After seeing the Lyin' Cryin' Kings of Sac, then Orlando Mageek

This is what I have to say:

#NBA The brutal truth of #NBA stands with likes of #Kings, #Magic, never mind the Wiz, Bobcats, Hornets and Cavs.#BadTeams
— DigitalSportsDesk (@DigSportsDesk) February 2, 2013

ENUFF ALREADY....

By Terry Lyons

I've had enough of Stan Van Gundy.  

The former coach, fired by Orlando last season and also mysteriously banished from the Miami Heat back in the middle of the 2005-06 campaign, has been leaving a wake of negativity by taking his 'low road' approach towards his former organization after his dismissal by the Magic.

Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy

The target of his 'disgruntled former employee' rants are usually Dwight Howard and Magic team President Alex Martins, who worked his way up to team CEO from his starting position as the director of public relations in 1989. So, while the 'Dwight-Mare" summer of 2012 is concluding with Howard finally traded to the LA Lakers, Van Gundy continued to open the sores of days gone by with an appearance on Orlando sports talk radio.

Van Gundy told Mike Bianchi and his side-kick Brian Fritz, “It’s a typical lack of understanding from someone who has no sports knowledge, who has never coached, who has never played, who has never been in a lockeroom….it’s a naivete,” Van Gundy said of Martins Monday morning on the Mike Bianchi show on AM 740 in Orlando, Florida.

“I think Alex’s comments are based on the fact that Dwight and, maybe others, didn’t like me…and thinking somehow that’s important.”

Earlier in the interview, he said, "A lot changed in the make-up of our organization.  When Bob (Van der Weide) was there, when Bob left, it really became Alex over everything.  Otis had to report to Alex.  What happened to sum it up, and I have, I'll take my share of the blame, we had developed a very good culture.  Team first, hard work, preparation.  Otis and I were on the same page.  The Dwight thing was so big, in an effort to make Dwight happy, we compromised a lot of the culture we had before.  When you compromise those things, it was no longer a team first thing."

I say, "Muzzle it, Stan."

Yes, excuse me for disagreeing with Mr. Dean Smith here... or the new Dr Naismith Jr.?

Yes, the head coach at UMass Lowell and the assistant at Canisius learned much, much more about the game than the rest of us mere basketball mortals, especially those who didn't spend our formative basketball years at Castleton State College but, instead, were being instructed by the likes of Hubie Brown, Dick Harter, Mike Fratello, Billy Cunningham, Alex Hannum, Red Auerbach, Pete Newell, Jerry Sloan, Rudy T, KC Jones, Doug Moe, Chuck Daly, -- I could go on....

Oh, yes, don't forget Stan Naismith got to sit in the 2nd chair next to Rick Pitino disciple Stu Jackson while he was at Wisconsin. And, they made it to the NIT!

Stan? Just because the guy came from PR, he was never in the locker?  No sports knowledge? Never on the mountain top, like you?  In NFL terms, rather than NBA, the Ph D. in public relations, the very core of an organization, seemed to work for Pete Rozelle? Roger Goodell?

Stop disgracing the game and your profession with the constant bickering, Stan, you

frickin light weight ...

Tip-Off in Orlando...

They're tipping it up in Orlando. The 8pm "Phil Mushnick" special start time. I 'feel' about a 12-point Magic victory in the cards with Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu hitting some shots, then the Lakers falling behind. If the lakers can keep it close, they might be able to reach for the championship killer instinct effort to close it out.

More realistically, is the scenario where the Magic will come very hard and win by a dozen. The Lake Show will sense the loss and pack it in, onserving energy to close it out in Game 6 on their home court. Let's see what happens? Tune into ABC Sports or the NBA on World TV partner nearest you!

TL

Magic 102-90.

Basketball 24/7 ... Thoughts before Game 3

As recently as the 2006 NBA Finals, a team with a locker room full of character was facing a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-seven game championship series.

By Terry Lyons.

