LeBron James might believe his MVP chances have been thrown out the window since his arrival in South Beach, but there are plenty of awards to go around. The NBA has announced Miami Heat Erik Spoelstra has been named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for December and Dwyane Wade as Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Dec. 27 through Jan. 2nd.
From NBA.COM:
Spoelstra led the Heat to a 15-1 (.938) record, setting franchise marks for total wins and road wins (10) in a month. Miami, which went 10-0 on the road, became the first team in NBA history to win 10 straight road games in a calendar month. Averaging a +13.3 point differential, the Heat began December in third place in the Southeast Division, and finished the month in first, 3.5 games ahead of Orlando. Spoelstra, with 116 wins, moved past Stan Van Gundy (112) into third place on the Heat's all-time wins list.
On Dwyane Wade:
Wade paced the league in scoring (36.7 ppg) to go along with 7.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.0 steals, leading Miami to a 3-0 week. He scored atleast 25 points in all three games, including a pair of back-to-back 40-point efforts. On Dec. 29, Wade scored a season-high 45 points on .708 shooting in a comeback win over Houston.
Dec. 28 vs. New York: Posted 40 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals in a 106-98 win over the Knicks.
Dec. 29 @ Houston: Scored 45 points to go along with seven rebounds and two steals in a 125-119 win over the Rockets.
Jan. 1 vs. Golden State: Tallied 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds in a 114-107 win over the Warriors.
This is Coach Spoelstra's second award, the first coming during the 2009-2010 season for posting a 12-3 record in the month of March. According to NBA.com, this is Dwyane Wade's 13th time winning the award in his career - the 2nd this season. Wade also won the award for the week ending on December 13th, with teammate LeBron James taking the award for the week ending on December 27th.
We can safely say www.firespo.com should be very quiet right about now.
