Master of His Domain

After the Magic blew a 14-point 4th quarter lead in Game 1 and nearly did the same in a close Game 2 victory, much has been made of Stan Van Gundy's composure under pressure, considering Shaq criticized Van Gundy as a "Master of Panic" and "when it gets time for his team to go into the postseason and do certain things, he will let them down because of his panic."

While "Master of Panic" is the best nickname since Don King accused Jose Canseco of being a "practitioner of rat thinkism", you have to wonder if it is entirely justified.

Here's how Van Gundy's post-season track record goes:

2004- Led by an up and coming star named Dwyane Wade and the occasionally interested Lamar Odom, the Heat win a 7-game first round series against the Hornets that made you go (yawn). The Heat ultimately fall in the East semis in 6 games to an Indiana team that had the NBA's best record and went on to lose to the eventual champion Pistons.

2005- Led by a motivated Shaq, the Heat grab home-court advantage in the playoffs and lead the Eastern Conference Finals 3-2 when Wade suffers a ribcage injury that keeps him out of Game 6 and hinders his performance in Game 7. Also worth noting that the Heat were leading Game 7 with just over 2 minutes to play when Damon Jones reared his ugly head.

November 2005- Van Gundy is fired to spend more time with his family *cough cough* Pat Riley got the itch to coach again.

2008- Magic cruise past Toronto in the first round in 5. Lose a highly-contested 5-game set to Detroit in the East Semis.

Since he was hired in the summer of 2007 after Eddie Munster Donovan robbed Otis Smith at gunpoint, the Magic have won 52 and 59 games respectively. Before the season-ending injury to Jameer Nelson, the Magic were a very real threat to win the 1st title in franchise history and may very well still.

Since arriving in Orlando, SVG has made the Magic a much more offensive-oriented team, using the perimeter skills of Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and (credit to Otis I must say) Courtney Lee. Gone are the 81-80 staples of the rigid Brian Hill Part II Era.

In the series against the Pistons, the Magic lost 3 games in the final minutes. Game 2 was lost partly due to a clock malfunction that would change momentum, Game 4 thanks to multiple brain-lapses by Keyon Dooling (also an assailant in Miami's Game 7 collapse) and Game 5 due to several shots by Hedo falling short. While you could argue that Stan may not have been as calm as Flip Saunders (who I argue was just plain dense), I think this particular Magic group needed to go through that experience to become the contender they are now.

As the season has gone on, the rap on SVG has been that he cannot find anything positive to say about his team, surprisingly Dwight Howard in particular. Now far be it be for me to confirm because I'm not in the timeout huddles, but when Marcin Gortat says things like "His gestures make us nervous out there,", that doesn't really help to dispel the notion now, does it? When it appears that you're a bigger complainer than yours truly, that's not good. The concern being that if he continues to grate, berate and be just irate, this team will eventually tune out whatever good he may have. This isn't exactly true beacuse Superman has it down pat....



I still contend that he was the best fit for this team. Given the weapons available, Stan has gotten the most out of this group. I fully believe that under Eddie Munster Donovan, this is at best a 43-39 team.

Don't get me wrong, Sunday night wasn't exactly Stan's finest hour, but I can't put the onus squarely on him. Firing three after three and giving the Sixers quick outlet opportunities to trim the lead didn't help matters. Not being able to secure A REBOUND on the defensive end did this them in.

With the weakened Celtics looming and the dominance the Magic have shown in recent years over Cleveland, the NBA Finals are well within reach. If they fall short, it'll be because of those things amongst others (Memphis Tigers-like FT%, anyone?) not because their coach had a cross between bitter beer face and John Mayer when he sings.

They say as a coach you should never let them see you sweat a la Phil Jackson, but to each coach his own personality. Might I remind you, this is the Van Gundy family we're talking about here. Jeff wasn't exactly Willie Randolph on the bench.

Now to say I like Stan Van, warts and all isn't fair, because that seems like an indictment on him, but it certainly wouldn't hurt him to have a Paxil and smile before Game 3.

2009 New York Mets Season Preview: It Can't Happen Again, Right? Right?

You couldn't blame Mets fans for being as cynical about the 2009 season as the American public is about the current economy. But after a winter of second-guessing, what ifs, self-loathing, trades and signings, we're ready to go.

