[WileOut]

Are you kidding me Stan and Jameer? How stupid can it possibly get? 11.5 seconds left, the Lakers elect to take it in waaaaaaay back so it will take many seconds to approach the 3 point line, YOU FOUL WITH 5 SECONDS LEFT AND END THE GAME. Why was this not instructed??????? Why was this not known by Jameer that with 5 seconds left 2 free throws does the Lakers no good?

OMFG this is the worst goof of all time. Instant fire of stan van gundy and Jameer should never run an NBA team again. He is not smart enough to shine shoes for a living.

[WileOut]

I'm just beside myself. This is the worst coaching of all time. Its just a reflex to call this when stan saw the Lakers throw it in in the back court. You call time out if you have to or yell out "FOUL WHEN THEY GET OVER HALF COURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If that takes place the Magic are tied 2-2, with all momentum and future NBA champs. This has been given to the Lakers.

[WileOut]

THE worst coaching move of all time. Anybody got a worse decision? You can include Pop Warner, high school, college, and pro, and all sports. I cant think of anything.

[Tsoprano]

I agree with you 110%

What a melt down

[mathdotcom]

Hick coach
Deadbolt-for-brains basketball player

[WileOut]

Tony I wanted to see a 2-2 series. This is really blowing my mind. I cant think of what the thought process was. What was there to lose? you foul 10 feet behind the 3 point line, they cant shoot it and a ref would not give 3 free throws anyway. EVEN IF THEY GOT 3 FREE THROWS, an 80% shooter is going to probably miss 1.

math, understatement of the year.

[max_asdf]

why is nelson even playing at all..... hes barely ****ing 5 feet tall
hasnt played at all this playoffs, and now he comes into play OT + 4th quater???? when he did shit earlier in the game and shit earlier in the series

[tullamore]

THE worst coaching move of all time. Anybody got a worse decision? You can include Pop Warner, high school, college, and pro, and all sports. I cant think of anything.

The only thing I can think of at the moment was the Lions coach who decided to play D first in OT.

I think the blame really has to go on Nelson. Let Fisher beat you off the dribble, the worst that happens is he makes a 2 pointer, another second or 2 comes off the clock, and you make in a FT contest.

[tullamore]

no, if Howard could make a FUKKING free throw with 11 secs left, the game ends regardless. that was pathetic shit

Not just howard, but Turkoglu was missing all 4th Q and he is suppose to be 80 + %.

[Shafted69]

players should not feed HOWARD the ball late.

they hacked him all night knowing he would brickem

[Fiasco]

the whole team screwed up

I actually agree with the not fouling with 5 seconds to go... Fisher hadn't hit all night and you have a 3 pt lead... I don't know why they were pressuring the ball (I know why, but I don't understand it... Kobe was cold, let him go ahead and shoot it...) If they foul with 5 seconds to go, fish hits both, they go to the line and make 1 of 2 say... magic up 2, lakers ball with around 3 seconds left... they get ball at half court (bc they had time out...)

hindsight is 20 20

the whole magic team screwed up tonight... (pietris played very very well but even he screwed up taking that ugly last shot with 4 seconds left...)

[Mac4Lyfe]

Stan Van Dumbdy strikes again... He has all that talent and doesn't know how to use it. Why the hell was Nelson in the game? Why did he leave Alston on the bench so long? Then in postgame he said he left Nelson in the game because Alston was on the bench too long?? Stupid ass.

How do you lose a game with a 9 point lead? Then a 3 point lead late and the ball with a few ticks remaining? Then how do you let a team get a 3 point shot off? How do you let Pietrus shoot a stupid last shot in regulation?

Van Dumbdy...

[Shafted69]

they should've lined all 5 players hand in hand on the 3 pt line to defend that last play before OT

[WileOut]

the whole team screwed up

I actually agree with the not fouling with 5 seconds to go... Fisher hadn't hit all night and you have a 3 pt lead... I don't know why they were pressuring the ball (I know why, but I don't understand it... Kobe was cold, let him go ahead and shoot it...) If they foul with 5 seconds to go, fish hits both, they go to the line and make 1 of 2 say... magic up 2, lakers ball with around 3 seconds left... they get ball at half court (bc they had time out...)

hindsight is 20 20

the whole magic team screwed up tonight... (pietris played very very well but even he screwed up taking that ugly last shot with 4 seconds left...)

Fiasco, obviously I disagree wholeheartedly. I literally had halfway stopped watching the game when they went up by 3 and Lakers had it with 11 seconds left and electing to throw it in in the backcourt. I wish you could have seen my face when Fisher was allowed to let go of that ball from beyond 3 point line. I was speechless they did not foul.

