Jeff Van Gundy Torches Dwight Howard — for All the Wrong Reasons

After Dwight Howard slammed his head coach Stan Van Gundy, you just knew little brother, Jeff Van Gundy, now an NBA analyst with ESPN, would get his two cents in on the matter. And you knew he would not be kind to Howard.

On ESPN’s evening sports news broadcast, Sportscenter, Van Gundy, Jeff, said the following:

I think it happens a lot in team sports where players abdicate their responsibility for their play and try to place the blame elsewhere.

Ouch! Oh, but there’s more from Van Gun:

I was fortunate to coach real superstars who, when they had bad games, they didn’t look to place the burden elsewhere. They placed it squarely on their shoulders.

Double ouch! It’s gettin’ heated, no? Van Gun, Jeff style had even more to say:

If I’m an Orlando Magic fan what would worry me is that after the game Howard said what everybody else should have done better but he had no mention of anything he could have done better to alter the result. That’s a dangerous path to take.

My goodness, Jeff. Can you say, ‘verbal vivisection?’

When asked whose responsibility it is to get the star player – Howard – the ball down the stretch of games, No jokin’ Jeff questioned Dwight’s in-game style of play acumen:

If you’ve watched the Magic all year against Boston…

Meaning I, Jeff Van Gundy, have seen every second of each game with Orlando and Boston….

Their best chance of scoring against a great Celtics’ defense is to pick-and-roll and to get either penetrations to the rim or get Howard the ball on a pick-and-roll deep at the basket. Their most inefficient play is to come down and throw him the ball on the block. It’s been ineffective in the regular season and it’s ineffective in the postseason. and so, it’s quite confusing that he would be asking for the ball in one of their most ineffective ways to score against the Celtics.

Damn! I’m surprised Van Gun didn’t bust out with “the Player” instead of uttering Dwight’s last name.

When it was pointed out that the Celtics are 32-0 when up 3-2 in a series and was asked if he thought the series was all but over, Van Gundy busted out heat for the entire Magic roster:

Well, unless the Magic can change their mentality from thinking back on lost opportunities instead of looking forward to the opportunities still at hand – and unless the players can find the resolve that it’s on them to get it done. I think it’ll be very difficult… If their star player does what he’s capable of doing which is dominate the game without the ball – defending and rebounding – they’ll have a chance to win…

Wow, I spoke too soon. Van Gun didn’t only use “the player” he went into uncharted territory where few analysts or head coaches have gone before using “their star player” instead of mentioning Dwight Howard by name.

There is but one problem in Jeff Van Gundy’s measured, verbal beat down of Howard. Howard never said the Magic should walk the ball up the court. Additionally, he questioned Stan Van Panic’s knee-jerk reaction of reinserting starters when backups were in large part responsible for building Orlando’s lead to 14 points with about eight minutes remaining in the game:

We were winning with five minutes to go. We moved the ball, we ran, got easy shots. And our coach has to recognize when he has a certain group out there and they’re getting the job done, you have to leave those guys on the floor.

In other words, playing up-tempo, putting Boston on its heels, and executing the offense called was the reason for Orlando’s success until the game’s final six minutes. The reserves Howard spoke of were Tony Battie and Anthony Johnson. Battie had replaced Rashard Lewis, while Johnson was in for Rafer Alston.

Battie brings another big body to help Howard ward off the huge duo of Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis. Lewis is the type of forward who is uninterested in getting his hands dirty and his body bruised fighting for rebounds. Alston is a mercurial point guard who is just as prone to shrinking from view as he is to efficiently running the Orlando offense.

Just before Battie was removed from the game for Lewis, with 5:54  remaining, he made consecutive jumpers and snagged a defensive rebound. Lewis scored exactly zero points until the game’s final seven seconds, when he converted two free throw attempts, and had exactly zero rebounds. Lewis was 0-3 from the field and committed a crucial turnover with 3:44 left which Paul Pierce turned into a layin to cut Orlando’s lead to four at 85-81. Alston was also 0-3 from the field.

In the end, Van Gundy laid out Howard for no reason whatsoever except to protect his brother and that is not a good enough reason for an NBA analyst to fabricate a story about what Dwight Howard said were the Magic’s problems in the final six minutes of Game 5 against Boston.

But it is the way of ESPN, so in that regard Jeff must feel right at home.

Too bad his older bro will probably be out of a job next season. I mean, think about it. Shaq attaches prone to panic to Van Gundy’s resume, while his present center, Howard, has words of coaching advice for Stan, which he evenly as possible after a gut-wrenching loss disseminated to the press after the game. 

That’s not a good look despite his little bro’s wrong-headed torching of Howard.

An NBA next season without a Van Gundy on the bench? 

Hmmmm, that’s a distinct possibility – just as long as we don’t have to look at Stan’s face doing color commentary or analysis next year.