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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 10, 2009

Stan Van Gundy

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Practice Day

Q. I think you started off, you missed three of your first four and then you went on a stretch where you made 21 of 24. What do you attribute that to? Ball movement, finally time to break loose or good shots?
STAN VAN GUNDY: Tremendous game plan on my part, that's what it was attributed to (laughter). I had nothing to do with those first four possessions. After that it was all me.
I don't know. Our ball movement was good, but I don't care how good your ball movement is and the quality of shot you get. You're not going to put the ball in the basket at that rate very often. But it's one of those nights thankfully that a lot of shots went down. Our ball movement was good. I thought offensively we executed well. But I've got no explanation for shooting 75 percent in the first half.

Q. Being the son of a Division III coach who drove the buses and swept the gym, how do you think that impacts the way you look at the coaching profession and what you do, especially at this level, given the life your dad lived?
STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, I mean, first of all, I think that when I got into coaching, that's where I expected to be coaching. That's actually where I dreamed of coaching, that I'd get a good Division III job somewhere and settle down, and I did all those things. I was a Division III head coach at 24 and where I was making money was lining soccer and lacrosse fields and putting out archery targets for PE classes so I could coach basketball and things like that. That was fine. That's what I wanted to do. I certainly didn't go into coaching thinking I'd ever make any money at it or coach on TV or any of that. I just wanted to coach. And that's what I think I got from my dad is just a pure love of coaching.
And then coaching at those levels, I think the biggest thing you learn is that there's a lot of great coaches at every level. I mean, I was at the Division III level and I got out-coached a lot of times. I was at the Division II level and I got out-coached a lot of times, and there's some coaches at some of those schools right now who have got it in the back of their minds and looking at me and saying, "You've got to be kidding me." There was a guy, I don't know if he's there anymore, in fact I know he's not, but there was a guy at Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bruce Webster, he beat me nine out of ten times when I was at Lowell.
You've got to be good in this business but you've also got to get a lot of breaks. If you don't realize that, if you really think you're sitting here because of your genius or anything, I don't know, maybe your background is different, but I got my butt kicked a lot at every level, including this one, so I sort of know where I stand in this profession.

Q. So much talk earlier in the playoffs that this would be the Kobe-LeBron Finals. Then you get here and lose the first two games, and some of the players said winning last night was a real confidence boost because it was a Finals game, and there's something to say, not only are we in it to win it, but this is a compelling series and this is an entertaining and a close series. Have you sensed any of that or felt any of that?
STAN VAN GUNDY: You know, I really don't. You get into the middle of these things, and you just don't get caught up in the story lines and all of that. It's just -- I didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning, and you've got to get everything ready for today on the film and stuff. You just don't have time to think of any of that. My thoughts are all on how are we going to do a better job defensively on them, what do we have to adjust to get shots. It's all pretty basic stuff. There's not time to pay attention to any of that.

Q. Do you think players do, though?
STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, I think that there's probably some of that going on, but as I have said to them, my take on this is a little bit different. I think players, coaches to some degree, really get into this whole respect thing, if they're given respect by people and things like that. I think even before this series but certainly now, I mean, our players as I've told them have earned the respect. I mean, you can't do what we've done, you can't be at this level, you can't bounce back as many times as we have, you can't lose an All-Star at mid-season and bounce back, you can't do all those things if you don't have great character, resilience, not to mention talent on your team. So to me anyway, it's not about proving any of those things now, it's about trying to win a championship. And that's it. That's the only thing on my mind.

Q. You talked earlier in this series about how you guys aren't afraid to try things. I think you were referring to the Jameer move when you made that comment. Can you talk about, do you think you made unconventional moves? I know you don't like to talk about your genius and all that, but have you made some unconventional moves?
STAN VAN GUNDY: You know what, yeah, probably some. But again, a lot of it is just what you have going on at times isn't working as well as you think it can, you've got to try something else to get it going.
And also, to be quite honest, I mean, we're fortunate in that, especially with guys like Hedo and Rashard, we have some versatility to be able to try some things like playing Hedo at the point for ten minutes, ten-plus minutes in Game 2, things like that. I mean, I think it's pretty simple for all coaches. You can try to do at all times whatever you think gives you the best chance to play well at that point in the game. That's all it is.
And sometimes that becomes maybe a little unconventional, but I'm not setting out to be unconventional, I'm just trying to do what I think is best.

Q. Psychological question for you: You guys have been very resilient coming back from tough losses all year long and in the playoffs. Is it just as difficult to come back from a big win and not get too happy? Is it part of your task as a coach to tamp down on excessive enthusiasm celebration or is that not necessary at this level?
STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, I think it is, but I didn't sense that today from our guys at all or even last night. I didn't sense -- I think you get more of that if you get a big win. Like we had Game 1 in Cleveland, you get a big win, you're up 1-0 in the series, then I think you're concerned about that.
I think the difference here is, that keeps things in perspective, we were happy to win last night, but we're still down 2-1 with them having the home-court advantage. I think our players understand all that. I think our players understand that we've got a very tough road ahead of us. So as happy as we were to get the win, there was no -- I didn't sense any celebration or anything like that. I mean, we know this is going to be a tough grind.

Q. Can you talk about just what you were able to gain or learn from your first coaching experience in Miami, and also just talk about how it feels to have led a team to this point.
STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, you learn all the time. I mean, I think that obviously I learned in Miami from that experience. I can't point to one or two things. I think every game you coach and every year you go along, you hopefully learn and get better, and it's generally from your mistakes and things like that.
I don't really have any personal thoughts about what it means to get to this level. Again, right now I'm in the middle of it, so what it means to get to this level is I've got to try to find a way to help us get a win in Game 4. That's all I've got time to think about right now.

End of FastScripts

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