They pressed to take time off the clock, that was a great idea but it is only a great idea if you are going to FOUL! You press, it took 6 seconds for them to get to the 3 point line. If you foul at 8 seconds, design a play that takes a couple seconds off the clock (assuming the Lakers hit both FT's). The Lakers foul one of your best FT shooters because you have all of them in. You go back up by 3 now with 6 seconds left. You foul again, etc.

What would likely happen is a miss on a Laker free throw of that kind of pressure anyway.

I will also go on to say that Phil Jackson is going to be the most overrated coach of all time, regardless of sport. He has been given the best teams in the league and won championships where Michael Curry could have coached the team to championships. When he didn't have the best teams Phil Jackson didn't win.

[Chi_archie]

I've been saying for quite some time, that Van Gumby was going to be the undoing of this team......

[frostno98]

Just when I thought Denver blowing two inbound plays twice was bad, this has to be the dumbest move yet. I seen Karl doing things just as dumb in the last series that cost them, like leaving open other shooters just to double Kobe. I rather let one guy beat me, then allow other players like Ariza or Fisher get in rhythm, with a freaking mile wide open shots.

As dumb as the three point play was, all Howard needed to do was make one shot and the game was done. Similar to Memphis choke job in this game, so Calipari must feels a little vindicated for not being the only dumbest coach.

[hoop guru]

Van Gundy ruined a competitive series that was going to a full 7 game series by being a retard. Jameer Nelson is not 100% and it showed when playing defense. Nelson did not deserve to be in the game that late. Nelson was not the reason why the magic made it to the finals when they defeated cleveland cavs. Lets not forget how the magic choked against the pistions in the 2008 playoffs. Van GUndy does not deserve to be coach in the nba and nor does phil jackson who is way overrated.

[jsmithj88]

Just when I thought Denver blowing two inbound plays twice was bad, this has to be the dumbest move yet. I seen Karl doing things just as dumb in the last series that cost them, like leaving open other shooters just to double Kobe. I rather let one guy beat me, then allow other players like Ariza or Fisher get in rhythm, with a freaking mile wide open shots.

As dumb as the three point play was, all Howard needed to do was make one shot and the game was done. Similar to Memphis choke job in this game, so Calipari must feels a little vindicated for not being the only dumbest coach.

dam man, u opening up an old wound with that memphis comment
that memphis game was way worse

[NBA Hero]

like how mike brown did in conference finals. no wonder coaches cant keep their job

[hoop guru]

Jameer Nelson was not the reason why the magic made it to the playoffs. He did not play in the conf;erence finals against the cavs and thus was not deserving to play in the finals. I wish his injury was more serious so that we did not had to see him in the finals. Van Gundy does not have a clue about coaching basketball. I hope this magic team will never make it to finals ever again in my lifetime. I feel this way because of this idiot coach. NOw I do wish the celtics had beaten the magic in the 2nd round. Celtics would have been a better matchup for the lakers.

[hanco21]

why is nelson even playing at all..... hes barely ****ing 5 feet tall
hasnt played at all this playoffs, and now he comes into play OT + 4th quater???? when he did shit earlier in the game and shit earlier in the series

From what I heard Van Gundy and Alston had an altercation during a TV timeout and Van Gundy decided to discipline Alston by benching him the rest of the game.

[englishmike]

Ok, let me start by saying I know fuk all about hoops, nothing, zilch, nada. But...as an observation, if there are 30 NBA teams, surely Van Gundy is by definition either the first or second best coach in the league by way of making it to the last two. I've read the threads about him being useless but how can he be useless if he's taken his team to the finals? And also, why weren't there threads before the finals saying how useless he was....or maybe there were, were there?

Just wondered. As someone that knows fuk all about the game, it strikes me that if Howard makes his free throws the spotlight wouldnt even be on Van Gundy.

Am i reading it wrong?

[Razz_Donkey]

Just wondered. As someone that knows fuk all about the game, it strikes me that if Howard makes his free throws the spotlight wouldnt even be on Van Gundy.

Am i reading it wrong?

Yes, If Howard would have pushed the game to 2 possessions there would not have been any discussion about this foul debate because it would not have been RELEVANT.

Van Gundy should have come up with a better plan for defense or looked to foul, especially with the Lakers inbounding the ball from beyond half court which cost them some time to advance the ball. Plenty of "what ifs" leading up this, but bottom line is that this was not handled very well towards the end by the coachs.

[jjgold]

Like I said the Lakers stole the game, magic are much much better.

Nelson is not in game shape either and should not even be playing.

[bkny2cnc]

Everyone can and will blame D.Howard for the missed free throws,but to take Alston out after having a great game 3 and getting his confidence back,VAN DUMBY should be FIRED Nelson was not ready regardless of his 2 and 3 minute spurts.The Finals was sabotaged by these 2 selfish idiots.

