Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown was named the NBA's Coach of the Year. He led the Cavs to a league best 66-16 record and the "mistake by the lake" seemed primed and ready for that elusive championship. And then, Stan Van Gundy happened ?

With the Cavs down three games to one entering tonight's Game Five one has to wonder whether Brown was the coach of the year or was Lebron James' magnificence so over-whelming that it masked the fact that Brown is just an average tactician when it comes to game management. Lets look at what Van Gundy's Magic have done to Cleveland..

First of all, the Magic create unique match-up problems because of their ability to shoot the three. They usually have at least three proficient shooters on the floor, and with Superman (Dwight Howard) patrolling the paint adjustments are needed. Brown refuses. He insists on playing his plodding big line-up. His match-up of Ben Wallace on Rashard Lewis at the end of game four that allowed Lewis to get free and hit a huge three pointer is just one of many instances where Brown appears to be out of his league.

We see Van Gundy recognizing the greatness of Lebron James and trying to throw different looks at him. But, James is having to work so hard for everything he gets that at the end of games he is exhausted. And this coming from one of the most well-conditioned athletes of our day. Brown's response, a stagnant unresponsive offense that is not utilizing the pick-and-roll or the pick-and-pop. Its Lebron and four mannequins.

Mo Williams, Zydrunas Illgauskas and company have been awful. They were serviceable and at times dominant during the regular season, but so far in this series they have cowered under the Conference Finals spotlight. This also can be attributed to Brown. His job was to prepare this team for all possible scenarios, including difficult size match-ups. He needs to use the Cavaliers strengths. Lebron could drive and dish more.

Defensively Brown is lost. Who is Lebron guarding?  Instead of having him roam free, he needs to be the lock-down defender on either Hedo Turkolu or Rashard Lewis. Why is Lebron guarding Rafer Alston, a point guard who likes to spot up and shoot the three. In game four, Lebron was responsible for help defense and during a pivotal stretch he helped off of Alston who torched the Cavs with big threes. Brown is having a horrible time in recognizing defensive mis-matches and I wonder if he even knows they are problems until he watches the game film.

It all adds up to a 3-1 series deficit for Cleveland. This is not new territory for Cleveland fans. As a Browns fan I know. There was Red-Right 88 against the Raiders in 1980, there was The Drive in 1987, The Fumble in 1988, The Shot by MJ in 1989,  Jose Mesa in 1997, and if Brown doesn't wake up soon add the "Coach of the Year" Meltdown in 2009.

MBaca