Coach of the Year Being Outcoached?

In what has to be the oddest of occurrences, are we really seeing the NBA Coach of the Year allowing himself to be outcoached by a man that has been incessantly criticized by both the media as well as current and former players for his fiery demeanor and causing his team to wilt under pressure? Yes. Is that same Stan Van Gundy now one win away from the NBA Finals, having built a commanding 3-1 lead in the East Finals over the presumptive title favorites? Yes.

Say what you will about his antics, words, involvement with Shaq (or Ben Wallace), or anything else, but SVG is pushing all the right buttons in this series. He is force-feeding Dwight Howard in the post against a Cleveland front line that has absolutely no answer. Even though his big man has gotten into foul trouble, Van Gundy is not hesitant to go right back into him as soon as he reenters the game. Running the offense through Howard has opened up the floor for the shooters that the Magic surround Superman with. In case you haven't heard the Magic like to hoist threes, and when open, they're pretty darn good at knocking them down, including 17 in Game 4 alone. But the real achievment is SVG channeling his inner Phil Jackson and maybe using some old-fashioned reverse psychology on his counterpart.

This man openly admitted that he had NO ANSWER for stopping LeBron James. And you know what? That's exactly what he wants James to think. Because as we are seeing, LeBron cannot do this by himself. He put up 44 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists last night, but the Cavs couldn't get the win. He ALMOST got them that win (and bailed them out in Game 2) but playing this way, his team is one loss from elimination. Van Gundy knows they can't contain LeBron, but knows that LeBron going off is Plan A versus a Plan B that includes James getting all of his teammates involved and getting that Cavalier offensive machine that was so in tune in the first 2 rounds rolling again. So SVG is publicly admiring LeBron's freakishly good game, but privately glowing about how the rest of his team is locking down Mo Williams, Delonte West and the rest of the James Gang. LeBron is being forced to do EVERYTHING and it doesn't always end well. For that ridiculous stat line shown above, he also had 8 turnovers, 3 in OT alone. So while Van Gundy may be walking a tightrope by having LeBron put up such great stats, he's also survived that tightrope trot 3 times out of 4, with them being one incredible shot away from a sweep. If the Magic win Game 5, this could replace the 2004 NBA Finals as the "5-Game Sweep."

On the other side, Mike Brown just looks clueless, like he usually does. I still believe he was a terrible choice for COY, as detailed in this comment on Who Lurks back in early May. But he is openly admitting that he's just gonna ride LeBron, instead of trying to figure out a new way to play against the Oralndo Magic. Newsflash, Coach Brown: You've lost 10 of 14 to this team over the past 3 seasons. TRY SOMETHING ELSE! Otherwise, this season and maybe the best opportunity to keep LeBron in a Cavs uniform for his entire career, could be gone in an instant. On defense, maybe try a page from Van Gundy's book and force Dwight Howard to really be Superman. Sure, he may put up some ridiculous numbers against your soft, undersized front line, but Dwight's overall offensive repertoire is limited. Obviously, half-assing your double teams is still allowing Dwight to go for his share, while opening up enough shots for the Magic to hit 42 threes in 4 games.

If this series doesn't do an immediate 180, we will be seeing a Van Gundy coaching in the finals one season after Doc Rivers, and that would seriously be a shocker.