<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NBA.com/Wizards)</div><div class='quotemain'>Jordan, Arenas Receive December Eastern Conference HonorsJordan named Coach of the Month, Arenas Player of the MonthJanuary 2, 2007 December 2006 saw Jordan, Arenas and the Wizards climb to the top of the Southeast Division. NBAE/Getty Images -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The NBA announced today that Wizards Head Coach Eddie Jordan was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month and Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December. This marks the first career monthly honors for both Jordan and Arenas. POST YOUR COMMENTS ?This was a complete team effort,? said Jordan. ?We had a very good month, which was highlighted by our West Coast swing. We competed successfully against some of the better teams in the NBA, and had some outstanding individual performances from our guys.? ?I appreciate the honor from the NBA,? said Arenas. ?December was an outstanding month for our team. We played extremely well and won some big road games. We were able to move into first place and create some excitement and momentum heading into the New Year.? Entering the month of December, the Washington Wizards had a record of 5-9 and trailed the Orlando Magic by six games in the Southeast Division. One month later, after 12 wins in 16 December games -- including three wins against divisional leaders (Phoenix, Dallas, Orlando), and a 6-3 mark away from home ? Eddie Jordan and the Wizards share first place in the Southeast Division. Jordan guided the Wizards to a 12-4 record in December. Jose Argueta/Wizards Photos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington?s 12 wins in December marked the first time since January of 1977 that the Wizards won as many as 12 games in a single month. Also, with the Wizards ascent to the top of their division, Washington has a first place team after New Year's Day for the first time since the end of the 1978-79 season. Last month, Washington snapped Dallas' 12-game winning streak (then an NBA season-high) on December 4th, earned a victory versus the Miami Heat to snap the Wizards' 12-game regular-season losing steak to the Heat on December 15th, and won in Phoenix on December 22nd to end the Suns' franchise-record and NBA season-high 15-game win streak. With Washington's wins against Dallas and Phoenix, the Wizards joined only three other teams in NBA history to end two winning streaks of 12 or more games in the same season. Also, after starting the season 0-8 on the road, the Wizards became the first team in NBA history to win six of seven road games immediately following a streak of at least eight road losses to begin a season. Additionally, with a 13-game run in December in which Washington scored at least 106 points, the Wizards became to first team to score at least 106 points in 13 consecutive games since the 1994-95 Phoenix Suns. Arenas was named the East's Player of the Week twice in December. NBAE/Getty Images -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arenas meanwhile, averaged 34.1 points and 6.2 assists per game in December, connected on 59-of-145 three-point field goals (.407), scored 30+ points 11 times and 40+ three times, recorded a double-double, and won two Player of the Week Awards. Arenas? highlights included a 60-point night in his hometown of Los Angeles on December 17th that established a new career-high, all-time franchise record, and NBA season-high for points scored in a game; an all-time NBA record for points scored in an overtime session with 16 in overtime at Los Angeles; and a new US Airways Center single-game scoring record established when he finished with 54 points at Phoenix on December 22nd. Arenas becomes just the third player to win Player of the Month honors in franchise history. Juwan Howard was the last to do so in April, 1996, and was preceded by Jeff Ruland in March and December of 1983. Prior to Jordan, the last Wizards Head Coach to be named Coach of the Month was Doug Collins in December, 2001.</div>It was definitely thier month. Congrats to EJ and GA.
My god, this is the greatest turn around month for any wizards team ever. At the end of november we were fu*kin 4-9 second to last in our division, now we're leading our division. I'm crying tears of joy.
EJ for coach of December? I guess they base it on the record they had during the month nowadays.. Congrats Gil, and EJ I guess.. lol.
I didn't really expect EJ to become coach of the month. He's had some bad coaching last month. (Especially making Jarvis a starter last saturday...) Gil's really the main reason why we have a better record. Once again, he saved EJ's behind.
Maybe Scott Skiles should've won the Coach of the Month.. his Bulls went 14-3 but they had a much easier schedule than us. We had to face the Lakers (road), Suns (road), Mavs (home), and Magic (home). All of which we won.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ultimate @ Jan 2 2007, 09:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I didn't really expect EJ to become coach of the month. He's had some bad coaching last month. (Especially making Jarvis a starter last saturday...) Gil's really the main reason why we have a better record. Once again, he saved EJ's behind.</div>You have to applaud Eddie Jordan how he has controlled the lineup with the center spots being thin with Haywood, Thomas, Ruffin, and Songalia out and basically going with a 6-7 man rotation on most nights.
