Dwane Casey Named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday that head coach Dwane Casey has been named NBA Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for December. This is the first time Casey has won the honour. He joins Lenny Wilkens (April 2002) and Sam Mitchell (January 2007) as the only Raptors coaches to be named Coach of the Month.

Toronto went 8-6 in December under Casey’s guidance and was one of five teams in the Eastern Conference to finish the month with a record above .500. The Raptors were 0-3 prior to a seven-player trade December 8 that sent leading scorer Rudy Gay to Sacramento. Casey incorporated four new players into the roster and the team responded by winning eight of the next 11 games.

The Raptors were 6-3 on the road last month, which included three double-digit comebacks victories. Toronto erased a 19-point deficit December 20 at Dallas to win 109-108 in overtime. Two nights later they overcame an 11-point deficit to snap Oklahoma City’s 13-game home winning streak, 104-98. The Raptors went to Madison Square Garden on December 27 and rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second-half against New York to win 95-83. Toronto also posted a pair of wire-to-wire road wins December 8 at L.A. Lakers and December 14 at Chicago.

Toronto’s defense held opponents under .400 field goal shooting four times in December, resulting in four wins. Over an 11-game stretch (December 8-31) the Raptors had a +65 scoring differential in the fourth quarter (304-to-239).

The Raptors finished the month of December above .500 for the fourth time in team history and the first since 2009. Toronto is also leading the Atlantic Division for the first time since the end of the 2006-07 season.

Casey joined the Raptors as head coach on June 21, 2011 following three seasons as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks. He was also the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves (2005-07). Prior to that Casey spent 11 seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics as an assistant coach for George Karl, Paul Westphal and Nate McMillan.