Mike Brown reflects on losing the Orlando/Cleveland series
Mike Brown
The reigning NBA Coach of the Year admitted he got outcoached in the Eastern Conference Finals. Or not. In an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal, Mike Brown owned up to some mistakes on his part in the Cavs/Magic series.
Brown said he spent a few days “in a daze” following the six-game series loss. Somebody besides LeBron James had to take the majority of the blame, seeing as LBJ averaged 38 points, eight boards and eight assists on the Magic, and so far Brown has received the brunt.
“I guess I’m not afraid if people say I was outcoached or whatever they want to say,” Brown said. ”I’m sure [Stan Van Gundy] would probably say the same thing as me right now. We kind of knew what they were going to do and he’s said that they knew what we were going to do. It came down to matchups and execution.
”He’s a heck of a coach. He did a heck of a job.
”I look at it this way — because you lose a series that doesn’t necessarily mean this guy outcoached you or that guy outcoaches you.”
Also from the article:
The matchups against the Magic have been well documented. The Cavs’ biggest problem was they had nobody to guard Dwight Howard inside.
”We tried to play him straight,” Brown said. ”We tried to double him on the pass and on the dribble, and from different areas. He just got into a nice rhythm.
”If we did not double him, he went right through us. If we did, he kicked the ball out to shooters.”
The difference between what happened with the Cavs and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals: Height. The Lakers simply were taller.
”They were shooting over us, a lot of times without feeling us,” Brown said. ”Our guys did a heck of a job. They were there just as well as the guys in the Lakers series. It’s a matter of length and size rotating to guys on the perimeter.”
Brown went on to defend his decision to have LeBron guard Rafer Alston instead of Hedo Turkoglu throughout the series, to have shorter guys like Delonte West guard Orlando’s taller shooters, and to have Ben Wallace guard Rashard Lewis in some crunch-time situations where Lewis ended up hitting big shots.
I’ve never claimed to be an X’s-and-O’s guy, so I don’t criticize coaches too often unless they’re making glaring mistakes that even I would catch. But even for me, it was pretty clear that Brown was outmatched against Van Gundy. That the Cavs won 66 games last season and made the ECF with only one superstar and one All-Star alternate shows Brown does know what he’s doing; he just ran into a better coach and a team that was a terrible matchup for Cleveland’s roster.
I always thought it’d be smart for Brown to hire an “offensive coordinator” because he’s clearly a much better defensive coach than an offensive coach, but in the Orlando series it was Cleveland’s D that was their undoing. That falls on mostly on Brown, whether he’s ready to admit it or not.
Source: Akron Beacon Journal
August 5th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
mosduff says:
“I always thought it’d be smart for Brown to hire an “offensive coordinator” because he’s clearly a much better defensive coach than an offensive coach, but in the Orlando series it was Cleveland’s D that was their undoing. That falls on mostly on Brown, whether he’s ready to admit it or not.”
He does. He’s the first coach in the history of the league to have an offensive cordinator, who is solely in charge. Brown has input, but he’s effectively given the reigns to this assistant.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
the_don_mega (representin' the 3 stars and a sun) says:
he got owned…
August 5th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Mario says:
It is partially coach brown but most of it falls on the players. If you look at the cavs last year and breakdown the team you can see how vulnerable they were at parts of the season. Regular season mean nothing. Playoffs is a different game and everyone cannot adjust. I can’t think of one player beside Lebron that showed up in the playoffs. Mo Williams is over hyped! Ben Wallace and Varajo Suck and cannot score. Big Z is a center shooting Jumpers! Delonte West is decent but that is about it.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Big Sneezy says:
It was the matchups. Cleveland didn’t have any big men who could match the mobility of Hedo and Rashard and run out at them to contest the 3. Plus their offense became a little too predictable once Mo Williams and Delonte West went cold. Shaq makes that defensive problem even worse, but they did pick up Jamario Moon, who has the athleticism and hops to close on a tall three-point shooter.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
karizmatic says:
Mike Brown is not a good coach and has never been a good coach. He’s riding Lebron’s coattails and Cleveland will never win a ring with him coaching. Furthermore, the move to have Lebron guard Rafer was stupid, and their defense got exploited. Orlando was more talented, outplayed Cleveland, and outcoached Cleveland. Two out of those three responsibilities fall on the coach. He is supposed to have the team ready to play and he is supposed to devise strategies which put the team in the best position to win the game or series. Mike Brown did neither of those. He is a large reason why the Cavs didn’t win the series.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Chicagorilla says:
that’s got to be one of the toughest jobs in the NBA and maybe in sports. Seriously Clevland was lacking a lot of talent last year and pretty much won on the shoulders of Lebron. It’s tough because Lebron has to dominate the ball to be effective, but him not being able to consistently hit jump shots (especially in the clutch, 4th qt, OT, etc) limits his effectiveness.
