Stan The Man’s Guest Blog – Pops Sticks up For Stan Van Gundy
Cut the man some slack!
I read Jason Whitlock's Stan Van Panic article yesterday on Foxsports.com. Much too hard on a fat guy named Stan for me to pass up the opportunity to beef, so to speak. First, while I'm a big fan of JWhit, he looks like a guy who should have sympathy for fat guys!
Whitlock's right that Jameer Nelson played too many consecutive minutes. He also bit on the outlet to Ariza, and failed to foul or guard Fisher. However, there are many things that both teams and coaches would like to replay after any game, but the name of this game was missed FREE throws by the Magic star players.
Let's take a look at Turkoglu. He shot 8 for 13 from the field, and 8 for 13 (61.5%) from the FREE throw line. He was 3 for 7 in the 4th quarter. So a guy who is an 80% career FREE throw shooter, and has only missed 20 of 111 in the playoffs misses 4 in the 4th quarter at home. That's not panic, and I don't like to use the "c" word, but it's not good.
On to "Superman" Howard, he played great with 9 blocks and 6 offensive rebounds. Except he had three more blocks and the same amount of o-rebounds as made FREE throws. I know he's only 60% for his career, but 6 for 14 (42.9%). If you want to be even a regular hero just make ONE with 11 seconds left. Otherwise you did not seal the deal for your team, plain and simple.
Combined these two guys were only 5 for 11 from the FREE throw line in the fourth quarter. Do you get the point?
So Jason, please take it easy on Stan Van he is trying his best. He's wearing a lot of black and it's slimming.
-Stan the Man, (though I'm a Yankee and Cub fan, I was always a fan of Stan "The Man" Musial).
June 14th, 2009 - 04:03
Nice article Stan the Man! Now we just gotta get your wife to do theater reviews!