D’Antoni named Coach of the Year

After unleashing the Phoenix Suns to a frenetic pace and guiding them to a league-best 62 wins, Mike D’Antoni is the NBA’s Coach of the Year, a league source said on Monday.

The outcome of the vote first was reported by the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Ariz., and was confirmed by a source speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The selection is to be announced at a news conference today, two days after Suns point guard Steve Nash was named the league’s most valuable player.

“Mike’s been unbelievable this year,” Nash said at the morning shoot-around prior to Monday night’s Game 1 against Dallas in the Western Conference semifinals. “He’s extremely bright and finds a terrific balance that’s so important in this league of holding guys accountable and at the same time giving guys the freedom to use their tools to help the team win.”

D’Antoni spent 20 years in Italy as a star point guard, then a highly successful coach. His first stint as an NBA head coach was with Denver, where he went 14-36 in the lockout-shortened 1999 season.

He was fired at the end of the season and general manager Dan Issel named himself coach. D’Antoni was a scout with San Antonio and an assistant to coach Mike Dunleavy in Portland before returning to Italy in 2001.

A year later, he was lured back to the NBA to become an assistant to Suns coach Frank Johnson. When Johnson was fired in December 2003, D’Antoni took over.

Van Gundy changes story

Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy backed off from comments that a referee told him Rockets center Yao Ming was being targeted by officials in the first round of the playoffs, the NBA said.

The league said in a statement that it considered the matter closed. Van Gundy was fined $100,000 – the largest ever for a coach – after saying a referee who was not working the playoffs told him that Yao was being targeted by officials following complaints by Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Houston’s first-round opponent.

“(Van Gundy) has also confirmed directly to an NBA representative that, during the Houston-Dallas playoff series, he did not have any communication with a referee (working or non-working) other than, of course, during an ongoing game,” NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said.