That team, the Miami Heat of Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal fame, came back to take the league title in a thrilling and memorable manner, toasting with pricey bottles of champagne while lighting victory cigars after an impressive and relentless dispatching of the Dallas Mavericks of Texas in six games.

The Heat, down 2-0 in that 2006 title series, took it to extreme measures as they battled back from a 13-point deficit late in the pivotal Game 3 while unearthing championship level qualities of team character, team defense, trust and the ability to properly face adversity while they served as proximity witness to the total collapse of their opponent, the Mavs.

In that series, Dallas team owner Mark Cuban lit a spark of over-confidence in a champagne room while fanning a flame of arrogance when his team took the early series lead. The Mavericks self-imploded as they dropped the final four consecutive games of the series while former Dallas Coach Avery Johnson, watching helplessly, bucked like a broken bronco as he attempted to re-start the team's jet-engines only to find them failing miserably as his club fell from the sky. Johnson, trying to defend his team's honour and acting in a fit of absolute despair, did the one and only thing that he thought would work. He called out a "mayday" on his local beat reporter, and immediately losing the respect of the entire basketball world of fans, friends, innocent bystanders and observers, including his own players (thank you, Dirk) when he called out and blamed the media.

The Heat seized the moment, jumped on the opportunity and stepped up to fight the fight with Wade leading the charge while Shaq and Zo (Alonzo Mourning) took on the twin-engine role as commanders when they led their team to the promised land of NBA dreams.

Can the young Orlando Magic accomplish the same feat? We'll see tonight when the Magic play host to Game 3 of the 2009 NBA Finals on their own home court, while simultaneously pitching some Amway products from downtown Orlando, a Orange County speed-trap an hour or so from the place where dreams are made, Walt Disney World.

The Magic will have to scale a daunting 2-0 (deficit) wall without the aid of an opponent who is self-destructing. Unlike the Cuban-crisis Mavericks of '06, the LA Lakers have "been there" before. The experienced former NBA Most Valuable Player, Kobe Bryant, is saying all the right things as the two teams trekked cross country from the city of Angels to the land of make believe in hum-drum central Florida.

Bryant is seeking his fourth NBA championship and a place alongside his two main rivals in former teammate Shaquille O'Neal and San Antonio Spurs frontman Tim Duncan, the trio who can claim the title of the most dominant NBA players of the last 10 basketball seasons. During that time, Bryant managed to earn a gold medal with the 2008 USA Basketball Olympic team while O'Neal (winner of gold in the 1994 World Championship in Toronto plus the1996 Olympic Games in Hot-lanta) and Duncan (a bronzed goose egg with the 2004 USA team). Lebron James, you might wonder, has only a 0-4 showing in the 2007 NBA Finals to show on his 'big-game' resume. (Note to 24/7 readers: Mr. James, the clock is officially running, as of now).

The Lakers, anchored by a low-post offensive threat from Catalonia's very best in Pau Gasol, are showing signs of improvement as they press into the final round of the NBA playoff marathon. Gasol, together with defensive team anchor Lamar Odom, are impressive both offensively and defensively. Meanwhile, the LA backcourt has thoroughly outplayed the Magic guards which is forcing Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy to re-work his lineup to play 6-10 swingman Hedo Turkoglu of Turkey at the point-forward position in an attempt to mix-up the match-ups and force the Lakers into changes in their rotations.

So, as Game 3 fast approaches, the questions are easy and they are these:

Will home-court change the tide of the 2009 NBA Finals as the Magic return to their downtown O-Rena home?

Will Dwight Howard step-up in a big-time way and show the kind of character that true champions are made of?

Will Rafer Alston and Jameer Nelson be able to pick themselves up off the canvas and play at an NBA Finals championship level against a veteran point guard like Derek Fisher of the Lakers?

Will Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis bring on an offensive barrage to knock the Lakers off balance?

Can the Magic become only the fourth team in NBA history to battle back from an 0-2 deficit to win a Finals? Or even more basic, will the Magic get the proverbial 'monkey off their back' and finally win their very first NBA Finals game - after six attempts have gone south (0-4 to Houston in 1995 and 0-2 to the current LA Lakers)?

