NEW YORK – Mike Brown was named NBA coach of the year on Monday after guiding the Cleveland Cavaliers into the playoffs with a franchise-record 66 wins this season.

In his fourth year with the Cavaliers, Brown received 355 points, including 55 first-place votes, in balloting by sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada.

Houston Rockets' Rick Adelman was a distant second with 151 points, followed by Orlando Magic's Stan Van Gundy on 150.

"Mike Brown is one of these rare people that has nearly every tool in his tool box," Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert said on the team's website (www.nba.com/cavaliers).

"He is smart, hard working and selfless. He is curious and hungry to learn. He is philosophically driven and derives his decision-making from his strong philosophy.

"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, 39, joined the Cavaliers in 2005 after two seasons as assistant head coach with the Indiana Pacers. In each of his first three campaigns in Cleveland, he led the team to at least 45 wins.

He guided the Cavaliers to a franchise record of 66-16 (.805), the best in the NBA this season and only the 12th time an NBA team has won at least 66 games.