I Hate to Give The Big Cactus Credit But....

"OBEY YOUR MASTER.....MASTER
MASTER OF PANIC PULLING STRINGS."
-Modified Metallica as sung by Shaq today

I'm unabashedly rooting for the Celtics this series. I root for the Boston teams second. But it's painful to see another Stan Van Gundy coached collapse. It's painful to see another big man tear into SVG, even though I have no problem with anything Dwight Howard said.

And it's painful to give any sort of credit for Shaquille O'Neal. By the way, how the bleep does Shaq get NBA All-Third Team? I didn't know being the anchor of a defense that allows 140 points a game, and getting a coach(Terry Porter) canned is the criteria for being named one of the NBA's top 15 players. The NBA where amazing happens!

OK back to Stan.

Off the court, Stan Van Gundy sounds like a coach who gets it. Who understands how to motivate. Who understands how to use personnel(even tho he thought Jameer Nelson was too short for the Heat to draft). Who knows how to teach defense. Who was well schooled by Pat Riley.

But here's one thing about coaches that I've learned from being around them the last couple years. They are sado-masochists. They spend a lot of time gameplanning in fear of the worst possible situation coming true. Take the NBA question of whether to foul a team down by 3 in the final seconds of the game. I would foul 100 times out of 100. But most coaches don't foul 99 out of 100 times because they fear "What happens if we don't foul right and the shooter just jacks up a 3?"

And Stan Van Gundy is the ABSOLUTE WORST at this type of coaching. Last night, he didn't get Dwight Howard more than 10 shots, because he's scared that the Celtics will foul him on every post touch. Just like Shaq didn't touch the ball in the last 2 minutes of Heat-Pistons in Game 7 of the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals, thus the Heat cough up a six-point lead. Just like not having Dwyane Wade in the game during the Heat's final 2004 playoff possession, because he wasn't a good 3-point shooter at the time.

There were other strategical blunders too. Like actually having D-12 in the contest down by 3 knowing the Celtics are going to foul him. And then panicking by having him intentionally miss the 2nd free throw. And why would J.J. Reddick be on Ray Allen late in a tight game, with defensive stopper Mikael Pietrus on the bench?

I think SVG knows how to coach, and can be a great NBA coach for a long time. But I truly have doubts whether he knows how to trust his players, and put his own fears aside. If he doesn't do that, then he will be known as the "Master of Panic."