They have the man, as Howard is a proven Olympic champion but Bryant is the champion of champions and many of the Lakers are multi-time NBA champions. And, remember this nearly biblical and certainly historical quotation from the one-and-only Rudy T, the great coach of the NBA champion Houston Rockets:

"Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion."

Guess what? Every game in the NBA Regular Season DOES MATTER

When I was the Director of Communications/Media Relations for the NBA, a certain Commissioner friend of mine would often challenge our friends in the Fourth Estate when they would mutter a common preamble before stating a question or pre-conceived notion.

The preamble that would set the Commish off - and was always a major "pet-peeve" of mine is the phrase, "Some people say" or "Some people believe" or "Some people are writing."

That phrase would then erroneously 'qualify' the preconceived notion as though it were fact. Usually, the truth was so far away from the statement that you could place the continent of Asia in the gap.

So, as I often write in this blog, "Stay with me."

I have heard the following sentence muttered by media and NBA fans the world over.

"The NBA regular season doesn't matter." or the games in the middle of January, Feb and March don;t matter in the NBA, because the season is too long."

Well, guess what?

The games do matter. It is a challenge to play 82 games. A challenge like running a damn marathon. Getting up for 82. Travel. The road. Winning a big game on the road. Defending your home court. I can go on.

For those who doubt me, I offer this as exhibit 1-A:

Home court in the conference finals goes to Cleveland and LA. That might be the difference in moving on to the NBA Finals. If the NBA Finals are contested between Cleveland and LA, one regular season game decided the team that will have HOME COURT ADVANTAGE and that means, Games 1, 2 6 and 7. A HUGE A/Advantage in the Finals.

Clev 66-16
LAL 65-17
Orl 59-23
Den 54-28

If Orlando plays Denver, think the five regular season game differential might matter a bit, considering the altitude of DV?

I have spoken!

PS-- Read On for some fun...

The Fourth Estate? Ever wonder why that phrase is used to describe the scribes?

The Fourth Estate - or the media — got its nickname by policing the governments of France and Great Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The French Estates General consisted of The First Estate of three hundred clergy, the Second Estate of three hundred nobles and the Third Estate of six hundred commoners. The media fulfilled a new role, providing their readership with more factual information about political events.


As a result, politicos were forced into a new level of accountability. Media became the fact provider, the great source of information beyond hype. When the politicians stepped out of line, the masses were informed, and protests, and in some cases, revolution ensued.

About Ten Possessions? Turkoglu Drains Game Winner

Stan Van will have the magic run the clock and there are only 10 possessions of 24 seconds apiece left in this game. Boston will have to force quick turnovers Turkoglu drains a 3 with less than 5 secs on the 24. Game over from where I'm sitting.

The Magic are tough.

Hedo deserves some serious credit. Not to mention, he bought a bunch of rounds along with Mehmet Okur when we were hanging on the Bosphorus... in Istanbul in 2004.

10 points, seems like 25

Celtics are very lucky to be within ten points. While I love Rajon Rondo's game, he is allowing Rafer Alston to operate and run the Magic offense to perfection. Rondo can not gamble on D without KG behind him. He needs to Dee-Up and stop Alston. Orlando's first Q shooting of .526 (to the Celtics (.389) and .836 from 3PT FG land (Celtics 0-1 for .000) tells the first quarter tale.

Across the Pond - Preview

Across the Pond:
My thoughts via a Dream Team Coach and my prayer is sent out to Chuck Daly as we “Tipped One” up in Boston

By Terry Lyons
http://www.terrylyons.com

BOSTON – There were a number of “NBA lifers” in the Boston Garden tonight. Celts PR man Jeff Twiss is the class act of the Celtics’ franchise and he certainly fits the bill as an NBA lifer. Orlando assistant coach Brendan Malone, who began his career at NYC’s legendary Power Memorial HS in 1968 and now has more than 20 years of NBA coaching experience after successful stints in HS and college, is another true NBA lifer.

