A Summer of Lament for Van Gundy

“Dance with what brought you there.”That’s the old saw about what coaches should do in big games, and that’s what Heat coach Stan Van Gundy did in Game 7 against the Pistons last night. The result is likely to haunt him all summer.You might think I’m referring to his decision to play Dwyane Wade, but that was a no-brainer. While Wade wasn’t quite up to his usual exploits, he scored 20 points and single-handedly got Miami back into the game in the fourth quarter.It was Van Gundy’s other guard that was the problem – Damon Jones. After battling a heel problem all series, Jones added a sprained left ankle to his list of maladies in the first quarter. He aggravated the injury in the third quarter, and, not surprisingly, was massively ineffective most of the night. In 32 minutes, Jones produced just one point and two assists, placing a huge burden on the other four players.What made Van Gundy’s decision so puzzling is that Jones’s backup, Keyon Dooling, played so well. In 16 minutes, Dooling shot 3-for-6 from the floor and played solid defense on guards Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton.Almost every key moment in the game pointed out the difference between the two heat guards. It was Dooling’s reverse layup that gave Miami its first two-possession lead in the fourth quarter at 70-66. Conversely, it was Jones’s caught-in-midair turnover with two minutes left that proved crucial.The Heat led 78-76 at the time, and Jones had just received a pass from Shaquille O’Neal. The obvious thing to do was throw the ball right back into Shaq, who was a human wrecking ball all night (27 points, nine rebounds). Instead, Jones – who hadn’t made a basket the entire night – decided to get cute and create some offense for himself. He ended up caught in no-man’s land and threw the ball away, starting a break for the Pistons that led to the game-tying basket.Jones added further to Miami’s woes when he converted only one of two free throws – his only point of the game – with 17 seconds left. His inability to convert both made it impossible for the Heat to set up a play for a game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds, because they were down by four on each of their final two trips.That said, here’s another old saw: Hindsight is always 20-20.Van Gundy’s reasons for sticking with Jones were solid enough – he had been a vital contributor all season, could spread out the defense with his 3-point shooting, and was generally less erratic than Dooling. Unfortunately, once Jones turned his ankle, the correct move was probably to ride Dooling down the stretch.That won’t be Van Gundy’s only lament. He’ll also spend his summer wondering what happened to his defense in the first half, especially Eddie Jones. I mentioned in this space yesterday that Jones has routinely been beaten by Richard Hamilton on curl moves, and that happened again last night.Hamilton poured in 16 points in the first half alone, mostly on mid-range jumpers that came when Jones played the screen incorrectly. The Miami defender kept trying to short-cut in front of the screener and meet Hamilton at the pass, but Hamilton just faded into the corner when that happened, ending up with plenty of shooting space.The proper way to defend that play is to follow the opponent around the screen and force him to the middle where help is available, but for some reason Jones failed to do that for much of the opening half. Hamilton finished with 22 points, and did it on sparkling 11-of-16 shooting; Jones, meanwhile, again struggled on offense, shooting 4-for-12 and finishing with 10 points – three of them coming on a lucky fling from half court to end the first half.It’s unfortunate that Miami’s two Joneses failed to deliver, because their struggles undermined heroic efforts from Miami’s two stars. Shaq overcame a bruised thigh to post his highest-scoring game of the series, and had enough gas left in the tank to score seven points in the final 3:19.Wade wasn’t as stellar, but he wasn’t expected to be. His final line of 7-for-20 with five turnovers doesn’t quite evoke memories of Willis Reed, but he was still an improvement on Rasual Butler, who stepped in for him in Game 6. Additionally, his presence drew the attention of the Detroit defense, opening lots of space for Damon and Eddie Jones. Er, scratch that last part.While Miami has plenty to lament, the Pistons can take pride in their performance. Yes, the Heat may not have been at 100%, but Detroit still went into a raucous arena in a seventh game and walked out with the victory. As I mentioned, Hamilton was superb, but the other key was the awakening of Rasheed Wallace. Playing sans headband, he scored 20 points for the third time this series (all Detroit wins).Wallace saved his best for last. After he front-rimmed a tepid fadeaway with three minutes left, Detroit fans could be forgiven for thinking a classic Rasheed vanishing act was coming. Instead, he converted the two biggest plays of the series.First, Rasheed drew a foul and made both shots to give Detroit the lead at 80-79 with 1:25 left. Then on Detroit’s next possession, he tipped in a Tayshaun Prince miss to extend the lead to three. Overall, he made 8 of 13 shots, and he didn’t even get T’d up this time.After Wallace’s heroics, it was Chauncey Billups time. One has to respect his basketball intelligence, which was on display for all to see in the final 30 seconds. Knowing Detroit was up by three with 17 seconds left, he was the one who crowded Jones – a deadly 3-point shooter – and took away his shooting angle. Though he was called for a foul, it still prevented Miami from tying the game. Then Billups took over again by seeking out the ball and forcing the Heat to foul him, knowing that at 90% he was the best foul shooter on the court. Of course, he drilled all four.Ultimately, though, this feels as much like a lost opportunity for the Heat as it does a triumph for Detroit. This is the fourth time in eight years that Miami has lost a deciding game on its home court (good news, Nets fans: Alonzo Mourning was on all four teams). This year, the Heat had the best record in the East and the most dominant big man in the game, but couldn’t close out the Pistons. With Shaq’s conditioning getting worse each year, this may have been the Heat’s best shot at the title. Instead, they’ll spend all summer wondering if they should have changed point guards in Game 7.

A Summer of Lament for Van Gundy

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