That Team Mentality

The Finals have come and gone. We have all gone through our withdrawals and our depression -- some are still getting through it. It is still tough to watch Kobe Bryant dancing before every SportsCenter and it is even tougher watching Games 2 and 4 when they air on NBATV.

Lock them away with Game 1 of the 1995 Finals and Game 6 and 7 of the 2003 First Round in the annals of missed Playoff opportunities.

But I bring up this heartbreak because yesterday was a very special day -- and the very special shirt that I bought when I went to Amway Arena for my first Magic Finals game in 14 years.

Yesterday was Stan Van Gundy's 50th birthday. Hard to believe he has made it that long without some sort of heart problem considering the way he carries himself on the sidelines. But here's to another healthy 50 years, Stan.

Van Gundy can be considered the team's greatest head coach for sure. But what has gotten Van Gundy to that point. Besides the record.

That brings me to the shirt I got to remember the Finals.

I went to Game Four after flying home from school for the end of the year the day before. I knew I needed an official Finals shirt to remember the occasion. The only shirt I have left from 1995 was a print of The Orlando Sentinel front page after the Magic won the Eastern Conference Finals. It no longer fits me, to say the least.

The shirt that caught my eye at the Orlando Magic store at the arena was a group of all the jerseys on the team arranged around the Finals logo with the traditional trimmings saying it was the Magic and that they were Eastern Conference Champions.

It is a sweet shirt. And I am a little upset they marked it down with the Finals over. No fun if you buy it after the fact, I say.

But what does it say that this was the shirt to choose of all the others at Amway Arena?

I think it goes to what Stan Van Gundy has done as a head coach. Van Gundy has done what every good coach does: get the best out of his individuals. More than that, he has gotten them to commit to a team mentality that only the good teams have.

Sure, he has his quirks. But Stan Van Gundy is a team-first guy and has built a team mentality with the Magic.

Whenever I wear that shirt, I think about what each player contributed to the team (and confuse Tyronn Lue's No. 10 for Keith Bogans' No. 10). That is why the Magic got to the Finals. They were the great sum of its parts.

So happy birthday Stan. I know you deserve your vacation. But it's time to get this team a ring.