Celtics Coach Doc Rivers, born October 13, 1961, is well on his way to the title and his trusty assistant, Clifford Ray, is a full-fledged, card-carrying NBA lifer while fellow coaches, Armond Hill and Tom Thibodeau, are soon to gain the lofty title. Not to be forgotten, classy Ed Lacerte, the head athletic trainer for the Celtics, is a lifetime member of a gutsy group of men who work miracles along the road, treat injuries, tape ankles and really earn the title of an NBA lifer.

So when the official NBA basketball was held high tonight and the ‘pivotal” Game Five of the Boston Celtics versus Orlando Magic series tipped off just a little while after the Celtics game night operations people pumped up the crowd with a Phil Collins oldie called, “In the Air Tonight,” my mind wandered a bit and a giant, golf-ball-sized lump came forth in my throat when I thought to myself, “I have never, ever attended an NBA game when Chuck Daly wasn’t in the very same building or somewhere watching it.”

Daly passed away this past weekend at the age of 78. He died of dreaded complications in a lightening fast descent after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer not too long back. As the NBA Playoffs began, I am sure the loyal, Basketball 24/7 audience noticed the small “CD” lapel pins being worn by all of the NBA league coaches and many of the broadcasters, league and team personnel. The NBA Coaches Association, headed up by their sharp legal guru, Michael Goldberg, distributed the pins to all of the “NBA lifers” to wear this playoff season in honor of Chuck Daly. And, I can proudly say, I was very honored to have my Chuck Daly/CD pin arrive in the mail a couple weeks ago.

Daly was able to enjoy the tribute for a few weeks before the dreaded disease caught up with him and took his life with his family at his side in the great State of Florida. My friend, Pistons head PR man, Matt Dobek, was a large part of the Pistons while also a member of Chuck’s immediate family. Matt spent most of March and April with Chuck as he suffered through some chemotherapy sessions which were human, earthling doctor’s orders trying to match-up against the BIG Dr. G in the sky. Guess who won?”

But, long before his death, Daly relished his place in the NBA. He was the dean of many an NBA coach who hailed from the Pittsburgh/Philly/Pennsylvania area code. Chuck was born about 90-miles from Pittsburgh, in St. Marys, PA. He landed his first job in basketball at a place where Ground Hog Punxsutawney Phil makes his debut and either sees his shadow or doesn’t come Feb 2. Yes, Chuck started at Punxsutawney (PA) High School in 1955 after growing up in Pennsylvania in the ‘first’ global depression.
He would go on to a career as an assistant coach at Duke University and later became head coach at Boston College and University of Pennsylvania before catching that “NBA coaching bug” and becoming an NBA life-long coach himself.

I first met Coach Daly when he had a short stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the early 1980s. A 9-32 mark got him a quick exit on the coaching highway but he landed a few miles down the road from Cleveland when he was named head coach of the Detroit Pistons in 1983-84. He coached the likes of Isiah Thomas and Kelly Tripucka to a 49-win season in his first year with the Pistons as the franchise began to build an NBA powerhouse that would eventually land ‘back-to-back” NBA championships in 1989 and 1990.

Of course, many of the worldwide readers of Basketball 24/7 know Chuck Daly as the coach of the 1992 USA Basketball Dream Team. He soared onto the global stage at the Barcelona Olympics after being chosen as the head coach of that legendary group because of his honesty, integrity and class. There was not a single moment in 1992 when a player even raised an eyebrow at a decision made by Daly and the rest of the Dream Team coaching staff (Coach K, PJ Carlesimo and Lenny Wilkens were at his side).

After many an NBA Playoff game, or after many a cold refreshments at a place called Gianopolis’ in the ‘burbs of north Detroit and after many a night with the traveling band, called the 1992 Dream Team, we all had the same feeling for Chuck. And, as the years passed by and he went on to coach in New Jersey and Orlando, our friendship drifted a bit but I would remain in touch through Chuck’s trusty PR man, Dobek. There were many times, after a few refreshments and another late night, we would call Chuck on the phone, and as Mr Dobek would say (at 3 am, none the less) – “Don’t worry, he’ll be up.”

