The Cavaliers ran their winning streak to 13 games, a club record, by knocking off the defending Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic, 115-106, last night at The "Q". The wine and gold continue to have the league’s best record at 43-11, and lead the conference standings by eight games.
The may not lose eight contests the rest of the season, so last night’s victory could have clinched home court advantage within the East for the Cavs.
However, since we live in Cleveland, and we need something to worry about, there still is concern about the Cavaliers underachieving in the playoffs. Some of the angst is directed at Mo Williams, who didn’t play well in the post-season last season. It was Williams first foray deep into the playoffs, and he should be better prepared the second time around.
The other concern is directed at Mike Brown, who had problems making adjustments against the Magic last season. This too is probably an unfounded concern, since until that series against Orlando, Brown has proven to be a pretty good playoff coach.
In Brown’s first year (2005-06), the Cavs won 50 games, finishing second in the Central Division to the Detroit Pistons, who won 64 games that season. The two teams met in the conference semi-finals, where despite winning 14 less games during the regular season, the wine and gold forced the Pistons to seven games. Most people felt the Cavs gave the Pistons a tougher series than expected.
The next season, Brown guided Cleveland to another 50 win season, had the second best record in the East to Detroit, who won 53 games, and then upset the Pistons in the conference finals behind LeBron James’ virtuoso performance in Game 5, and Boobie Gibson’s shooting in the deciding Game 6. The Cavs were swept by the Spurs in The Finals, but most observers agreed the wine and gold’s appearance in the championship round was an upset.
Remember that team started Larry Hughes, Sasha Pavlovic, and Drew Gooden. That’s a good coaching job.
In 2007-08, Brown took a team that finished with the fourth best record in the conference into a seventh game in the Eastern semi-finals against the Boston Celtics who won 21 more games than the Cavs. Granted, Chicago did that last season, but the ’07-’08 Celtics emerged as World Champions after beating the Pistons in the conference finals, and then the Lakers for the NBA Championship.
In all three of those seasons, the Cavs did better in the playoffs than they were expected to going into the post-season. Mike Brown has to get some credit for that.
Based on these results, last year seems to be the aberration. And perhaps the biggest factor for the loss to the Magic was the long layoff following the four game sweep of the Atlanta Hawks. The Cavs were rusty in the first game against Orlando, and perhaps that win in Game 1 gave Stan Van Gundy’s crew the confidence it needed to beat Cleveland. That and the fact the Cavaliers not got back the momentum it had coming out of the Atlanta series.
This is not to say Brown coached his best in that series. He was slow to make adjustments, especially the decision to have James guard Rafer Alston so he could roam to help others on defense. Perhaps Brown was unaccustomed to being the favorite this late in the playoffs, but he should be given the benefit of the doubt based on his past success.
You can criticize Brown’s offensive theories and substitution patterns, but you cannot deny his success. Since the beginning of last season, his team has a record of 109-27. That’s collegiate type of success, not something that occurs in the NBA.
You also cannot deny that he has had success in the post-season, although he has often had the less talented team in a series. You have to give him credit for taking the 2006-07 Cavs to the NBA Finals when they probably had no business being there.
If the coaching of Mike Brown is your biggest concern about the wine and gold’s championship possibilities, then you shouldn’t worry at all.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 