Tonight’s game: Celtics focused on Turkoglu
Celtics forward Paul Pierce has said more than once that Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu is one of his most difficult matchups, on par with playing against LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony at small forward.
“When you’re 6′ 10″ it certainly gives you the ability to to see the floor a lot easier and to make plays,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said of Turkoglu. “It’s a little harder for people to get great ball pressure on him and to keep him from being able to make passes. I know it makes it a little easier for him.”
Turkoglu is averaging 11.6 points, 6.1 assists, and 4.9 rebounds in 14 games with the Magic.
“Turk is just such a great fit for them,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. “We were talking about that earlier as a staff. What is it Deion Branch, the receiver, he went away and struggled and then he comes back and he plays well because of the system. Turkoglu is a lot like that. He just fits the way they play.”
— Van Gundy was fined $35,000 earlier this month for saying the league is targeting Dwight Howard. He went off on a bit of a tangent before the game on what speaking his mind ends up costing him.
“We spend a lot of time talking to the media, and that’s by a league decree,” said Van “Gundy. “All they talk about to us all the time is being open and accessible and everything else, plus I’m mic’d during the game, the camera’s on me before the game and at halftime, but don’t say anything wrong. Be open and accessible, but make sure everything you say is exactly what they want you to say. And there’s no warnings or anything else. It’s $35,000.
“It is tough. I try to answer the questions I’m asked honestly, and I guess that’s not the way to go.”
Van Gundy was asked if any topics were known to be off limits.
“It’s not just a list of subjects,” he said. “You just can’t say anything critical about the league at all. I wish we had that rule about coaches, you guys couldn’t say anything critical about us. The only people in the game who can’t be criticized are the officials and the people in the league office. Everybody else is fair game.”
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