I do not believe Mike Brown is a good coach, but I can’t see Jerry Sloan turning this team into champs because of the make up of the team. Honestly, and I hate to say this, Brons best chance at winning is to play for a coach who builds the team around him being able to run the floor. The cavs have Z (and now Shaq) and that seems to hurt LBJ’s explosiveness. Imagine him in the Diantoni system as a PF. He’d be sick, as long as he has a few shooters around him. I’d bet that he’d avg a triple double or close to it. His team would be so efficient at scoring because of his passing and driving skills that defense wouldn’t matter any longer.
In all, Coach Brown is garbage, Bron either needs to get a jumper or go to NY, and Verajao just stole 50mil from Clev.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
JCarr says:
He does nothing except watch LBJ on the court… Put him with a team like the grizz or nets or even better spurs… and let’s see if he’s capable of coaching a team who relies on more than one player to win!
August 5th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
IraD says:
It was obvious Cleveland couldn’t beat Orlando in a 7 game series just by looking at the regular season. Orlando beat the Cavs twice in Orlando. One of those games the Magic humiliated the Cavs with LBJ on the floor. They were up by 30+ pts at one point! And the Cavs needed the refs to call a bogus 3 seconds in the paint call on D-12 in the last few minutes and a ghost foul against LBJ for the Cavs to squeak by the Magic in Cleveland. Anyone who’s a true basketball fan and just doesn’t believe all the media hype would’ve known the Magic were, and still are the worst match up for the Cavs. Just like Detroit used to be a match up nightmare for the Magic. I seriously hope people wake up and see the Magic weren’t a fluke last year and our team is actually deeper and better this year.
After everybody cried about Mo Williams not making the All Star team when the players were announced, Jameer Nelson abused Mo a few days later on the court. If Nelson was healthy the Magic would’ve swept the Cavs for sure (no disrespect to Alston, he did a solid job for us). Nelson’s also the person who helped the Magic beat the Lakers each game in the regular season. Brown please put LBJ on Nelson so we can watch Carter, Lewis, and Howard destroy you! Anyone who thinks the Magic aren’t better this year is an idiot. I’ll take an 8 time All Star over a guy who almost made the All Star team twice any day! Plus Bass and Barnes….we’re just waiting on Bowen to sign the paper.
SVG should’ve won coach of the year, and would’ve if the Magic didn’t lose those games when Nelson was injured. Brown we all know you got out-coached. Accept it and take the “L” baby! Everybody could easily see your assistant coach with the white board drawing up the plays (X’s and O’s) during the timeouts. It’ll be interesting to see what you do now that he’s taken a head coaching job. It’s sad when even people who don’t watch basketball were watching the playoffs and were asking why the refs were calling fouls on the Magic (i.e. Pietrus guarding LBJ) and they weren’t even touching the other players. Don’t worry Brown, as long as you have LBJ on your team the NBA will continue to cheat and call bogus fouls on the people who guard him. They have to keep the cycle of cheating going ever since they cheated Carmelo out of his Rookie of The Year trophy and gave it to LBJ. Melo averaged the same or better in every category as LBJ did and took his team further into the playoffs in the Western conference, but somehow LBJ got the ROY. Now the NBA, media, and refs are still putting LA and Cleveland in the finals. What a joke!!!
