Mike Budenholzer of the Milwaukee Bucks and Billy Donovan of the Oklahoma City Thunder were named as the NBA’s Coaches of the Month in their respective conferences for the month of December. They have pushed their teams to an impressive record during that stretch.
Budenholzer’s Bucks were definitely invincible during those 15 games back in December. They opened the month with a blazing 132-88 win over the New York Knicks, followed by a 127-103 blowout win over the Detroit Pistons.
They even defeated both teams from Los Angeles. They crushed the Clippers for a 119-91 win – a squad that featured two of the league’s best two-way players in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The team later on came through to cruise past the Lakers in an 111-104 win, where they used a 42-point second quarter to outrun LeBron James’ squad.
They only lost twice to come up with a 13-2 record. They first lost to the Dallas Mavericks – who played without an injured Luka Doncic – in a 120-116 loss. Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo had 48 points to lead the team in the game, but he could not come up with clutch baskets in the closing moments of the game that could have pushed for an extra period.
Giannis finished strong with 18 points, 14 rebounds, and seven assists in their Christmas showdown with the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid’s 31 points were too much for the team to handle, which led to a 121-109 loss for the Eastern Conference leaders.
One of the biggest games for the Bucks was their 127-112 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. It was the first time that the team played without their reigning MVP. Eric Bledsoe led the team with 29 points, and the team went on a balanced attack to show the league that they should still be feared with or without their MVP.
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Meanwhile, December has been the best stretch for Donovan’s Thunder. The team went on a full rebuild mode after trading away stars Paul George and Russell Westbrook in the offseason in exchange for a lot of picks. Early in the season, the team was expected to sit out and tank for the best possible pick options.
The Thunder showed their resiliency. Led by Chris Paul, along with a young core that presented a grit-and-grind play, the team clawed their way through December with a lot of impressive wins down the stretch.
The Thunder had a big win in overtime against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The team forced an extra period at home after Steven Adams threw a quarterback pass to Dennis Schroder, who paced for a game-tying buzzer-beater layup. From that point, the team took over and came up with a 139-127 win.
The team had four similar games where they came back from a double-digit deficit and stormed back to win the game. The bench was very productive and came through those games. Schroder provided a great spark off the bench and is a strong candidate for the Sixth Man of the Year award.
The Thunder finished their last two games of 2019 with a bang. The team defeated the defending champion Toronto Raptors in a very close game, with the sophomore Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropping 32 points, including the last-second go-ahead basket that gave them the win.