Coup made a solid argument about how the movement towards young and hungry coaches who have moved their way up the ladder is the way to go. Here is my argument against it; Mike Brown.
Now I have said it before and I will say it again. He is one of the worst coaches in basketball. I love seeing a black man get a chance to lead a team, but at the end of the day this brotha can’t coach. He is the reason why they lost the last two games. When you are getting outcoached by Flip Saunders (by default because Flip isn’t doing much) you know you’re in trouble. Cleveland should have won that game but their coach just had no clue what he was doing. I’m not placing too much of the blame on LBJ because he was on in that first half. Allow me to say this about LBJ…his six turnovers were not good for the team and when you can’t even take Antonio McDyess and his 1 knee from the perimeter something is going on. Charles, Magic and Kenny all ripped Brown for slowing down the pace of the game and going to Zydrunas Ilgauskas like he was just on fire. That move alone handed the Pistons the victory. Its as if Brown said “Ok…we’re winning, but we’re not supposed to win sooooooo lets play half court where we have one guy and they have five. Yeah…that’ll work.”
I mean they scored 26 points in the whole second half..that is 26 points in 24 minutes people. As a coach, how do you make an adjustment at halftime. All you say is “Let’s keep playing our game fellas” or something. Detroit was literally trying to give them the game away down the stretch. They had seven turnovers in the fourth quarter alone and they still won the game. I mean lets just look at the last 1:30 of the game. Sheed makes 1 of 2 at the line and the game is tied. LeBron attacks to the basket and gets fouled. However, because of his inate lack of anything clutch only makes one of two free throws. Cleveland is up one and the force a turnover.
52 seconds left, up one with the ball is a beautiful situation. Unfortunately for Cavalier fans, LeBron and is lack of leadership bit them in the ass again as LBJ kicks it to Pavlovic who then shits himself on national TV. Seriously…when is the last time you’ve seen an NBA player jump in the air and then try and dribble in mid-air. That’s what little kids do. I did the scoreboard for a 6th grade girls game and one of them did that. Pavlovic does it and now Detroit gets the ball back. Sheed makes a tough shot (the Brazilian flopped I don’t want to hear it) and put Detroit back up one.
24 seconds, down one with the ball…..still a beautiful situation. Go for a quick 2, if you miss it foul because if they make both its still a one possession game. Simple science right? Well, simple for everyone except Mike Brown who sends LeBron out there, has him dribble the clock down, attack and force up a shot that missed. Larry Hughes gets the rebound and the most wide open shot on earth and misses it. Brown, knowing that teams always need to see poise and composure from their coach, promptly jumps around like a two year old and gets a technical foul. Thus ensuring that Cleveland would have no chance to tie the game.
That is the main problem with Cleveland..they have no leadership. Mike Brown is not a good coach and not a good leader. Think back to the Washington series when he wouldn’t double Jamison or the New Jersey series where he left his team alone instead of making sure they were focused for a closeout game. I’m not buying the inexperience thing because Brown has been in the league since 92. He was under Popovich. His biggest problem is he is far too defensive minded. He thinks that defense can win everything and until he can realize that its not he has no chance in hell. Add to that he has no poise, no composure and he exudes no confidence or leadership qualities. Have you ever seen when they pan to the sidelines? That face he makes really screams “I know what I’m doing”. The more I think about it, the more I think Brown has contributed to LeBron’s downfall. The difference between this years LeBron and last years LeBron is ridiculous. He simply does not believe in his coach or the players around him.
Cleveland if you ever want to win a title…get rid of Brown.
- Why there is no video or audio evidence of this conversation is unbelievable. I could watch a reality show with Dikembe and Hakeem for hours.
- Kevin Durant wants EA Sports to put him beating his chest after he does a big play in NBA Live 08. Meanwhile, Greg Oden is watching the Cosby Show.
- The French Open starts in two days…preview coming up soon, prepare for a lot of tennis talk and more Maria Sharapova then you can handle.