NBA.com: Van Gundy, Gentry named Coaches of the Month

www.nba.com

The Orlando Magic’s Stan Van Gundy and the Phoenix Suns’ Alvin Gentry today were named the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Coaches of the Month, respectively, for games played in October and November.

In this video from suns.com, the guys weigh in on their favorite movies of the summer. Looks like there’s a lot of comedy fans because several of them chose the outstanding comedy The Hangover as their fave. Robin Lopez gets bonus points for picking Star Trek, which was one of my favorite movies of the summer, and for saying he enjoyed 500 Days of Summer, which my favorite Suns fan, Chris Coffel, reviewed for Trashwire. Check out other faves in the video below.

If you haven’t already seen my tweets about this, here’s a link to my interview with ValleyoftheSuns.com about the NBA and social media. Check it out!

When Suns head coach @AlvinGentry first started tweeting, he credited his daughter for getting him to join Twitter.

So who better to go to for the second part of ValleyoftheSuns’ in-depth look at social media and the NBA than Alexis Gentry herself?

OK, so the head coach has only sent out a happy Fourth of July tweet since the draft lottery, but he provided some insightful commentary on the Suns’ season last year and promises to do so again this season.

Alexis answered a couple of my questions via e-mail about how her dad got on Twitter, what grade she’d give him as a tweeter and what she’s doing with her entertainment Web site, Trashwire.com.

Read the rest at ValleyoftheSuns.com http://valleyofthesuns.com/2009/09/15/talking-twitter-with-the-coachs-daughter/

Everyone knows I love the Suns and, if you follow me on twitter, you know that I have a recurring theme of tying the Suns to Prince’s outstanding 80s music/movie extravaganza Purple Rain. Never could I imagine that the two things would meet in one place, but now they have… plus a little Michael Jackson, Karate Kid and Star Wars.

Last night was my dad’s first game as Head Coach of the Phoenix Suns. Apparently, it was one of the most exciting games of the season. I say “apparently” because I don’t have NBA League Pass and couldn’t watch the game in its entirety. I did follow live updates on the Suns Twitter, and caught the highlights on Sports Center last night. One of the craziest moments was this one…

That’s right. That’s Zach Randolph of the Clippers punching Lou Amundson of the Suns in the face. Amundson was just fine and proved it with a sick dunk that had the guys on the bench out of their seats.

I’ve seen quite a few basketball fights in my day, including one that left my dad with a broken wrist, but this one was extra exciting. I just kept thinking, “I wish I had flown back from Phoenix on Wednesday instead of Monday!”

In the end, the Suns emerged victorious, winning 140-100, the largest margin of victory after a coaching change in NBA history!

Congrats to the Suns and to my dad, Alvin Gentry, on the win!

Maybe I should think twice about not getting that NBA League Pass.

Here’s a few pictures from the Suns/Nuggets game at the Pepsi center last night.

It was one of the first really exciting games I’ve seen in a while, which might not be saying much because I hardly ever watch sports. The dudes were playing their asses off and it even went into overtime. It was a late game anyway, so this meant it wouldn’t end until after midnight. Despite how tired I was, I really enjoyed it and it brought me back to the old days when I had the NBA League Pass for DirecTV and watched every Clippers game.

Afterward, me and my peeps (AKA my mom, my good friend Dave and my boss Neil from DFS) went back to say hello to the guys. Everyone we saw from both the Nuggets and the Suns was very friendly and cool, but the highlight for me was definitely Grant Hill.

I’ve known him since I was a kid and my dad was an Assistant (and later Head Coach) of the Pistons. Of all the NBA players I’ve ever met, he is definitely the coolest. He’s like the quintessential role model for how NBA players should be. He’s smart; he’s friendly and polite; he’s charismatic and personable, just an all-around great dude.

After we said goodbye to my dad, I headed home and got about 3 hours of sleep before heading off to work this morning. Needless to say, I’m pretty worn out today. Still, it was one of the funnest nights since the Festival and totally worth chugging Pepsi Max to stay awake the next day.