The National Basketball Association announced Monday that Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey has been named NBA Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for November. Casey becomes the first coach in team history to win the award twice after earning the honour in December 2013. This marks the fourth time a Raptors coach has won the award – Lenny Wilkens (April 2002), Sam Mitchell (January 2007) and Casey (December 2013).
Casey guided the Raptors to a franchise-best 13-4 start through the first month of the regular season and the club currently sits atop the Eastern Conference standings for the first time since November 12, 2004. Toronto’s 13 wins set a team record for victories in a month and marked the sixth consecutive month the Raptors had a winning record. The Raptors had six straight wins (November 15-26) for the team’s longest single-season winning streak since the 2008-09 season.
Toronto finished November averaging 108.5 points (second in the NBA) while holding opponents to 98.9 points (14th). The Raptors and Chicago Bulls were the only teams in the East to rank among the top-14 for both points scored and allowed. During a franchise-record seven game homestand (November 7-21), the Raptors won four games by 15 or more points to finish 6-1 overall.
On the road Toronto rallied three times from double-digit deficits to win and posted a 4-1 start away from Air Canada Centre for the first time in team history.
Casey joined the Raptors as head coach on June 21, 2011 and led the team to a franchise record 48 wins last season. He passed Lenny Wilkens on November 19 for second on the team’s all-time coaching wins list (118 wins) following a 96-92 victory over the Western Conference leading Memphis Grizzlies. David Joerger of Memphis was named Western Conference Coach of the Month.