Houston Rockets head coach Stephen Silas was nominated for Western Conference Coach of the Month in January, according to an NBA announcement issued Monday, Feb. 1. The award was ultimately given to Quin Snyder, whose Utah Jazz went 13-3 in the month and had an 11-game winning streak.
As for Silas, the Rockets went 8-7 in January despite some extremely difficult circumstances. They began the month dealing with fallout from James Harden’s offseason trade request before finally trading the superstar guard on Jan. 13. Rotation regulars John Wall, Christian Wood, Victor Oladipo, Eric Gordon, and Danuel House Jr. all missed at least two games due to an assortment of injuries or other issues.
Yet, in his first full month as an NBA head coach, Silas kept the Rockets focused and oversaw significant improvement — with Houston finishing the month on a five-game winning streak. After going 3-6 with Harden on the roster and coming in at No. 22 in net defensive rating, the Rockets went 6-3 after trading the perennial All-Star guard and MVP finalist, with their defense rising to No. 1 in the NBA over that span.
Since the Harden trade
Rockets:
– 6-3 record
– Best defensive rating in NBANets:
– 6-3 record
– Worst defensive rating in NBA pic.twitter.com/wnRPvpC5PF— StatMuse (@statmuse) February 1, 2021
Besides Snyder and Silas, other Coach of the Month finalists in the West were Frank Vogel of the Los Angeles Lakers and Tyronn Lue of the Clippers. Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s Doc Rivers won the award for the Eastern Conference, with Cleveland’s J.B. Bickerstaff and Brooklyn’s Steve Nash also nominated for their January performances.
