Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has won the Eastern Conference’s Coach of the Month award for February, the league announced Monday. It marks Spoelstra’s 10th career Coach of the Month award and his first since December of the 2021-22 season.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra have been named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Coaches of the Month, respectively, for games played in February. pic.twitter.com/KQhT7E6JZf
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) March 4, 2024
Spoelstra, 53, becomes the third East head coach to win the award this season–the others being Orlando’s Jamahl Mosley, Boston’s Joe Mazzulla and New York’s Tom Thibodeau.
The Heat went 8-3 while sporting the league’s fifth-best NET Rating –including the second-best defense–in February, despite starting eight different lineups with injuries (and suspensions) to Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier and Josh Richardson, among others.
It featured a five-game road win streak over the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers from Feb. 13-27.
As a result, the Heat are 34-26 and just 1.5 games behind the New York Knicks for the No. 4 seed in the East. They currently own the NBA’s 15th-best NET Rating–the 21st-best offense and the 8th-best defense–with the fourth-most road wins (18) leaguewide.
Miami has the second-easiest remaining strength of schedule, trailing only Boston, per Tankathon, beginning with the lowly Detroit Pistons Tuesday. It’s started 31 different starting lineups in 60 games and has been one of the most injured teams across the NBA–which is a testament to Miami’s depth and, most importantly, Spoelstra’s coaching prowess.
Spoelstra recently earned an eight-year, $120 million extension that made him the NBA’s highest-paid head coach at the time, which has since been topped by Steve Kerr’s two-year extension.
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we still have 22 games left. Thats plenty to grab that 5th seed. Go Spo, coach us to the 5th!
Should’ve won coty at least once already lol nba
“Spoelstra, 53, becomes the third East head coach to win the award this season–the others being Orlando’s Jamahl Mosley, Boston’s Joe Mazzulla and New York’s Tom Thibodeau.”
Okay, Matt, is this the ‘new math’? Sort of seems Spo would be the fourth, yes? 😆
More than deserved, so is the overdue NBA coach of the year award. Which is an understatement.
Agree!
most underrated coach in nba history