Los Angeles  - Mike Brown, who guided the Cleveland Cavaliers to a league and franchise-best 66-win season, was named on Monday the recipient of the Red Auerbach Trophy, honouring the NBA Coach of the Year.

Brown received 355 points, including 55 first-place votes, from a panel of 122 sportswriters and broadcasters to easily outdistance Houston's Rick Adelman (151), Orlando's Stan Van Gundy (150) and Portland's Nate McMillan (127 points).

"Mike Brown is a critical element as to why our franchise is growing into the kind of success we all envisioned and hoped to achieve," Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert said.

"I believe I speak for the entire Cleveland Cavaliers organization from players, to Mike's staff, to our front office, from the business side and the people that work the games themselves, in conveying how excited and thrilled we are for Mike and his family that he has been awarded 'Coach of the Year'. There is no man more deserving and it proves to the world that, yes, nice guys can indeed, finish first."

In his fourth season behind the bench, Brown directed the LeBron James-led Cavaliers to a 66-16 record, including 39-2 at home, making them the 12th team in league history to post that many victories.

The Cavs' 21-game improvement matched the 1971-72 LA Lakers for the second biggest turnaround among teams with at least 45 wins (45- 37) the previous season.

The NBA Coach of the Year Award is named after legendary coach and Hall of Famer Red Auerbach, who took the Boston Celtics to nine NBA Championships in the
1950s and 1960s.

Brown and the top-seeded Cavaliers took a 1-0 lead over the eighth-seeded Detroit Pistons on Saturday in the opening round of their Eastern Conference best-of-seven playoff series.

Cleveland hosts Game Two on Tuesday night. (dpa)