[SexyMit]

Everyone can and will blame D.Howard for the missed free throws,but to take Alston out after having a great game 3 and getting his confidence back,VAN DUMBY should be FIRED Nelson was not ready regardless of his 2 and 3 minute spurts.The Finals was sabotaged by these 2 selfish idiots.

[lakerboy]

Just when I thought Denver blowing two inbound plays twice was bad, this has to be the dumbest move yet. I seen Karl doing things just as dumb in the last series that cost them, like leaving open other shooters just to double Kobe. I rather let one guy beat me, then allow other players like Ariza or Fisher get in rhythm, with a freaking mile wide open shots.

As dumb as the three point play was, all Howard needed to do was make one shot and the game was done. Similar to Memphis choke job in this game, so Calipari must feels a little vindicated for not being the only dumbest coach.

denver is long gone. stop having pipe dreams

[spurginobili]

Sitting Alston and playing Jameer flies in the face of coventional wisdom that proves that you don't mess with team chemistry, the flow, rhythm; go with what got you this far. Stan Van Down By The River doen't care about all that because he wants to prove that he's Stan The Man. Remember when Doug Flutie got the Bills into the playoffs and they decided to go with Rob Johnson coming back from injury; their season ended that day. I wouldn't be surprised that Van Spazmod sat Alston for most of the second half because of an altercation; that's just how small and egocentric he is. When Alston is in the game the ball moves; he drives the lane. They were all communicating on the floor pretty well up to this point.
We know that Rafer is upset with his reduced role so how does this affect him Sunday? It's going to be interesting to see what Einstein decides to do.

[BobHarvey]

Van Gundy showed his ignorance after last night's game. To paraphrase he told the media that experience was overrated.

Jameer Nelson= Inexperienced

Derek Fisher= Experienced

[pavyracer]

Sitting Alston and playing Jameer flies in the face of common coventional wisdom that proves that you don't mess with team chemistry, the flow, rhythm; go with what got you this far. Stan Van Down By The River doen't care about all that because he wants to prove that he's Stan The Man. Remember when Doug Flutie got the Bills into the playoffs and they decided to go with Rob Johnson coming back from injury; their season ended that day. I wouldn't be surprised that Van Spazmod sat Alston for most of the second half because of an altercation; that's just how small and egocentric he is. When Alston is in the game the ball moves; he drives the lane. They were all communicating on the floor pretty well up to this point.
We know that Rafer is upset with his reduced role so how does this affect him Sunday? It's going to be interesting to see what Einstein decides to do.

Magic may lose by 20 points on Sunday. Remember what happened to the Nuggets on game 6 with Lakers when everyone quit on their coach. Same think happens with Magic. Why play for a dumb coach and try to kill yourselves winning 3 in a row? You might as well quit on Sunday and save the long trip to LA. The team has quit on Van Gundy.

[NBA Hero]

Ok, let me start by saying I know fuk all about hoops, nothing, zilch, nada. But...as an observation, if there are 30 NBA teams, surely Van Gundy is by definition either the first or second best coach in the league by way of making it to the last two. I've read the threads about him being useless but how can he be useless if he's taken his team to the finals? And also, why weren't there threads before the finals saying how useless he was....or maybe there were, were there?

Just wondered. As someone that knows fuk all about the game, it strikes me that if Howard makes his free throws the spotlight wouldnt even be on Van Gundy.

Am i reading it wrong?

good point. but it is also the coach who puts the team in the best position to win the game. he acts as the brain to exploit the weakness of the opponent and at the same time maximizing the potential of his roster. and get the best blend out of his strategy and players.

So, there is a partial blame.

1) coach, forgetting the above mentioned
2) howard and hedo forgetting how to shoot freethrows
3) nelson, cant say how much cause dont know what happens behing the scene
4) alston, giving the magic reason for his benching

[BobHarvey]

The Lakers are +3 for Sunday's game. I agree with Mike. They could blow out the Magic.

[Shafted69]

Ok, let me start by saying I know fuk all about hoops, nothing, zilch, nada. But...as an observation, if there are 30 NBA teams, surely Van Gundy is by definition either the first or second best coach in the league by way of making it to the last two. I've read the threads about him being useless but how can he be useless if he's taken his team to the finals? And also, why weren't there threads before the finals saying how useless he was....or maybe there were, were there?

Just wondered. As someone that knows fuk all about the game, it strikes me that if Howard makes his free throws the spotlight wouldnt even be on Van Gundy.

Am i reading it wrong?

Van Gundy is dummer than dirt. His choke jobs against BOS & CLE were so obvious. ORL should've swept CLE & BOS. They also should be up 3-1 instead of down 1-3.

LEE should've been in guarding FISHy instead of Short Stack Nellie

It's obvious SVG is a CHOKE ARTIST?