The Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach Mike Brown on Monday, not long after the team with LeBron James was ousted by Boston Celtics from the NBA playoffs second round.

The Cavs had a 2-1 series lead over the Celtics before losing three straight, including the final two at home.

Facing an uncertain future with James, the Eastern team cut out their contract with Brown with one year left, after the league's coach of the year in 2009 failed to lead them to an NBA title in five seasons.

Cleveland's owner Dan Gilbert made the decision to fire Brown, who won 272 games and lost 138 with the Cavs, which had the best record in the NBA the past two seasons.

"After a long and deep analysis of all of the factors that led to the disappointing early ends to our playoff runs over the past two seasons, we concluded that it was time for the Cavaliers to move in a different direction,"said Gilbert in a statement.