Cleveland Cavaliers Coach Wins Prestigious Award To Close Out 2024

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson wins NBA's Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for December.

Dec 23, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson stands on the sideline in the first quarter against the Utah Jazz at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images / David Richard-Imagn Images

It's hard to believe it's taken the Cleveland Cavaliers this long, but they're finally starting to get some more recognition for their incredible season to date.

After their recent road wins against the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, the Wine and Gold now have a 29-4 record on the season and are easily the best team in the NBA right now.

Kenny Atkinson recently got some recognition for Cleveland success, and was named Eastern Conference coach of the month for December.

Atkinson won the award earlier this season for October/November. He's just the second coach in franchise history to win the award in back-to-back months (Mike Brown in February and March 2009).

The Cavaliers finished December with a 12-1 record, which was tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the best winning percentage (.923) in the league during that stretch. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault also won coach of the month at the Western Conference.

Dec 27, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson in the second quarter against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

The Cavaliers' unstoppable offense especially shined during December, and it is one of the reasons Atkinson deserves this award. Cleveland led the Easter with 122.4 points per game, a three-point percentage of 41 percent, and a point difference at +15.1.

Another area where Atkinson has excelled this season is maximizing his players' minutes on the floor so that he doesn't overuse them.

No member of the Cavaliers averaged more than 32.0 minutes a game in December, and Cleveland was still blowing out their opponent.

It's still hard to believe how different this team looks from last year, even though almost the exact same roster returned from last year.

A lot of credit can be given to Atkinson and the job he has done as the head coach.

There are still quite a bit more games to play in the regular season, but with his second Coach of the Month Award, Atkinson has to be a strong contender for NBA's Coach of the Year this season.