Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 9:00 am  |  58 responses

Why Did Rashard Lewis Refuse to Re-Enter the Game?

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Generally, unless they feel that they’re being disrespected (which sometimes happens during garbage time), NBA players love nothing more than hearing the coach instruct them to get in the game. Last night in Utah, Rashard Lewis flipped the script.

According to Lewis, he refused to re-enter the fray in the second quarter against Utah because he had two fouls and teammate Ryan Anderson was rolling. Head coach Stan Van Gundy must’ve missed that memo, as he was totally confused by Lewis’s decision.

The Orlando Sentinel reports:

Coach Stan Van Gundy was upset and said he had never had a player overrule him. “(Lewis) didn’t want to go back in. I wanted to put him back in with six minutes to go in the second quarter and he didn’t want to go back in,” Van Gundy said after the Magic (17-5) had their six-game winning streak broken. “He said it was because he had two fouls, and so if you have a guy who doesn’t want to play, I’m not going to get in an argument and put him back in if he doesn’t want to play at that time.

He said, `I’m going to back in and be out in three or four minutes and Ryan (Andersonn) is playing good.’ “I didn’t have time to get into it. It’s rare and I’ve never had that in the first half of a game. I was a little baffled by it.”

Lewis claims he wasn’t being defiant, but did let on that SVG laid some of the blame for the Jazz making their run in the second quarted on his star forward.

Rashard’s numbers are down slightly from last year, and Ryan Anderson (who took advantage of Lewis’s 10-game suspension to start the season) has been a pleasant surprise for the Magic. If Anderson keeps playing at such a high level, Rashard might start hearing less and less from his demanding coach.

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  • Ryhar

    Are we going to get an update on this article?

    “Van Gundy said he knows Lewis’ act was not in defiance but in what he thought was best for the team, that he had two fouls and his replacement was playing well.

    “He had thoughts and thought that was what was best for the team,” the coach said. “One thing I have confidence in with him all the time — even if I disagree with him as I did at the time — he is thinking about the team. He isn’t thinking about himself.”

    Van Gundy said he has never had a disagreement like that in the “couple of hundred” games he’s coached Lewis. He said he wished he got along with everyone in his life as well as he does with Lewis.

    “I’m not going to blow that out of proportion,” Van Gundy said. “If I got along with everyone else in my life as well as Rashard, then I would be in good shape.”

  • Shem

    If your in the NBA, you play when the coach tells you but Orlando needs a new coach because I was watching that game and Ryan Anderson was playing great. When bench players contribute like that you don’t take them out because your starters get a rest. What I’m trying to say is it was a stupid decision by Lewis and Stan Van Gundy is just plain stupid

  • http://www.sixers.com 360vue

    Unprofessional ultimately, even though Shard was making right call, he should do his job and not lecture coach… still, it didn’t seem a problem at the time and neither made an issue of it afterwards, even SVG relatively speaking… this kind of whack could set bad precedents though

  • Yassi

    SVG should have simply shut up and not give it to the media. Then nobody would have known he was making the wrong call in the first place. Its embarrasing for him and he doesnt realise AND he gives it to the media. Rash dint undress him, he did. Jezzz….

  • BostonBaller

    @LeoneL: I fully understand you but come on now, what player doesn’t want to play regardless of who is hot? I’m not saying he is a stat hound I’m just saying that there is no way he did not go back in b/c someone else was hot. Apparently SVG was right to want him back in b/c the Magic did lose…every decision has a ripple effect…don’t drown……ps, you don’t TELL the coach anything you just go in and earn that HUGE contract.

  • riggs

    if it was any other coach they wouldnt have asked rashard to come in at that point, thats the difference between SVG and better coaches.

  • rikson

    Thats just unacceptable… players becoming divas! @Yassi: How can you say that this was the wrong call? Do you know what his plan was for the game? I mean he is head coach of a very successful franchise and you are…? All you can say is, that you THINK it was the wrong call… just sayin!

  • tavoris

    @rikson-SVG didn’t make the Magic a better franchise, Dwight Howard’s dominance on the boards did.

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