CLEVELAND'S MIKE BROWN WINS COACH OF THE YEAR: Cavaliers head honcho currently has second-best home record in league history.

      *The NBA's Coach of the Year award for the 2008-09 season goes to Mike Brown of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who received a total of 355 points - including 55 first-place votes out of a possible 122 - from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the U.S. and Canada.      

       Brown directed the Cavaliers to an NBA and franchise-best 66-16 record. With the 66 victories, Cleveland became just the 12th team in NBA history to win 66 or more games in a season.      

       The Cavaliers also posted a 39-2 home record at The Q, which tied for the second-best home record in league history. Their 27-14 road record tied for the second-best road record in the league this season.      

       “Mike Brown is one of these rare people that has nearly every tool in his tool box. He is smart, hard working, and selfless," Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert said. "He is curious and hungry to learn. He is philosophically driven and derives his decision making from his strong philosophy.       

       "Mike is a man of character and integrity. He is a natural leader and has a ‘magnetic charisma’ which automatically attracts people to him and his message. He has stuck to his ‘defense first’ strategy when it would have been much easier not to. As a human being, Mike treats everyone with respect no matter who they are or where they come from.”

       Brown earned Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honors on three different occasions this season: in Dec. 2008, in Feb. 2009 and in March 2009, when he led Cleveland to 16 victories, tying the NBA all-time record for most victories in any month.      

       At 39 years, 24 days old, he became the fourth-youngest coach to lead a team to 60 wins in a season. He joins Bill Fitch (1975-76) as the only head coaches in franchise history to receive the coach of the year award.