Michael Malone Falls Short In Coach Of Year Voting, Nikola Jokic 4th In MVP Vote
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (CBS4) - Denver coach Michael Malone was beaten out by Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer in the NBA's Coach of the Year award on Monday night. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic also was fourth in MVP voting.
Malone attended the NBA Awards in Santa Monica, California, after his team wound up with 54 wins and secured the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs before losing to the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference semifinals.
Doc Rivers of the Los Angeles Clippers was also in the running for the award and wound up second in the voting while Malone was third.
Budenholzer guided the Bucks to a 60-22 record in the regular season in his first year with the franchise, leading them to the Eastern Conference finals, where they lost to eventual NBA champion Toronto. He won the award for the second time. He first earned the trophy with the with Atlanta Hawks in 2015.
Jokic placed fourth in the voting for the league MVP award behind winnter Giannis Antetokounmpo, second place finisher James Harden and third place finisher Paul George. See the full results at NBA.com.
Nuggets executive Tim Connelly also placed second in the voting for the NBA's Executive of the Year.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)