August 5th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Cole Park Knuckler says:
The Cavs were just overmatched from a personnel stand point.. Mike did the best job he could… Lebron needed to stay out of foul trouble an preserve his energy for the offensive end…
August 5th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Lady Luck says:
Mike Brown is inept as a coach. I’ve said it the last several seasons and I repeated it again as I watched him win Coach of the Year. He does not make good adjustments, lineup changes, or calls offensively. Give Lebron the ball and clear out is not an offensive play. That is okay to do when he’s hot and has a favorable matchup, but to employ it for entire quarters is ridiculous. LBJ needs to play for a coach that understands matchups, adjustments, and his players’ strengths and weaknesses. ALL of his players, not just Lebron.
Brown is a good defensive coach, therefore would make a great assistant on a great team or a decent head coach on a mediocre team. He’s been both, but I’m not convinced that he can rise to the occasion and take his team ALL the way to the top.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Kudabeen says:
LeBron’s Stat line is just ridiculous…I am amazed when he is blamed for the loss…Mo Williams, big Z, AV, Coach Brown…
38 8 and 8…so sick.
August 5th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Kudabeen says:
The length argument is bull…As stated not having LeBron take our Hedo or Rashard was a mistake.
In the regular season LeBron would switch on to Dwight and give him problems…
Defensively Cavs didn’t play all of their cards right…
Mo Williams erratic play was very much the reason why people are separated by their regular seasons and their playoff performances. He looked gun shy too often.
August 5th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Michorizo says:
6 game series or 5 game series? I forget…
August 5th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
danny says:
Lebron gets blamed for the loss because he shot sumthing around 35% from the field. Of course his percentages go up to around 50% cuz of the 20ft attempts per game. Face it Mike brown, the refs were giving you guys the game and everyone choked. Including Lebron who disapeared in the fourth time and time again.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
the cynic says:
when your big adjustment in the series is to give more playing time to Sasha Pavolvic, you’ve been outcoached
August 6th, 2009 at 11:12 am
easygoing says:
Coach Mike Brown can’t coach, the best he does is hyped the team thats it. He doesn’t have effective strategies
lineup adjustment or anything. The two point of view why he lost was because he didn’t adapt to the magics offense
switching guys to a different isn’t adapting unless you have a gameplan. Two he rely on LeBron way too much like he was the team and when his team mates got the ball they panic and shoot brick. But this year they got shaq and a bench. One thing don’t sign Z he was suppose to be the third scorer and average only 11 points come on man
August 6th, 2009 at 11:19 am
easygoing says:
Don’t sign Z he’s slow and average 11 points. The Cavs don’t need 2 slow centers. Get leon powe then when come off injury start him pf and let varejao sixth man for shaq position so there would be speed
Cavs players who choke against magic are:
Mo wally Ben Big Z not completely Delonte west he got his points.
Lebron didn’t choke cavs did excluded James even the coach joke
-Lakers fan
August 7th, 2009 at 12:29 am
C.J. says:
I disagree. There’s no way in hell Van Gundy outcoached Mike Brown. If anything, he outcoached himself. For example, where was Joe Smith in that series?
The series came down to this: The Cavs were cold on offense and the magic were hot on offense at the same time. Yes, size was a factor, but you have to admit if we make a couple more open shots we sway the series to our favor. Likewise, if the Magic shot more toward their season ave. for 3 pt % than the insane % they shot in the ECF that would also sway the series our way.
For as lousy as we played offensively, we made the series surprisingly close. It’s true that Cleveland could only beat themselves, and to a large extent they did.
August 20th, 2009 at 4:17 am
AB_40 says:
letting delonte west start is a BIG mistake. he’s strong and he’s an ok player but he’s not a starting wing player on a championship team. he’s gonna do great as a sixth man next season. clevelands bench is very potent next season and guarding lebron when shaq plays is gonna be an even more daunting task then it already is
August 20th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
snyde says:
um…outcoached or no, the cavs were beat by a better team. period.