Nuggets’ Mike Malone, Sixers’ Doc Rivers named Coaches of the Month

Nuggets head coach Michael Malone and Sixers head coach Doc Rivers have been honored as the NBA’s coaches of the month for January in their respective conferences, the league has announced (Twitter link).

The NBA’s PR department tweets that Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and Timberwolves coach Chris Finch were the other two finalists for the award in the Western Conference, while Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer, Celtics interim coach Joe Mazzulla, and longtime Heat coach Erik Spoelstra were runners-up in the East.

Malone, who will serve as the coach for Team LeBron at this year’s All-Star Game in Utah, coached Denver to a 12-4 record in January en route to its current cumulative 35-16 status,  good for the No. 1 seed in the West as of this writing.

Rivers led Philadelphia to an 11-3 run last month, which helped the Sixers reach the third seed in the East with a 33-17 record on the year to date. Rivers, the 2000 Coach of the Year, is in his third season with Philadelphia.