Van Gundy Shoulders Full Blame For Pistons' Late-Game Collapse
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
A dejected Stan Van Gundy, slumped over at the podium with his face propped up in his hand, took full blame for the Pistons' last-minute collapse in their 97-96 loss to the Heat on Tuesday night.
Detroit had battled back from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit and led 96-92 lead with 30 seconds to go before allowing the last five points of the game.
"Our team fought hard, it's tough to lose like that. And it's tough for me because I could have made better decisions that would have won us the game," Van Gundy said.
The Heat cut the lead to 96-95, aided by a questionable technical foul on Stanley Johnson, and then got the ball back by converging on Johnson when he received a sideline inbound pass. Johnson, with nowhere to go, was forced into a jump-ball situation.
"KCP threw it to Stanley, Stanley got tied up. That's my fault. That whole thing's my fault," Van Gundy said. "We should have just advanced the ball and I should have put Beno (Udrih) in the game for Stanley at that point. That was my fault. We would have won the game if I had done a better job."
James Johnson won the jump ball from Stanley Johnson, the Heat called a timeout and then won the game on a Hassan Whiteside tip-in at the buzzer. It was the fifth straight defeat for the Pistons, who now trail Miami by 2.5 games for the final playoff spot in the East.
Van Gundy did his best to look for moral victories, but couldn't get past his own blunders.
"We played better tonight, we did. We played better, we played harder, we fought, we fought, we fought. Still didn't shoot the ball very well, we struggled getting that ball in the basket but we didn't let it get to us tonight. We stayed in there and fought really, really hard. So, again, it's a game we should have won and it's tough because a couple different decisions by me and we would have won the game," he said.
For all his self-reproach, Van Gundy was appalled at the refs for levying a technical foul against Johnson for stepping on the sideline while defending an inbound pass. The foul came with 24 seconds left, led to a free throw for Goran Dragic and opened the door to Miami's comeback.
"You might want to get a film clip of that because you won't see that call in the last minute of a game for about another five or six years, whether it happens or not," Van Gundy said. "So you might want to get a film clip and save it for the archives."