The main issue addressed in the off-season was the downfall of the last 2 Septembers. As big as the signings of K-Rod and J.J. Putz were, the execution of Scott Schoeneweis, Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, Duaner Sanchez and Luis Ayala were just as huge.

Now I could rehash their greatest hits and how they almost drove me to raging alcoholism, but it's a new year.

The big knock on K-Rod is that his arm is due to go Dave Dravecky after 62 saves in 76 appearences last season. I would point out however that he did not have a single 4+ out save last season. Also, it's worth noting that giving K-Rod 3 years/$37 mil at 27 is vastly different than giving Billy Wagner 4 years/$ 43 mil at 34. The fact that Omar was able to shave 2 years and $38 mil off the initial figures Rodriguez was looking at last July is quite impressive. It also makes the Putz trade even more brilliant in hindsight as they have an all-star caliber closer as a set-up man and ace in the hole should Frankie's arm fail him.

It's a little unnerving that the Mets are going into battle this season attempting to take down the lefty-heavy Phillies with just one lefty reliever, who I might add has exactly ONE pitch, but yet I do not fear. The lone bright spot in the tire fire that was the bullpen was Brian Stokes. While the term "crossover reliever" is very LaRussa-esque and makes me cringe, Stokes fits the term to a T as he was effecttive against hitters on both sides of the plate. If 2008 was more of a trend than an accident, not only does that give Jerry a reliable option against lefties (let's face it, Feliciano has been a crap shoot for a year and a half now), it also gives him their 7th inning option.

The rotation is obviously set at the top by The Left Arm Of God and potential in the spots behind him.

Mike Pelfrey showed promise in the 2nd half and become the most sure thing behind Johan and Delgado, but had a shaky spring and the big concern is how he will hold up after pitching 200 innings for the first time in his career, my gut feeling says he'll be fine. When it clicks, it clicks and Pelfrey seemed to develop a confidence last year that we hadn't seen before, the belief that he belonged as a major league starter. When you have the confidence to match the stuff, you're ready to go.

The main reason I believe the Mets signed Oliver Perez this offseason was the sole belief that better for him be on their side if/when he gets it than with somebody else. I'd say he's due to break through this year, but I said that last year too, so search me.

John Maine could be the usual solid #3 if he's healthy. It's a must that he develops his curveball in order for him to get his pitch count down, which is the only thing that has inhibited him as a starter.

Only real changes to the lineup are Luis Castillo tentaively hitting 8th and Daniel Murphy winning the starting job in left. I'm a big fan of what Murph did down the stretch last season. He won't go for a lot of power, but in this lineup, he doesn't have to. His role is to be on base to set up Wright/Delgado/Beltran, not to mention with the quality pitch selection and ability to go opposite field is a huge plus as a #2 hitter with Reyes on base.

I don't expect Carlos Delgado to unleash the '03 version of himself as he did for the final 2 and a half months last season, but a .272/27/96 shouldn't be too much of a reach.

This is David Wright's year to become the leader that we've been waiting for him to be, both on the field and in the clubhouse. True, he may have caught a little too much heat for the strikeout against the Cubs on the final Wednesday (myself included), but more than ever this team needs that Jeter-like influence and Wright has that ability, it's time for him to flex that muscle.

Of course, there is the dirty little secret that should all else fail, the small-market teams will be shedding salary like it's going out of style at the trade deadline. Damn, I feel like a Yankee fan just talking like that. Economic disaster.....catch the excitement!

The New York media has already started the rumblings of Jerry Manuel being fired if the Mets do not make the playoffs again, which to me is propestorous. If the bullpen doesn't trip over itself last year, we'd be talking about one of the greatest turnaround jobs in baseball history. Jerry was able to bring some sense of stability to a team that had been missing it for a long time. With a structured bullpen seemingly in palce (key word: seemingly), Manuel doesn't have to spend the entire game wondering how he eventually has to juggle the pen. Given the circumstances, I think Jerry handled himself quite well, which makes me all the more confident in what he'll do this season.

Prediction: uhhhhhhhhhhhh, you really don't expect me to do that?