<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>A coach can rip into his superstar, but making a habit of it does not bode well for his job security. We will see if the Magic -- GM Otis Smith in particular --- have Stan Van Gundy's back in his taffy-pull with Dwight Howard. If not, Stan will be spending time with his family again should anything develop beyond a family-like tiff. Superstars always win the ego battles between coaches. The Magic have far more serious problems than Van Gundy blasting Howard for concentrating too much on offense --- like their poor defense, especially at point guard, and the quiet nature of Rashard Lewis' game. Ah, it was refreshing quite frankly to see Van Gundy's rant, because maybe Dwight was getting too big for his britches, living the NBA life as 22-year-olds tend to do. Maybe he needed to be taken down a peg. Van Gundy, never one to hold back his thoughts, said he and Howard have "a little bit of conflict." It finally manifested itself into Van Gundy’s benching and post-game blasting of his all-star center on Monday night. The Magic’s 118-111 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Amway Arena became a footnote after the Howard-Van Gundy dust-up. Van Gundy said he sat Howard for a two-minute stretch of a fairly tight game in the fourth quarter after Howard said something he didn’t like. Neither Van Gundy nor Howard would volunteer what was said. "That’s going to be between Dwight and I, but his focus isn’t where it needs to be," Van Gundy said. "I don’t think right now we’re on the same page to be quite honest." Van Gundy added that Howard said nothing derogatory toward him. Howard’s comment was likely in the context of the game --- perhaps not getting the ball enough --- but it set off Van Gundy, a disciple of the Pat Riley school of accountability, superstar or not. Van Gundy said after the Magic fell to 32-21 that Howard has been concentrating too much on scoring and not enough on defense and rebounding --- the real effort departments. "His focus is on the offensive end," Van Gundy said. "He gets discouraged when he doesn’t get the ball. I think the numbers prove that what we need him to focus on to win is defensive rebounding, but that’s not what he wants to do right now and we’ve got a little bit of a conflict." The on-court controversy a first in Howard’s three-plus seasons in Orlando, Howard said he and Van Gundy are "fine." "There are no problems with me and Stan Van Gundy," Howard said. "It's just like when families have problems. We're going to have fights and disappointments."</div> Source: Orlando Sentinel Blog
