Spoelstra earns honor as East’s top coach of the month
Injury-plagued team was 10-5 in December
Erik Spoelstra on Tuesday was named NBA Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for pushing his injury-ravaged roster to a 10-5 record in December.
It is the franchise-record ninth time Spoelstra has won the award, his first time since January 2018.
Heat coaches have now been so cited 16 times over the franchise’s 34 seasons.
The Memphis Grizzlies’ Taylor Jenkins won the Western Conference honor, with the Grizzlies’ victory total in December including a win over the Heat at FTX Arena.
The Heat went 10-5 in December despite players missing a combined 68 games due to injury and another 18 due to NBA health-and-safety protocols. Center Bam Adebayo did not appear in a game during the month due to thumb surgery, and forward Jimmy Butler played just 3 ½ games in December, due to a tailbone bruise.
Included in the Heat’s 10 December victories was a 26-point romp over the current Eastern Conference-leading
Chicago Bulls, a nine-point win over the defending-champion Milwaukee Bucks and a road victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Heat closed the month on a season-high six-game home winning streak and a seasonhigh-tying five-game overall winning streak.
With the Heat’s Dec. 28 home victory over the Washington Wizards, Spoelstra passed Doug Moe (628) and moved into sole possession of 25th place on the NBA coaches all-time
regular-season victory list. Spoelstra currently has 630 and trails the late Chuck Daly by eight for 24th place.
In other NBA monthly awards announced Tuesday, Heat guard Kyle Lowry was among the nominees for NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month that went to 76ers center Joel Embiid, and Heat center Omer Yurtseven was among the nominees for Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month that went to the Orlando Magic’s Franz Wagner.