Brown Needs to Accept Blame Too.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a tough week.  After winning at home on Monday against Portland, they hit the road and absorbed a pair of close losses, first to New Jersey, and then to Washington, two teams they needed to beat if they hoped to move up to the third spot in the Eastern Conference standings.  Coach Mike Brown was upset about the defense his team played in the two road games, but he didn’t have the best of weeks from a strategic standpoint.

In the game against the Nets, the coach was upset about New Jersey scoring almost 40 points in the first quarter.  However, part of the reason for that performance was that Brown removed defensive stalwart Devin Brown from the starting lineup in favor of Sasha Pavlovic, who hadn’t played in about seven weeks.  You can’t preach defense, and then remove a good defender in favor of a guy who doesn’t have the quickness to stay with a guy like Vince Carter.  Why Brown didn’t break Sasha back into the rotation slowly is beyond me.  He did have a good game last night, but Devin Brown played very well as a starter after the trade, and didn’t deserve to lose his spot.

Last night, it was the end of the game that left me shaking my head.  With the Cavs trailing by two and a little over six seconds left, the offensive strategy was wanting.  Instead of running a play, or having someone go to the basket for a drive and dish, Brown allowed LeBron James to talk him into just giving the ball to him and letting him try a game winning three.  Although James has been on a roll with his shooting lately, it was a bad play.  Even with all their injuries, the wine and gold are a deeper team and forcing overtime would have given them a good chance to win.  Instead, they settled for a shot that you or I could have drawn up.

I understand that Mike Brown is feeling his way through all of the injuries and new players acquired in trades.  He is trying to find combinations that play winning basketball.  However, he has to remember his defensive roots.  If he wants to stop teams to start games, he has to play the personnel to accomplish this.  I also understand he can’t put five guys out there that cannot score, but the difference on offense between Devin Brown and Pavlovic, last night not withstanding, isn’t that great. 

I also understand that LeBron wants responsibility at the end of games, but the coaching staff has to let him know when to play for a win, and when to get to overtime.  James going to the basket cannot be stopped.  If anybody were defending against him, they would give up the outside shot.  If he is hitting it, so be it.  With a player like The King, you have to give up something.  He is playing into their hands to take a shot like that at the end of the game.  I’m sure it is a very cool thing to hit a game winning three pointer, but the object in that situation is to continue the game.

Maybe the wine and gold are satisfied with the 4^th seed in the East.  After all, that would mean Boston in the second round (assuming they can get past Toronto), and I’m guessing the Cavs would rather take on the Celts in round two than the Pistons.  They are going to have to beat both teams to get back to The Finals, and they may be thinking playing Detroit first wouldn’t leave them with much against Boston.  They certainly played and coached this week like that was in the back of their minds.

JK