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It seems that National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern has finally silenced Orlando Magic’s coach Stan Van Gundy. The outspoken coach, who certainly does not mind ruffling a few feathers while offering his opinions, told the media on Friday that he has been told to stay quiet on his rising confrontation with Stern, which has witnessed personal prods from both sides. When asked who told him to cease, Van Gundy re-iterated that he has been told not to comment.

The problem began back on Monday, when Van Gundy in his rant to defend his star player Dwight Howard, who was suspended after receiving his 16th technical foul of the season, went geopolitical and took on the NBA Commissioner.

In a verbal onslaught, a frustrated Van Gundy implied that Howard has been a target of hard fouls and that the NBA referees were too quick to pass on their judgements. But, he went a bit too ahead and launched a direct attack on Stern.

“This is the system David Stern and his minions like,” Van Gundy said. “So that’s the system you have. … I certainly can’t have an opinion because David Stern, like a lot of leaders we’ve seen in this world lately, don’t really tolerate other people’s opinion or free speech or anything. So I’m not really allowed to have an opinion. So it’s up to him.”

Later Van Gundy tried to clarify his statement that he was not contrasting Stern with any particular dictators, but it was too late, as the damage was done.

Although Stern responded three days later, it was quite evident that he was not pleased with the highly opinionated Magic’s coach. Stern, who had fined Van Gundy $35,000 in January after his altercation with the match officials, did not fine him this time around. Rather, he has indicated that a course of action will be decided after he meets people from the Magic’s front office.

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By: Jorge Arce – Bettor.com: SJ Blog Partners/Contributing Authors

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