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Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff finishes fifth in Coach of the Year voting

Phoenix’s Monty Williams ultimately won the award.

Cleveland Cavaliers v Brooklyn Nets - Play-In Tournament Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff didn’t ultimately win the award — that honor went to Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams — but did finish fifth in the final voting for Coach of the Year.

Bickerstaff finished fifth with 28 points via four second-place votes and 16 third-place votes; he received no first place votes. Rounding out the top-five are Memphis’ Taylor Jenkins in second, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra in third and Boston’s Ime Udoka in fourth.

Here’s the full voting tally via the NBA:

Under Bickerstaff’s guidance, the Cavs finished 44-38, good for eighth in the Eastern Conference prior to the play-in tournament and a 22-win improvement over the previous season. Cleveland had the league’s 13th-best net rating with the league’s seventh-best defense and 20th-ranked offense, per basketball-reference.

The last Cavaliers head coach to win Coach of the Year was Mike Brown back in the 2008-09 season.