A lot of us assume (rightfully so, I think) that Mike Brown doesn’t have any power over LeBron James. We think that Brown, like pretty much everyone in the Cavaliers organization, gives his star a free pass for pretty much everything in hopes of keeping him around.
For Once, Mike Brown Challenges LeBron James
But maybe that’s not actually true, because Brown showed in last night’s Pistons-Cavaliers game that he can yell at LeBron when needed. Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer writes that Brown was very upset with LeBron and ripped him during a timeout.
Brown boiled after James was late getting back to play defense after what he believed was an uncalled foul on a trip to the basket. James was complaining to the trail official and the Cavs were a defender short and it directly led to a 3-point play. Moments later, Anthony Parker picked up a rare technical foul for complaining about a call against him.
That was it for Brown and he let his team know it.
He broke up a strategy session with assistant coach Mike Malone, who was diagramming a play, to point some fingers.
“Take this game, take this game!” Brown roared before turning his glaze at James and pointing. “You, take this game!”
It’s not much of a stand, but it is a stand nonetheless, and it’s one LeBron responded to well. Maybe we got Brown all wrong. Maybe he does have some control over LeBron after all.
Next step: get LeBron to stop shooting threes and develop a post game.
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