http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/shaun_powell/09/13/magic-vs-heat/ There is no lost love between Pat Riley and Stan Van Gundy shown in this 2005 photo announcing Van Gundy?s surprise resignation from the Heat. There is no lost love between Pat Riley and former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy. Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images Heat, Magic setting up to be the next great rivalry Posted Sep 14 2010 9:18AM The stretch of Florida's Turnpike between Miami and Orlando is famous for toll booths, orange groves, a handful of unfortunate possums who weren't quick enough and now, for scorched earth. That's from the piping rivalry being ratcheted up between the great basketball teams residing in the state. All the necessary ingredients are there to make for a spicy stew: Territorial and professional pride, championship aspirations, hard feelings, angry words, ego and intense competition. In other words, just what the NBA needs -- a taste of drama with a strong kick to it. When the summer began, the Magic were sitting pretty as the team most likely to overtake the Celtics for Eastern Conference supremacy -- until the Heat went and combined three All-Stars. That move only made Video Magic general manager Otis Smith mock LeBron James for taking an easier road to a potential championship. But it gets better. That made Heat president Pat Riley rush to Bron's defense with a very careful and diplomatic reply -- OK, calling Smith's comments "absolutely stupid" was maybe not the best way he could have put it -- but wait, it gets better. That made Magic coach Stan Van Gundy take Riley to the shed, citing a perceived hypocrisy from the man who was his boss in Miami for 12 years. But wait. It gets better still. These teams will see each other a time or two this season, and perhaps next spring as well. This has the makings of the decade's best intra-conference rivalry, much like Celtics-Sixers in the 1980s, Bulls-Pistons in the '90s and Lakers-Kings in the 2000s...
