The NBA announced today that your Miami HEAT Head Coach Erik Spoelstra was named the NBA’s Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for December. This marks the franchise-record ninth time Spoelstra has earned the monthly honor and the 16th time a HEAT coach has captured the award. Spoelstra most recently received the award in January 2018 after guiding his team to a 10-5 mark. Memphis Head Coach Taylor Jenkins captured the Western Conference Coach of the Month honors for December.
Spoelstra earned the current accolades after guiding Miami to a 10-5 (.667) record during the month of December, despite the HEAT having players miss a combined 68 games due to injury and another 18 due to Health and Safety protocols. All-Star center Bam Adebayo did not appear in a game during the month and All-Star forward Jimmy Butler played just three-and-a-half games. Despite being shorthanded, Miami managed to post a 9-4 record against Eastern Conference opponents including a 26-point victory over current Eastern Conference frontrunner Chicago, a nine-point win over Milwaukee and a road win at Philadelphia. Miami closed the month on a season-high six-game home winning streak and a season-high-tying five-game overall winning streak.
During the month the HEAT connected on 40.2 percent of their three-point field goal attempts and established a new franchise record for three-pointers in the month of December draining 229 shots (15.3 pg) from behind the arc. Included among the 229 triples were a franchise single-game record 22 against both Milwaukee (Dec. 8) and Indiana (Dec. 21).
Individually, with Miami’s 119-112 victory over Washington, Spoelstra passed Doug Moe (628) and moved into sole possession of 25th place on the NBA coaches all-time regular season wins list. Spoelstra currently has recorded 630 wins and trails Chuck Daly by eight for 24th place.