NBA Coach of the Year? It’s time to add an All-Coaching team

On Monday evening, I sat in my office with two screens, one showing Spurs-Heat and the other showing Pistons-Lakers. As the postseason nears, I try to pay closer attention to the inner workings of these “high-profile” matchups, viewing them from a playoff lens.

Is Team X truly hitting their stride? Can Team Y adjust to an opponent’s adjustment in the second half? How does Team Z fare against a shapeshifting zone? 

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What I took away from those two games not only reinforced why both Detroit and San Antonio are among the best teams in the NBA this season, but why their coaching has separated them from the rest of the pack — and why crowning just one as Coach of the Year is cruel.

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The Pistons, who were without Cade Cunningham (and will be for some time as he recovers from a collapsed lung), held the Lakers to 23 points in the fourth quarter, including 0-for-5 from 3 and seven turnovers to boot. Daniss Jenkins (who went undrafted, by the way) continued to excel functioning as a primary initiator, leading the way with 30 points on an efficient 11-for-18 shooting to go along with eight assists and four rebounds.

J.B. Bickerstaff has guided a young Pistons team to the No. 1 seed in the East. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

(Gregory Shamus via Getty Images)

Detroit’s defense-by-committee limited Luka Dončić to 32 points on 29 shots, and its two most important possessions had Kevin Huerter and Jalen Duren tasked with stopping the Slovenian and succeeded, a reminder of the trust that head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has in his entire group. (The Lakers were also one of the hottest teams in the league, having won 12 of their past 13 games. So there’s that.)

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A little over 1,000 miles away, the Spurs were able to turn one of their biggest weaknesses — functioning against a zone defense (fourth-worst points per possession) — into a strength against the Heat, the heaviest zone usage team in the NBA (978 possessions, per Synergy tracking data). They registered a monstrous 1.875 points per chance on spot-ups against Miami’s…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/nba-coach-of-the-year-its-time-to-add-an-all-coaching-team-204908240.html

Author : Kelly Iko

Publish date : 2026-03-25 20:49:00

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