Chuck would answer on the first or second ring and we would all pass the phone around in the car while traveling long after the final buzzer of an NBA Finals game that would end after midnight and often take us to late nightspots around the NBA globe. Each and every time, Chuck would have a few wonderful words of wisdom for us, as he would ask, “Hey, is Matt doing okay? Be sure to take care of him, eh.”

That, in a nutshell, was Chuck Daly.

Chuck was always the father, always the teacher, always the spiffy dresser, always humble but, somehow, confident at the same time. I loved Chuck Daly and loved everything he stood for and still stands for. He will live on forever.

When he passed, I wrote a note to Matt and to Terry Foster at the Detroit News. It read:

Chuck Daly was a colleague, friend, father figure and full-fledged NBA confidant to an entire generation of "NBA Lifers." There will be a lot written and a lot said about his unbelievable career and his life-long dedication and his many, many contributions to the game. I will state the obvious point that I believe would be most important to Chuck, and that is this: "Chuck Daly was a damn good coach."

TL game notes and quick observations on the “pivotal” Game 5 at Boston tonight: It was another amazing night of sports in Boston, the greatest sports town in the USA. The Boston Bruins played a BIG GAME down in Carolina in a tough road ‘must win’ situation and outlasted the Hurricanes 4-2 to force the wonderful Game 7 of a Stanley Cup playoff series. … Closer to The Hub, at the Gah-den, the Celtics trailed for damn-near the entire game and that included being on the short end of an 85-81 score at the 3:00 minute mark in the final stanza. But some heads up play and gutsy hustle by soon-to-be All-NBA star guard Rajon Rondo (six points, nine rebounds and five assists) led the Celtics to an 86-85 lead at the 30-second mark after a series of missed Boston shots but clutch offensive rebounds. When Ray Allen drained two free throws to make it 90-87 with only 6.2 seconds remaining, the Celtics faithful stood in total awe of a team that is somehow ‘willing” its way through the NBA Playoffs.

PS: The Celtics smartly fouled Magic center Dwight Howard at the 5.9 second mark to put the 60+-percent FT shooter on the line rather than risk a potential game-tying three-pointer by Hedo Turkoglu or Rashard Lewis. Howard drained his first FT, but clanked the second and it bounded to “Glen “Big Baby” Davis who strolled to the other end at the 4.6 second mark to hit two more clutch Fts and to make the score 92-88 and ice the game for the hometown favorite Celtics. Game over at 10:36 (EDT) and the great fsans of Boston headed out to Causeway Street to celebrate another great night of playoffs.

We’ll have a Game 7 for the Bruins to look forward to this Thursday at the Gah-Den, while the Celtics head to Orlando to try to close out their Conference semi-final series against the magic on the road. The C’s lead their series 3-games-to-2 and will now need to buckle-down to get that tough, tough fourth win in order to gain the right to travel to Cleveland to face LeBron James and the Cavaliers in a rematch of the Eastern Conference Finals.

It’s well documented that Celtics main-framer, Kevin Garnett, is sidelined for what seems to be the duration of the 2009 NBA Playoffs, but many a fan is forgetting that Orlando’s best player, point guard Jameer Nelson, has been out for the season after he tore a right labrum and underwent surgery on February 19th of this year. Nelson will be out 4-6 months with the serious injury.

Terry Lyons, Contributor
A former communications and media executive at the NBA, Terry has behind-the-scenes knowledge that few others could boast. His vast experience, contacts list and knowledge of the game make him a star asset to 24/7's writing team.

For more information on Terry Lyons, see:
Terry Lyons: http://www.terrylyons.com
Terry Lyons’ Blog: http://terrylyons.blogspot.com

NBA in Shanghai ...

Another great day for the NBA as they prep for the 2007 NBA CHINA GAMES in Shanghai and Macau.

Here are the Orlando Magic in a pre-practice photo opp at Shanghai.