Why is Van Gundy apologizing?

Van Gundy blames himself for defense on final play.

My reaction: why?

When Mo Williams was set to inbound the ball to LeBron James at the end of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, color analyst Doug Collins said "anything away from the basket, make them hit a tough shot fading away from the basket."

What happened? Hedo Turkoglu followed James away from the basket, got right up in his face, contested the shot as well as he could and the King hit an MVP-caliber shot.

Why is Van Gundy turning this into a negative? James hit a miracle shot just to stay alive in a series with Orlando owning the momentum going back home for two games. Obviously, Van Gundy doesn't want to throw any player under the bus, but any logical NBA fan could see that Turkoglu played perfect defense on the play.

One argument is: why wasn't Mickael Pietrus on James? After all Pietrus was pestering James all quarter.

Well, with one second left, James doesn't have the option to drive; it's a catch-and-shoot situation. Pietrus is great at stopping penetration, but the longer, taller Hedo Turkoglu is clearly the better option to defend the catch-and-shoot.

Truthfully, if we were to blame any player for the shot, it would be either Pietrus or Rashard Lewis. Pietrus foolishly followed Pavlovic out to the mid-court line, where he was no threat to score instead of doubling James. Meanwhile, Lewis played way too far off of Williams on the inbound, so that Williams had an easy pass to James.

But instead of applauding the play, Van Gundy gave everyone one more reason to doubt him. Honesty, Van Gundy immediately improves every team he takes hold of, (Remember Miami was a #1 seed in 2005 before Pat Riley stole the team away) but come playoff time he just doesn't seem like somebody I would trust to lead my team.

Hedo Turkoglu had the perfect response to the shot and the celebration:

"The way they were celebrating, it was good, man. They win and they celebrate, and it means we're in their heads. So it's all on us now, and how we play in front of our fans,"

This is exactly why Turkoglu repeatedly nails huge shot, while Van Gundy can't shake the "Master of Panic" label.

Calm down Stan. LeBron hit a ridiculous shot. You played it fine. You're in great position to take a 3-1 lead against Cleveland. Just don't mess it up.