Come on, the Magic reached the eastern conf finals despite Van Gundy, not because of him. They lost twice against the worst team of the playoffs and they needed 7 games to beat a tired and depleted Celtics squad, routinely blowing double figures leads "because they are the champs". May I remember you he started JJ Redick for the whole series?
That defensive play was stupid because it has a sole purpose: avoid an inbound lob to the basket. I'm assuming that's why Van Gundy put Turkoglu (slower but bigger) on James instead of Pietrus.
Well, when you hold on a 2pts lead with 1sec to go, you're a doofus in my book if you gamble on D to avoid a 2 pts play and end up giving up a 3 and the game. 4th buzzer beating loss against the Magic during these playoffs, by the way.
And Donald, at least Phil Jackson understands that you need to put a big IN FRONT OF the point guard that inbounds the ball, not 10 feet away