Mike Brown: Coaching against Cavs in NBA Finals is just 'the circle of life'

It's difficult to ignore the fact that Mike Brown - the current interim coach of the Golden State Warriors while Steve Kerr is on hiatus - once worked the sidelines for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Instead of coaching the Cavs in the NBA Finals like he did back in 2007, Brown will now be coaching against them when the series gets underway on Thursday night at Oracle Arena.

"It's all over the place. It's not something that I can hide from, or where I'm from," Brown told reporters Friday afternoon. "All I said is it is what it is. I don't have any control over what the storyline is going to be. It's a little ironic that things happen in life this way.

"I was talking to my boys about it. It's one of those things, especially in the NBA, it's like 'The Lion King' - it's just the circle of life. How everything just kinda keeps getting back or revolving back to where it once was. You just gotta take it in stride, and whatever happens happens."

Brown received his first head coaching gig with the Cavaliers back in 2005, replacing Brendan Malone. Cleveland qualified for the playoffs each year he was on board, yet he was let go in 2010 after the Cavs were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the second round, thus marking the first time a back-to-back 60-win team didn't advance to the Finals.

After two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, Brown was brought back to Cleveland in 2013 to replace Byron Scott, but then fired for a second time after just one year on the job.

When Luke Walton left the Warriors to coach the Lakers in 2016, Brown joined Kerr's staff to serve as a new assistant.