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BOSTON – The NBA announced Tuesday that Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens has been named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for games played during February.
The third-year Celtics coach guided his squad to an Eastern Conference-best 9-3 record during the month, including a perfect 6-0 mark at TD Garden. The C’s (36-25 overall) finished the month in sole possession of third place in the East behind Cleveland and Atlantic Division foe, Toronto.
Boston led the conference in points per game (110.8), free throw percentage (81.3 percent), and finished second in assists per game (26.8) to Atlanta (27.5).
The Celtics started off the month with four-straight wins, including a thrilling 104-103 win in Cleveland on Feb. 5. Avery Bradley stunned the first-place Cavaliers with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Boston won another nail-biter just ahead of the All-Star break on Feb. 10 when it defeated the Los Angeles Clippers, 139-136, in overtime at TD Garden. The C’s became the first Eastern Conference team to score at least 139 points against the Clippers in more than 36 years. It also marked one of four times during the month that Boston scored at least 120 points.
The Celtics came out of the break and experienced a challenging Western Conference trip, during which they went 1-2 with a win over Denver and losses to Utah and Minnesota.
Boston bounced back when it returned home and closed out the month with wins over Milwaukee, Miami (marking Stevens’ 100th win with the Celtics) and Utah. During their final game of the month against the Jazz, the C’s tallied 13 blocked shots, which was their highest single game total since Dec. 12, 2009.
The Western Conference Coach of the Month honor went to Portland coach Terry Stotts. He led the Trail Blazers to a 9-2 record during February, which included wins against Memphis, Golden State, Chicago and Indiana. Portland closed the month winners of eight of its last nine games, and currently sit tied for sixth place in the West standings with Dallas.
Stevens and Stotts will clash on Wednesday at TD Garden, when the Blazers will attempt to halt Boston’s 11-game home winning streak.