NEW YORK ? Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz is the NBA's Coach of the Month for February, the league announced Monday.
Sloan guided Utah to an NBA-best 10-1 (.750) record in February, which also marks the best February in franchise history. The 10-1 mark equals the fewest losses ever for the Jazz in a month the team has played multiple games. The Jazz went 14-1 in both January 1995 and March 1997, and also went 10-1 in April 1997. Five of Utah's 10 wins came against teams which currently would qualify for the playoffs, including victories over two of the top three teams in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.
The Jazz also defeated New Orleans, Dallas and Atlanta. Utah shot .499 from the field while averaging 107.2 points per game during February, this despite missing forward Andrei Kirilenko for the first five games of the month and Carlos Boozer for the first eight.
This is Sloan's 10th Coach of the Month award, who last won for March 2008.
Now in his 21st season as Jazz head coach, earlier this season, Sloan became the first NBA head coach to achieve 1,000 wins with one team when the Jazz defeated Oklahoma City on Nov. 7. The fourth-winningest coach in NBA history, Sloan's overall record of 1,126-740 includes a mark of 1,032-619 with the Jazz.
Other nominees for February's Western Conference Coach of the Month award were Houston's Rick Adelman and the Lakers' Phil Jackson. Cleveland's Mike Brown was named the Eastern Conference winner.
Jazz guard Deron Williams was a nominee for Western Conference Player of the Month for February, but award went to the Lakers' Pau Gasol.
