MIAMI, FL – The NBA announced today that Miami HEAT Head Coach Erik Spoelstra was named the NBA’s Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for March. This marks the fifth time Spoelstra has earned the monthly honor, tying Pat Riley for the most in team history, and 13th time a HEAT coach has won the award. Additionally, he becomes the first coach in team history to win the honor in consecutive months after being named the NBA Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for February. He also joins former HEAT coach Stan Van Gundy (2004-05) as the only HEAT coaches to win the honor twice in a season.
Spoelstra earned the accolades after guiding the HEAT to a league-best 17-1 (.944) record during March, the most wins by any team during a single month in NBA history. After recording 12 wins in February, Miami has now registered at least 12 wins in consecutive months for just the second time in franchise history, after previously posting 13 wins in February and then 12 wins in March of 1998. Their 17-1 March record marked their 20th consecutive winning month, the longest such streak in franchise history. In addition to the HEAT’s 27-game winning streak, the second-longest in NBA history, from February 3 through March 25, Spoelstra led Miami to a perfect 7-0 record at home in March and has now won 17-straight inside the AmericanAirlines Arena, just one win shy from tying the longest home winning streak in franchise history. He also led Miami to a 10-1 record on the road, tying for the most road wins during a single month in HEAT history with their 10 road wins in December of 2010, including wins at Boston on March 18 to earn the Southeast Division title and at New Orleans on March 29 to clinch the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. While capturing the Eastern Conference’s top seed at New Orleans, Miami shot 60.9 percent from the field in that contest, their second-highest road shooting percentage in team history.
With their win against Philadelphia on March 8, Spoelstra led the HEAT to the franchise’s 17th postseason berth, marking it the earliest date and, with 22 games remaining, most games remaining in a season to do so. Then with their victory vs. Indiana on March 10, the HEAT recorded a victory against every opponent this season, the first time they have accomplished the feat in franchise history. Spoelstra then earned his 250th career win at Orlando on March 25, becoming just the second coach in HEAT history to hit the mark, reaching the milestone in his 382nd game, the fastest in franchise history.
Among league leaders, Miami currently ranks first in field goal percentage (.497), second in three-point field goal percentage (.394), second in margin of victory (+7.9), third in steals per game (8.92), fourth in forced turnovers per game (15.9) and fifth in points per game (103.3).