In a major upset, the coaches of the teams that won the most games in the season’s first month were named NBA Coaches of the Month.
The league announced Wednesday that Tom Thibodeau of the Chicago Bulls and Scott Brooks of the Oklahoma City Thunder were January’s recipients.
Thibodeau was Coach of the Year last season. He actually had to do some serious juggling with his roster as the Bulls were hit hard by injuries. Nevertheless, Chicago sped to the top of the East with an 18-5 record, including 9-4 on the road.
The Bulls are second in the NBA in defense (87.4 ppg) and lead the league in rebounding (45.3).
Brooks guided the Thunder to a league-best 16-4 mark that included a seven-game winning streak and an 8-3 road record, although one of the losses was to woeful Washington. Oklahoma City is third in scoring (100.4) and leads the NBA in free-throw shooting at 80 percent.
Other nominees included Dallas’ Rick Carlisle, Houston’s Kevin McHale, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra, Los Angeles Clippers’ Vinny Del Negro and Philadelphia’s Doug Collins.
Not nominated were Sacramento’s Paul Westphal and Washington’s Flip Saunders.