By Marla Ridenour
ORLANDO, Fla.: Kyrie Irving’s fan club gained another huge supporter when Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy spent the day Thursday watching the Cavaliers’ rookie point guard.
Van Gundy said he’s usually reluctant to praise first-year players, but he couldn’t help himself with Irving, whom he said is cut from the same mold as the Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose and the L.A. Clippers’ Chris Paul.
“My God. My God,” Van Gundy said of Irving at the Magic’s Friday shootaround before the two teams met in the Amway Center. “Yesterday was my first day of sitting down and watching him. I see no reason he wouldn’t be at the same level as the Chris Pauls and the Derrick Roses and those guys.
“He’s got size, he’s quick, he takes the ball to the basket, he makes good decisions, he’s shooting over 40 percent from 3, he defends. Even now, he’s in the top seven or eight point guards in the league and that’s being conservative. He’s outstanding, outstanding. I was a little bit astounded.”
Van Gundy was most impressed with Irving’s 32-point night against New Jersey Nets point guard Deron Williams and Irving’s 23 and 21 points in back-to-back games against the Boston Celtics.
“Oh, my God, he goes and gets 32 against Deron Williams. He shredded Boston’s defense,” Van Gundy said of Irving, the first pick in the draft.
“He is very, very good and I don’t say that much about rookies. I’m a little bit conservative. You’ve got to show me. I spent a day yesterday of him showing me.”
Davis suspended
The Magic suspended forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis for two games after a verbal confrontation at practice, General Manager Otis Smith announced. Averaging 7.3 points and five rebounds in 22.3 minutes per game, Davis will also miss today’s game against the Indiana Pacers.
Super Bowl snafu
With a 7 p.m. game in Indianapolis the night before the Super Bowl, the Magic had planned to fly to Indiana in the morning and out afterward. But a few days ago, the league told the Magic they had to come the day before. They left Friday night and were forced to stay in Northern Kentucky, near the Cincinnati airport, more than 120 miles away.
Thompson starts
With guards Daniel Gibson (neck infection) and Anthony Parker (back) and forward Tristan Thompson (sprained ankle) staying home with injuries, rookie guard Mychel Thompson made his second consecutive start for the Cavs.
At the shootaround, Thompson seemed relatively calm about the assignment. He scored eight points and added four assists in his starting debut against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.
“I’m not trying to put too much pressure on myself. I’m always trying to perform when I can and help the team in a positive way,” Thompson said.
Asked if it was tough to keep his emotions in check against the Celtics, Thompson said: “I like to keep it cool, anyway. I felt like I was able to and didn’t get too emotional.”
Cavs coach Byron Scott said, “I thought he did pretty good the last game.”
Other stuff
Scott didn’t sound optimistic about the three injured players being available for tonight’s home game against the Dallas Mavericks. “I would guess all three won’t be around,” Scott said. … Scott said Gibson did not have a setback, but the Cavs worried that the infected area might swell on the plane and decided it was best he rested and continued taking antibiotics. … Magic guard Jason Richardson returned to the starting lineup and J.J. Redick was sent to the bench. Richardson missed three games Jan. 16-18 with a bone bruise on his left knee and was rested in the previous two.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at http://marla.ohio.com/. Follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MarlaRidenour. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
