NBA Names Spurs’ Mitch Johnson and Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla December Coaches of the Month
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The NBA on Friday announced Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson and Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla as the league’s Coaches of the Month for December in the Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively.
Johnson guided San Antonio to an 11-3 mark during the month, the league’s best record over that span. The run did not include the NBA Cup final, which is excluded from regular-season statistics. The Spurs recorded three wins against the defending champion Thunder and posted the NBA’s fifth-highest offensive rating (118.9) and sixth-best defensive rating (112.0) in December. The team’s success came despite injury absences for Victor Wembanyama and rookie guard Stephon Castle, both of whom missed multiple games.
The league said Johnson edged fellow West nominees David Adelman (Nuggets), Mark Daigneault (Thunder), and Chris Finch (Timberwolves) for the monthly honor.
In the East, Mazzulla led Boston from eighth place at the start of December to the conference’s No. 3 seed by month’s end. The Celtics went 9-3 while playing without injured All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum. Boston finished the month with the NBA’s top offensive rating (124.3) and the second-best net rating (+11.0), collecting victories over the Knicks, Lakers, and Raptors (twice) along the way.
Other Eastern Conference nominees were J.B. Bickerstaff (Pistons), Mike Brown (Knicks), and Jordi Fernández (Nets).
Daigneault and Bickerstaff earned the league’s Coach of the Month awards for games played in October and November.
Source: Hoops Rumors
