Magic look to avoid Game 6 meltdown
ORLANDO (AP) – Dwight Howard wants the ball more. Stan Van Gundy is telling fans not to panic, and some Orlando Magic players think their series with Boston already should be over.
Orlando seems to be teetering on a Magic Meltdown.
Howard met with Van Gundy and apologized Wednesday, but did not retract his statements, after publicly challenging the coach’s strategy in their Game 5 collapse. The Magic center even added another bold comment as the Celtics look to close out Orlando in Game 6 Thursday and move on to the Eastern Conference finals.
“We can’t give up hope,” Howard said Wednesday. “We’re in this series to win it. We are going to win this series.”
That will take quite a turnaround.
It was the second time during these playoffs Howard has questioned why the Magic coach doesn’t run more of the offense through him, with the latest being the loudest and most direct. The two met privately Wednesday before the team’s film session and said they resolved their differences.
“Getting the ball shouldn’t be a big issue for me,” Howard said. “There’s more ways to dominate the game than scoring. Me and coach, we talked about that. I just can’t let my frustrations get to the point where I’ll say anything.”
Howard’s comments come in a season where Shaquille O’Neal criticized Van Gundy, his former coach with the Miami Heat. O’Neal, who openly complained about coaching decisions following Miami’s Game 7 loss to Detroit in the 2005 Eastern Conference finals, went as far as calling Van Gundy a “master of panic.”
Howard’s comments caused enough uproar in Orlando that Van Gundy suggested that any Magic fans starting to panic need to keep their cool.
The Celtics won Game 4 on a jumper by Glen “Big Baby” Davis as time expired, rallied in Game 5 despite struggling for most of the night and have the Magic on the brink of elimination. Boston is 32-0 when it takes a 3-2 lead in a best-of-seven series.