New York Knicks' Tom Thibodeau named Coach of the Year for second time

[Bronx]

New York Knicks' Tom Thibodeau named Coach of the Year for for the second time in his career, and a decade apart, Tom Thibodeau was named the NBA's Coach of the Year on Monday.

The New York Knicks coach, who led the team he grew up watching to a 20-win improvement this season, edged out Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams by a total of 11 points, while Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder finished third. It was the second time Thibodeau won the award in his first year with a new team, after doing so with the Chicago Bulls in 2011.

"Anytime you get an award like this, I'm obviously honored, but it's more a reflection of our group and our organization," Thibodeau said on "Inside The NBA" in accepting the award.

A couple of the players he had as part of that Bulls team, Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, were veteran mentors on this year's Knicks squad, which went from being expected to compete for one of the top spots in the NBA's draft lottery to earning home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.

"The thing about Derrick and the people that have been around him, and Taj, the same can be said for him, is they're team-first guys," Thibodeau said. "When Derrick was MVP of the league at 22, he was a great teammate, he had great humility, and he's been in a number of big games, but he's also been through a lot of adversity, so I thought it would be great to have a veteran who has been through a lot of things to help set the tone with veteran leadership for the group.".

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