INDEPENDENCE — Cavaliers coach Mike Brown hasn’t won over everybody in Northeast Ohio, but he’s got the full support of the man who matters most.
Not owner Dan Gilbert. And not general manager Danny Ferry, though both men are completely behind their head coach.
No, we’re talking about LeBron James.
“I’m happy he’s my coach,” the 6-foot-8, 250-pounder said Wednesday following a practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts.
Brown, whose inconsistent substitution patterns and offensive systems have drawn their share of criticism over the past three years, has been at his best in the postseason, where he owns a franchise-record 21-14 mark heading into Game 3 of a best-of-seven playoff series tonight at 8 against the Washington Wizards.
After coaching the inconsistent, injury-plagued Cavaliers to 45 wins in the regular season — five fewer than they won in each of his first two seasons — Brown, like his team, has picked things up in the playoffs, which has a lot to do with Cleveland’s 2-0 lead in the series.
Though the move came largely by default due to an injury to Sasha Pavlovic — and though it probably should have been made immediately after the Cavaliers made their blockbuster trade with Seattle and Chicago on Feb. 21 — Brown deserves some credit for electing to start Wally Szczerbiak at shooting guard.
The 38-year-old has also done a masterful job when it comes to developing a defensive game plan against the Wizards, who are shooting just .390 from the field in the series.
Not only that, Brown has found a way to use offensively challenged Ben Wallace, but not too much, and still get quality minutes for backups Anderson Varejao and Joe Smith.
His biggest success, however, has been developing a solid rapport with James, whose willingness to buy into the system leaves the rest of the players on the team with no choice but to do the same.
“That’s one thing Pop always said: Tim Duncan allowed him to coach,” Brown said in reference to his mentor, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. “If you can get a guy like Tim Duncan that allows you to coach, if you can get a guy like (Boston’s) Kevin Garnett to allow you to coach, if you can get a guy like LeBron to allow you to coach, everybody else falls in line.”
Though James has always been an intelligent and coachable player, his relationship with Brown took time to develop.
James has never ripped his coach publicly, but in the past he has questioned the team’s offensive style or asked Brown to put a certain player in the game. As good coaches and superstars must do, the two eventually came to an understanding: Brown would loosen the reins offensively as long as the Cavaliers gave a great effort at the defensive end.
These days, the two men are not only on the same page, they’re reading the same line at the same time, with James even starting to repeat his coach’s favorite mantra of “one day, one game at a time.”
“Mike Brown is very intense,” James said. “I’m the right player to be around him because I am, too. At the end of the day, we both just want to win.”
It certainly didn’t hurt that the Cavaliers reached the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history last year while buying into Brown’s defense-first philosophy. Nor does it hurt that Brown’s ego is in check, which allows him to give James a certain degree of latitude.
A perfect example of the latter came a year ago against Detroit in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, when James scored Cleveland’s last 25 points — from anywhere and everywhere — to lead the Cavaliers to an overtime win.
“I’ve got to understand I can’t overcoach him,” Brown said. “I have people come up to me on the street all the time and say, ‘Man, that was a bad shot LeBron took.’ If I start coaching his shots, I guarantee you we wouldn’t have made the finals. Every shot he took in that Game 5 in Detroit was a bad shot.”
In essence, if Brown wants James to trust and believe in him, he has to have the same trust and belief in his best player.
“He likes to be coached. He likes to be challenged,” Brown said. “He’s so talented and so gifted, he could easily get bored with things. If you’re not coaching him and challenging him, you could easily lose him.”
Brown certainly has not done that. The pair’s relationship is stronger than it’s ever been, with James extremely happy with the fact his coach has often been the first person to rush to his defense after the Wizards have committed a hard foul. Brown has also endeared himself to James by publicly lobbying for his superstar to get more calls when he drives to the basket.
“He’s always defending me,” James said. “That’s why I’m glad I’m playing for him.”
Contact Rick Noland may at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

TONIGHT

WHO: Cleveland at Washington
WHAT: Game 3, Eastern Conference quarterfinals
TIME: 8 o’clock
WHERE: Verizon Center, Washington
TV/RADIO: FSN Ohio, Channel 43, TNT; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM
 

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