George Karl has fought his way back to the NBA coaching mountain, winning this season’s NBA Coach of the Year award.
It was just a short time ago that Karl was taking a leave of absence from coaching in the NBA, and in the battle of his life, as he left the Nuggets following the 2010 All-Star Break to be treated for throat and neck cancer. Karl survived that scare, and has now been named the top coach in the association, the first time in his 25 year coaching career that he has won such an honour. Its certainly been worth the wait for someone who has always been amongst the top coaches in basketball.
Taking a lineup lacking in real star power, Karl took this years Nuggets and led them to 57 wins, and the #3 seed in the Western Conference. Unfortunately, his Nuggets suffered a first round upset to the Golden State Warriors. The Nuggets set a franchise record with a 15 game win streak earlier in the year. The award was voted at the end of the regular season and playoff results are not taken into account.
The 2012-13 Nuggets can be best characterized as a team that played the system that Karl designed for them, and were extremely disciplined in doing so. The fast up-tempo, high scoring brand of basketball was a great fit for the young and athletic Nuggets roster, and a good idea for Karl to implement.
Doug Moe is the only other Nuggets coach to win the award.
Karl recieved 62 of the 121 first place votes to win the award. Miami coach Eric Spoelstra can in second, New York Knicks coach Mike Woodson was third, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich 4th and Indiana coach Frank Vogel finished fifth.
Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to follow the site on Twitter – @lastwordonsport.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? If so, check out our “Join Our Team” page to find out how.
