Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson is December’s Coach of the Month in the Western Conference, while Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics is the Eastern Conference recipient of the award, the NBA announced today (Twitter link).
Johnson guided the Spurs to an 11-3 record in December, not including the NBA Cup final, which doesn’t count toward the regular season standings. San Antonio’s big month, which included three separate victories over the defending champion Thunder, occurred despite Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle each missing multiple games due to injuries.
In addition to posting the NBA’s best record for the month, the Spurs also had the fifth-best offensive rating (118.9) and sixth-ranked defensive rating (112.0), which helped earn Johnson Coach of the Month recognition over fellow nominees David Adelman (Nuggets), Mark Daigneault (Thunder), and Chris Finch (Timberwolves), per the league (Twitter link).
As for Mazzulla’s Celtics, they ranked eighth in the East entering December, but finished the month as the No. 3 seed in the conference after going 9-3.
Even without perennial All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum, Boston had the NBA’s best offensive rating (124.3) and second-best net rating (+11.0) in December en route to wins over the Knicks, Lakers, and Raptors (twice), among others.
J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons, Mike Brown of the Knicks, and Jordi Fernandez of the Nets were also nominated for the award.
Daigneault and Bickerstaff earned the monthly honor for games played in October and November.