The Magic are happy that coach Stan Van Gundy has become more positive in recent weeks.

"He's most definitely changed," forward Rashard Lewis said. "He's still the old Stan a little bit. He still kind of screams and yells when he doesn't need to, but you can tell he's been working on it. You can tell he's changing."

During a private conversation with Van Gundy in mid-November center Dwight Howard asked the volatile coach to reduce his negativity.

"It has," Howard said when asked if Van Gundy's turnaround has helped the team. "Early in the season, we'd miss shots or something and you'd look over at Stan and see him kicking water bottles and punching stuff. Now he's fine with it. He understands that nobody's perfect.

"He's been doing a good job at it. Me and Stan talk a lot, text a lot, whatever. One thing we just asked him is that, 'Coach, when you have a positive energy about yourself, it makes our team better.' We flow better. We play better."