PHOENIX – After guiding the team to a league-best 13-1 record in the month of January, Phoenix Suns Head Coach Monty Williams has been named the Western Conference Coach of the Month for January 2022, the NBA announced today.
With Williams at the helm, the Suns hold the best record in the NBA at 41-9 this season, the team’s best start in franchise history through the first 50 games of a season. Phoenix completed the month on a 10-game winning streak and extended it to 11 with a win over Brooklyn on Feb. 1, the team’s second 10+ game winning streak this season, just the second time in franchise history the Suns have recorded two 10+ game winning streaks in a single season. Additionally, Phoenix completed the month of January with a perfect 8-0 record on the road becoming the first team in NBA history with multiple undefeated road records for a month (min. 8 games) and posted their second month of the season with a win percentage above .900 (16-0 record in Nov.), something no other team has done once on the year.
Ending the month of January with a 115-110 win over the Spurs on Jan. 30, Monty Williams and his coaching staff clinched a berth to Cleveland to coach Team LeBron in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game. It marks the first time Williams will coach in the NBA All-Star Game and is the fifth time in franchise history the Suns coaching staff will work the game.
This marks Williams’ fourth time winning Western Conference Coach of the Month and the second time this season, as he also won for October/November 2021 and March 2021 with the Suns and January 2011 while coaching the New Orleans Hornets, whose roster included current Suns point guard Chris Paul. Williams joins Alvin Gentry and Mike D’Antoni as the only Suns coaches to win it multiple times in the same season. He joins three-time winner Cotton Fitzsimmons (April 1989, February 1990, December 1991) and four-time winner Mike D’Antoni (December 2004, February 2006, December 2006, January 2007) as the only Suns coaches to win the monthly honor at least three times.
J.B. Bickerstaff of the Cleveland Cavaliers was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month.
Williams and the Suns look to extend their winning streak to a league-best 12 tomorrow night in Atlanta against the Hawks at 5:30 p.m. MT on TNT (listen on ESPN Phoenix 620 AM). The game tips-off a four-game road trip before returning to Phoenix for a four-game home stand ahead of NBA All-Star 2022 in Cleveland.