Bitter Baltimoron

As LeBron’s Cavs pushed the unstoppable Celtics to their second straight seven game series win, I couldn’t help but think of how unprepared offensively the Cavs seemed as a team. As the NBA is turning into a coaching carousel, I don’t understand why Cavs Coach Mike Brown isn’t on his way out the door, or rumored to be. it took him several games to dream up an idea that LeBron should kick the ball out to one of the team’s endless supply of solid perimeter shooters and that play seemed to be missing from the playbook at so many clutch moments. I know Brown is a defensive genius, but anyone who vehemently defends him as a HEAD COACH needs to watch the last ten Cavs possessions in their game seven loss.

With the amount of available shooters the Cavaliers had, Brown’s team should have always had their very capable gunners shooting with fresh legs. It’s amazing the Cavs lasted as long as they did, when they really looked like a train wreck at times. I know the team was shaken up late in the year, but the additions were all complimentary pieces necessary for LeBron. The Cavs could have used Larry Hughes to slow down Paul Pierce, but without Wallace and Smith, who would have kept Garnett scoring in the teens? Sure the roster isn’t unstoppable, but it wasn’t a piece of magic that they made the Finals last year out of a pathetic Eastern Conference. When the best player in the league is playing in a conference filled with mediocrity it’s logical that they would advance to the Finals or at least be an annual contender. When the Broncos were making the Super Bowl in the 80s it was in a joke of a conference, and those teams never would have beaten the Giants, 49ers or Bears to get to the Super Bowl if they were an NFC team. To claim Brown is a great coach for advancing through mediocre competition than getting demolished by a real opponent, is just east-coast media ignorance.

This year’s game seven was a very winnable game for the Cavs, especially the way LeBron was playing. With the Cavs holding the ball in the final minute there was no timeout called and instead the game was left up to LeBron James’ improvisation. This of course ended with him being triple teamed as he drove to the lane and threw up some sort of prayer hoping for a whistle AND the basket to go in? In the final minute I think the Cavs forgot you can shoot a three-pointer, and don’t have to earn them the old-fashioned way.

Brown’s situation right now reminds me of Brian Billick’s a couple years ago. His defense is solid, but the offense is performing at an unprofessional level. Would it be possible for the Cavaliers to bring in a big-time offensive assistant coach like a Don Nelson, that wouldn’t undermine Brown’s status with the club? I’m not sure it’s the right idea to fire Brown right away, but to defend him for taking the Cavs to the finals is a weak defense. This team isn’t LeBron James and the Timberwolves’ roster, there are some decent players around James. There is no Pippen, or a Gasol, but the roster was enough to have a shot at the Eastern Conference finals. To be a legitimate contender to actually winning the title, and not just upsetting the Pistons, the Cavaliers will need another all-star. I agree with that, but that doesn’t make Brown any less responsible for not having some offensive plays against the Celtics this weekend.

Brown is coaching the league’s best player in a conference where the third seed would barely make the playoffs in the Western Conference, and yet all I read about is how tough his situation is. When any coach is in that situation, and they don’t win, they have to be ready to hear this sort of criticism. it comes with the territory, and if Brown is smart, he’ll heed his offensive weaknesses at this point in his career and adjust them in the off season.