Whatever it was that ultimately made Mike Brown lose his cool in Utah will likely cause him to lose either time or money if not both. No doubt the NBA league office will be reviewing the game tape of Brown’s meltdown. If it is determined Brown either bumped an official or did not leave the court in a timely manner then he’ll be fined and possibly suspended.
Upset by some questionable officiating, Brown blew up after Pau Gasol was mugged in the open court without so much as a whistle being breathed on. That combined with the Lakers lackluster second half in Slat Lake left the coach with no other recourse but to erupt like Mount St. Helens.
If Brown’s explosion was also meant to inspire his squad then it backfired like the old banana in the tailpipe trick. The Jazz were the ones fueled by Brown’s blowup while the likes of Matt Barnes simply laughed off the incident.
Generally the attempt to fire up a team using the Gene Hackman Hoosiers approach doesn’t work so well with veteran squads. It looked as if the Lake Show shut it down in the second half hoping to preserve some fuel for their upcoming travels.
Today the Lakers are in Philly where they’ll watch the Super Bowl before playing on Monday. Whether or not Coach Brown will join them on the sideline remains to be seen.