After Saturday's game against the Dallas Mavericks, Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy claimed that Brendan Haywood had sucker punched Dwight Howard in the back of the head. On Monday, Haywood told ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM he thought the whole thing was a joke:
↵↵↵"I was at home and I thought SVG was setting everybody up because it was April 1st," Haywood said. "I thought it was a big April Fool’s joke. I thought we’re all going to laugh about it, and then I realized he was serious. There's nothing to it."
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The claim has been a bit of a mystery since Van Gundy made it following the game. He never specified when it occurred during the game and Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle said his staff reviewed the game film and never saw any punch thrown by Haywood.
↵↵"No one has this footage except for Stan," Haywood said. "Stan has it and it’s going in his video archive."
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