Van Gundy easy target for critics

Critics are taking shots at Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, and not because he resembles portly porn star Ron Jeremy.

Van Gundy's tactical blunder Thursday in Game 4 of the NBA Finals allowed the Los Angeles Lakers to escape with an unlikely 99-91 overtime victory.

The series now is all but over, with the Lakers up 3-1, but it should be tied.

With the Magic ahead 87-84 with 10.8 seconds remaining, Van Gundy instructed his players not to foul. Big mistake.

Yahoo! Sports columnist Dan Wetzel called it "one of the great philosophical coaching debates ... . Do you foul the Lakers before they attempt a game-tying 3-pointer? Or do you let it ride on your defense, roll the dice that a player won't make a great shot?"

Lakers guard Derek Fisher made an open 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left to force overtime. Fisher, Wetzel wrote, "hit a shot he never should've been allowed to take."

Van Gundy felt too much time remained to foul. "Normally to me, 11 (seconds) is too early," he said.

That's a sound philosophy. But Van Gundy should have told his players to foul with six or seven seconds to go, and he should not have benched Rafer Alston in favor of Jameer Nelson, who did a poor job defending Fisher.

Orlando had other problems. Dwight Howard missed eight free throws and Hedo Turkoglu five. But the unlucky Van Gundy was the biggest goat. "That one will haunt me forever," he said.

At least he still has the porn star mustache.

• CLUMSY BRADY -- So you thought New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, a three-time Super Bowl winner, was close to perfect? Men want to be him and women want to be with him, as the saying goes.

Wrong again. Brady is clumsy in a kayak, and there's not a woman alive who finds that an attractive quality.

Brady and his supermodel wife, Gisele Bundchen, recently rented kayaks for a leisurely ride on the Charles River in Massachusetts. But Brady had to be rescued from the river after flipping his kayak, and one onlooker called it an "embarrassment" for the NFL star. The poor guy's popularity is sinking fast.

• DANCING REPORTER -- ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews is in Omaha, Neb., to cover the College World Series. Omaha is a boring town, but Andrews' presence makes it temporarily more attractive.

In an interview with Bill Simmons on ESPN.com, Andrews refused to reveal if she is dating anyone. "I just don't give up that information," she said. "Bloggers would just kill that, and I don't want to let them. I love having a social life, or a personal life."

The 5-foot-10-inch Andrews was voted "America's Sexiest Sportscaster" in 2007 and 2008 by Playboy.

A 2000 graduate of the University of Florida, she was a member of the Dazzlers, the basketball dance team for the Gators. She hopes to be on "Dancing with the Stars" in the future.

Andrews predicted she would fare much better on the show than ESPN's Kenny Mayne. The former UNLV quarterback was the first contestant to be eliminated in the first round in 2006.

COMPILED BY MATT YOUMANS LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL