentage at just 36.3 percent. It was a dominant defensive performance for Orlando, made especially sweet because they’ve struggled so much on defense over the past week-and-a-half. Orlando’s perimeter players were more active with their hands, pressing Memphis’ guards, slapping at the ball and contesting every jumper. That was no accident. That was Orlando’s focus entering the game. The end result: a 76.6 offensive rating for the Grizzlies — almost 30 points lower than their season average of 104.9 — and a dominating victory for the Magic.”
- Dan Savage of OrlandoMagic.com: “Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy challenged his team this week to bring an increased effort on the defensive end and live up to their billing as a shutdown squad. On Monday, the Magic gave their coach the performance he was looking for. The Magic stifled the offensive-minded Grizzlies, limiting them to just 36.3 percent shooting from the field in a hard-nosed 89-72 home victory. [...] Despite continued offensive struggles, the Magic battled against human nature and brought a high level of intensity on the defensive end right from the start. They pressured the ball, forcing Memphis to commit 10 first-quarter turnovers and limiting them to just 12 points in the period, a season-low for a Magic opponent. It was a rude awakening for Grizzlies team that came in to the contest averaging 104.6 points per game, seventh-best in the NBA.”
- Evan Dunlap of Orlando Pinstriped Post: “To stymie an offense as potent as Memphis’ is quite an achievement, especially considering the rather complex defensive rotations the Magic made. Orlando doubled Randolph from the weak side on each of his post touches, thus putting pressure on Randolph to give the ball up, but also pressuring the remaining defenders on the weak side to make the right reads. And Orlando, which rarely double teams, executed this help-and-recover scheme to near perfection throughout the night. To be fair, Memphis did its part by missing shots. But the point is the Magic disrupted its offense, time and again, and the young team struggled to get quality looks as a result. Defense keyed the Magic’s win tonight, just the way coach Stan Van Gundy prefers, I believe.”
- Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal: “The Memphis Grizzlies arrived here as if they were construction workers contracted to complete Amway Center, the new home of the Orlando Magic. Laying brick after brick after brick, the Griz put on one of the worst displays in the opening quarter and continued their offensive malaise Monday until the clock mercifully ran out on an 89-72 loss to the Magic. From there, they turned into armchair psychologists. The Griz (4-7) tried to connect on what’s ailing them in the form of a players-only meeting that immediately followed their third straight loss. If it seems a bit soon for a meeting of the minds, then the Griz at least made clear that the talk was constructive.”
Recap: Orlando Magic 89, Memphis Grizzlies 72
In a strange game that involved a lot of turnovers (37 of them in total), the Orlando Magic were able to defeat the Memphis Grizzlies by the score of 89-72. For the Magic, it was — easily — their best performance defensively of the regular season. Orlando was led by Dwight Howard, who had 18 points, 14 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks, setting the tone on defense but he wasn’t alone in his efforts. Vince Carter finished with 19 points on eight shots, performing with excellent efficiency on offense and was only unable to do more damage on that end of the floor due to foul trouble. Jameer Nelson‘s stat-line was a bit underwhelming, with 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and three steals, but he was a disruptive force throughout the game and played with a high amount of energy.
For Magic fans, this was not an aesthetically pleasing game to watch.
Rashard Lewis’ Trials and Tribulations on Offense

Photo by Fernando Medina
It’s early in the regular season, but there’s a few players for the Orlando Magic that have been struggling on offense — Chris Duhon, J.J. Redick (more on him later), and Quentin Richardson to name a few. But there’s one player, in particular, that looks out-of-sync right now offensively and that’s Rashard Lewis.
To be frank, Lewis has been horrawful. Horrible and awful.
Lewis has had his moments of brilliance, particularly in the first half of the Magic’s home opener against the Washington Wizards and against the Charlotte Bobcats on the road a little over a week ago, but that’s about it. Coincidentally (or not), in those games, Lewis played primarily at power forward.
