A season and a half ago, Stan Van Gundy resigned from the Heat, claiming he wanted to spend more time with his family, which was a story that few people bought and resulted in Pat Riley winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor that day and an NBA Championship six months later. But for those who didn't see the PC that day, it was Riley at his Gordon Gecko best. Talking about crisis situations and the fact that he was uncertain he could return, thus lowering the bar for himself...all of which was a reminder that in another life, Riley would have been the greatest sermonist who ever lived were he to have gone that route.
Twenty years ago, both the cities of Orlando and Miami attempted to secure an NBA franchise. Twenty years ago, Orlando's method of procurement was to not only put forth their own expansion package, but to make sure they could make as many Miami-as-crime-central barbs as possible. This made people in Miami annoyed-- not mad, mind you, as we know what a cesspool Miami can be at times-- but that someone else was the one saying it. You see, the one thing Miami has any type of civic pride about is when someone who doesn't live here chooses to bag on us.
The point is that about twenty years ago was more or less the last time the two teams were anything resembling archrivals. Both teams were babies then and both teams were awful. Then came periods where both teams took turns being good and the other went into a down-cycle and each has only been a varying nuissance to the other at varying points.
That is, until today. Stan Van Gundy being the beneficiary of the Gainesville Hamlet Sweepstakes just made the matchup between these two teams interesting for the first time in years. Also, I'd be curious to know if now, finally at this point, if only to sell tickets, that if any further truth to Van Gundy's departure gets unraveled here. Although in the end, everyone's a winner: Miami gets a second-rounder, Van Gundy gets another job, Orlando gets a PR save, and we get a pretty good story that's about to happen.
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