Stan Van Gundy took a team to the NBA Finals as head coach and could have won one if Pat Riley hadn’t elevated to that role for the Heat in 2005.
Now, Van Gundy is an analyst for TNT and will work Games 1 and 2 between the Knicks and Pacers. It’s a clash that reignites a rivalry from the late 1990s and raises many strategic questions, which Van Gundy helped answer in an interview with The Post.
Here’s Van Gundy breaking down some of the most pressing:
Jalen Brunson vs. Tyrese Haliburton?
“First of all, you have a matchup between two truly elite playmakers. Different types of players, of course. But two of the absolute best. … I don’t invest much in the regular season in terms of, well, Indiana 2 out of 3. I don’t think any of that matters. But Jalen had a 40 point game against Indiana. Haliburton had 23 assists against New York. I think we’re going to have some great guard play.
Who will keep Haliburton?
“I think (Donte) DiVincenzo. He kept it during the season. And did a very good job. I think you’re going to see pretty much what you saw at the end of the Philly series (against Tyrese Maxey) – DiVincenzo and McBride. I think Anunoby will start over (Pascal) Siakam, then Hart will guard him too. I wouldn’t even be surprised at some point in the series – because of (Myles) Turner’s pick-and-pop – if Tom (Thibodeau) put Anunoby on Turner and put his cross on Siakam to take away the post-up from Siakam. game. And switch pick-and-rolls with Turner, then as Turner rolls DiVincenzo, they chase him out of there and then move their center to him on the roll.
Who will stop Brunson?
“Obviously, Brunson poses a major challenge in everything. How do you play his pick-and-rolls? How do you play his isolations? They doubled it a lot. Besides, can they keep New York off the glass? And the problem is if you want to double Brunson a lot, you’re in rotation when New York’s shot goes up, so it becomes even harder to block and you’re not a good rebounding team anyway. And now there are no more bodies left on anyone. I think there’s a lot of really interesting things to watch and a lot of challenges for both coaches.
What about pace preferences?
“New York will perform better than people give it credit for. But Indiana really wants to pick up the pace. And I think New York will want it to be a little slower, largely because of depth. I think that’s a big advantage for Indiana. Even with (Bennedict) Mathurin out (for the Pacers), I think there’s a real depth advantage for Indiana with (Julius) Randle and (Bojan Bogdanovic) out (for the Knicks). So I think in general Indiana would like to play faster than New York anyway. But the depth certainly gives them an added advantage. For me, it’s a fine line because New York is good at transitioning and they want to show up. But they must choose their place. They want to run on rebounds and definitely on turnovers. But they don’t want to end up in an up-and-down run-and-shoot type game with Indiana. They must therefore choose their place.
Want to know more about this Myles Turner conundrum?
“Shooting centers who can stretch the floor pose a problem for the Knicks in the pick-and-pop game. And I think Haliburton and Turner are a very, very good pick-and-roll combination. Turner hurt New York during the season, both on the board and on the pop side. New York generally wants reduced coverage. They will get up a little. But regardless, Turner’s ability to get to the 3-point line becomes an issue. … Tom never really wanted to change centers. He will do it when he puts (Precious) Achiuwa there but not so much with (Isaiah) Hartenstein or Mitchell Robinson. So it was difficult for them.
So where is the Knicks advantage?
“New York does that to everyone, but they absolutely wore down Indiana on the glass over the course of the season. And Indiana isn’t a good defensive rebounding team anyway. And New York is a great offensive rebounding team. I think that’s probably New York’s biggest advantage heading into the series.
The other asset of New York?
“They have one of those teams that finds a way to win. They won the first two games against the Sixers, with Brunson playing honestly poorly. And then he becomes the best player in the world to close the series. Other than maybe their rebounding, they simply don’t rely on any area of the game to be able to win. They will find different ways. They just compete, they’ll never go away. They’ll come down at 10 or 12 and you know they’ll come back. They are comfortable in these kinds of matches.
New York Post