It’s no secret that head coach Stan Van Gundy has made a more concerted effort to find minutes for Lewis at the small forward position, mainly with an eye towards the playoffs when Orlando’s ability to mix-and-match their lineups based on their opponents will matter a great deal. However, it seems like it’s thrown Lewis off-kilter a bit on offense and it’s reflected in his numbers. Granted, that excuse can only go so far before a finger needs to be pointed at Lewis for his inability to produce.
Lewis’ primary objective for the Magic is to stretch the floor offensively and, on occasion, post up on the low block whenever the opportunity presents itself. The problem is that Lewis has been unable to do almost anything on offense for Orlando, whether he’s at small forward or power forward. Heck, in the Magic’s loss against the Toronto Raptors on Friday, Lewis didn’t attempt a three-pointer for the first time since 2006. That’s not a good sign.
What gives?
Sneak Preview: Memphis Grizzlies at Orlando Magic
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “Stan Van Gundy already has had a heart-to-heart with Rashard Lewis, so he got to him before the rest of us. [...] If you’re wondering whether Van Gundy would bench Lewis, the answer is no. Not now, anyway. If Stan didn’t sit Vince Carter through a horrid January last season, I don’t think he’ll turn Lewis into a sixth man. Every time media and fans plead for a benching, I always ask: OK, who takes his place? The options at power forward without Lewis are Brandon Bass, Ryan Anderson and Marcin Gortat. Anderson is embedded in Van Gundy’s doghouse. The Magic need Gortat to be on red alert, given [Dwight] Howard‘s relationship with the refs. That leaves Bass, undersized at 6-feet-8. Bass’ pet mid-range jumper is finding the net (49.1 percent.) He’s still better suited roaring off the bench. The decline of Lewis’ numbers has been steady, for a couple reasons. Vince Carter arrived last season to rob some shots, making Lewis the third option behind Carter and Howard. This season, Van Gundy has experimented with big lineups and more post-ups, shuttling Lewis from power forward to small forward. Even Stan agrees this may have affected his routine.”
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Brandon Bass continues to impress Stan Van Gundy. Even in hotel ballrooms. Really. Saturday morning, the Orlando Magic gathered in a ballroom in their New Jersey hotel for a walkthrough to prepare to face the New Jersey Nets. The Magic had played a game just 12 hours earlier, and yet Van Gundy still saw Bass paying attention to tiny details, wanting to know every assignment and understand every play. Bass kept up that intensity Saturday night, contributing 14 points — and, best of all from Van Gundy’s perspective — eight rebounds in only 21 minutes.”
- Evan Dunlap of Orlando Pinstriped Post: “[J.J.] Redick and Lewis in particular are far too gifted to shoot less than 38 percent on three-pointers over the course of the entire season. But for now, it’s a problem. If we’re pointing out performances from guys who are struggling, it’s only fair to laud the ones making a positive impact. Marcin Gortat has rebounded and defended exceptionally well, and has also made the most of his limited offensive opportunities, making 70 percent of his shots in the early going. Brandon Bass, an afterthought a year ago, worked his way into the rotation with great energy and a better commitment to defense. Though now out of the rotation, Ryan Anderson managed to positively impact the team despite his outside shot not dropping; on a per-minute basis, Anderson ranks second on the team in scoring and third in rebounding.”
- Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal: “The revolving door between the Grizzlies’ bench and the basketball court is spinning fast. Veteran swingman Tony Allen and rookie point guard Greivis Vasquez spun out of nowhere and gave the team a lift last weekend. Just who will dart out of the reserve tank tonight when the Griz play on the road against the Orlando Magic? That’s anyone’s guess. Griz coach Lionel Hollins is still searching to find a collection of bench players he can count on. He contends that his mantra hasn’t changed and he is going to use the first 20 regular-season games to firm up a substitution pattern. Guys will play their way in and out so one game doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”







