NJNJ Posted January 20, 2010 Report Share Posted January 20, 2010 When a very good team drops seven of nine games – as the Orlando Magic have – those examining the tea leaves often arrive at a singular conclusion: It must be chemistry. It can’t be the talent, because Orlando has an embarrassment of riches, a roster so deep that Brandon Bass routinely logs DNPs. They lost Hedo Turkoglu and Courtney Lee, but added Vince Carter, Ryan Anderson, Matt Barnes and Bass. But what does good chemistry mean? Are we talking about on-court fit? Are we talking about a group of guys that goes to the movies together on road trips? Remember the slew of articles about the Cleveland's team chemistry last season? When the Cavs ultimately lost the Eastern Conference Finals last spring to Orlando was it because something upset that chemistry? Or was it because they ran up against a team that had a unique combination of size, speed and flexibility to offset the Cavs' strengths? It's one of those classic chicken-and-egg questions: Does good chemistry produce winning, or does winning produce good chemistry? When you stop winning, is it because the chemistry has gone bad, or does the chemistry go bad because you've stopped winning? Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy isn't a man with a lot of patience for abstractions. He deals in reality. Those blue cards that forever pop out of his inside jacket pocket? They're professional basketball sets, schemes designed to produce opportunities for his players to score two or three points. Van Gundy's initial answer to the "good chemistry vs. winning" riddle prior to Monday night's game against the Lakers was, "It's both." But then he elaborated, essentially saying that if you want chemistry, call a chemist: We were 17-4 at one point. Your chemistry shouldn’t get worse as you go along. We’re just not playing well right now. People want to point to a lot of psychological reasons and all of these things. I’ve heard hangover from the Finals, but what, it came on late after the first 21 games? I’ve heard chemistry, and so I guess ... we had chemistry for 21 games... When you’ve had as many people as we’ve had -- and it’s all of us really -- not playing well, you’re not going to look like you have great chemistry because you’re not executing and the ball’s not moving, and everything else. To me, call it what you want, it doesn’t matter. We’re just not playing well. CONTINUE READING Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BasX Posted January 20, 2010 Report Share Posted January 20, 2010 Want Hedo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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