VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - Let me start by saying, "I told you so."

David Blatt can flat out coach a team.

He has proved it yet again by leading the Cleveland Cavaliers into the NBA Finals.

Yes, there was that uncomfortable 12-game stretch from the end of December to mid-January when the Cavs lost 10 times and fell to 19-20.

I remember thinking at the time, "Uh oh, he may not survive." 

But he did.

And look at him now.

Having seen the Cavs struggle and overcome some trials and tribulations, you can see Blatt's imprint.

Yes, he does have one of the greatest players of all time in his team, LeBron James, and the FIBA Basketball World Cup MVP Kyrie Irving.

But he also has an unwavering faith in a guy that no team felt strongly enough to draft coming out of Saint Mary's in 2013, Matthew Dellavedova, an Australian international who has shot down his critics with his determined and gritty play.

There was an NBA video that went out earlier this year that showed Blatt in practice and really, this tells you a lot about him, his coaching philosophy and what makes his teams successful.

It's a video that focuses on one very simple but important word: TEAMWORK.

Truth be told, we all wondered if Blatt was going to make it through what appeared to be that difficult time in mid-January, but Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert insists the coach was never in danger of losing his job.

"I think it's natural when a team has such high expectations, under .500 halfway through the season, they're going to go after a brand new coach," Gilbert said to the Northeast Ohio Media Group following the Cavaliers' 4-0 sweep of the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals.

"So I don't think it was so much him as it was the situation.

You have to go by some of his body of work - Gilbert

"This guy won 17 of 21 seasons. He won championships in four or five different countries and brought the Russians to the Olympic medal round."

Some guys will never be sold on an outsider, though.

There are quite a few of them in the U.S.

Those are the people that say Blatt had James and Irving in his team and that he should have reached the NBA Finals and not made such hard work of it.

He has been a little lucky at times, but what winning coach has not had some luck?

The good fortune for Blatt that I remember? Last year's Euroleague Final Four triumph over CSKA, when the Russian giants had the advantage in the waning seconds when Viktor Khryapa fumbled a pass, which led to a turnover and a go-ahead basket for the Blatt-coached Maccabi Tel Aviv.

If Maccabi don't win that game, or don't upset Real Madrid in the Final, Blatt probably would not have gotten the Cavs job.

This year, the good fortune came when Blatt tried to call a timeout that he didn't have in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against Chicago.

His assistant, Tyronn Lue, jumped off the bench and grabbed Blatt to alert him before the referees noticed and Cleveland escaped and then won the game.

You know that teamwork that Blatt was emphasizing in the pre-season? Well, that was a real show of teamwork by Lue.

Gilbert talked about the Olympic success but really, the win he led Russia to at EuroBasket 2007 will always be his finest hour.

He turned around what appeared to be a bunch of no-hopers, a team that had to qualify for the EuroBasket, and led them to glory on the home court of the favorites.

Russia had Andrei Kirilenko and Viktor Khryapa, and a naturalized point guard named J.R. Holden, but it was only their attention to defense, especially in the knockout round, and overall teamwork that got them to the top of the podium.

That Spain team had Pau and Marc Gasol, Jose Calderon, Juan Carlos Navarro and Rudy Fernandez - just to name five of their players.

While most coaches anyway would jump at the chance to coach in the NBA, one has to appreciate that Blatt has given up a lot this year to lead Cleveland.

"I left a lot of people that I love dearly," he said after the sweep of Atlanta, "in order to pursue a dream.

"That's a big sacrifice on the part of my family and where I'm from."

He's taken on a lot of water, but Blatt has weathered the storm.

Will he go on and win the title?

His success at this time of year in the past suggests that yes, he will, and that's even against a great Golden State team.

Even if he doesn't win that championship, Blatt has proven that he can not only cut it in the NBA but do well there.

Thumbs-up, Dave, and good luck the rest of the way.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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