[Basketball News]

Cavaliers Head Coach Mike Brown sometimes gets ribbed because of his strict adherence to a few pre-game and post-game phrases. Calling them “clichés” would be both dismissive and inaccurate. Let’s just say their “Mike Brown-isms.”

These are the top three …

1. Whether the Wine and Gold have just won by 20 or lost by 20, the second-year coach will always concede “that’s a well-coached team down there” in the other locker room.

2. If asked about a string of games – whether it’s a West Coast trip or a seven-game Second Round series – Brown will immediately go with a variation on the old “one-game-at-a-time” line. He refuses to look ahead, consistently claiming that “the most important game is the next game we play.” (Although, every now and then, he’ll just go with the standard: “We’re going to take this thing one game at a time.)

3. The self-explanatory cornerstone of all Mike Brown-isms: “Rebound and defend.”

It ain’t exactly Sun Tzu, but it did earn Mike Brown 100 victories in his first two years at the helm. And it’s gotten him and his squad to the Second Round for the second straight seasons.

Though the media might not love Brown’s repetitive nature, the results are inarguable. The first “ism” stresses respect for one’s opponent, the second keeps the team grounded on the task at hand and the third … well … the third speaks for itself – and has spoken loudly over the last 10 games.

“You want to be consistent and go into every game with the right mindset,” offered Brown. “You don’t want to get too high for one game and go against a team with a poor record and get too low. You want to be consistent with your approach every single game.”

Brown's Town