Cavs' Brown, Grizzlies' Hollins named Coaches of the Month

NEW YORK -- The Cleveland Cavaliers' Mike Brown and the Memphis Grizzlies' Lionel Hollins today were named the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Coaches of the Month, respectively, for games played in December.

Brown guided the Cavaliers to an NBA-best 14-3 (.824) record in December. Cleveland won seven of 10 games on the road, and went a perfect 7-0 at Quicken Loans Arena. Cleveland topped the Eastern Conference in field goal percentage (.487) and three-point field goal percentage (.390) while holding opponents to a league-low 93.0 points per game.

Hollins led the Grizzlies to a 9-4 (.692) mark for the month, tops in the Southwest Division. Of the 13 teams Memphis faced during December, eight had winning records. The Grizzlies posted wins over three division leaders in December, including Dallas (Dec. 4), Cleveland (Dec. 8) and Denver (Dec. 20). The Grizzlies' .692 winning percentage marked the sixth best month in franchise history.

Other nominees for the Coach of the Month were Boston's Doc Rivers, Houston's Rick Adelman, New York's Mike D'Antoni, Oklahoma City's Scott Brooks, Orlando's Stan Van Gundy, Portland's Nate McMillan and Toronto's Jay Triano.