Atkinson, Bickerstaff and Udoka are the finalists for NBA coach of the year

Kenny Atkinson got Cleveland off to a 15-0 start to the season and led the Cavaliers to the best record in the Eastern Conference. J.B. Bickerstaff pulled Detroit from the basement to the playoffs. Ime Udoka guided Houston’s path to ending its five-year playoff drought.

All three did elite jobs this season.

And Monday, one of them will be the NBA’s coach of the year.

None of the three have won the award previously, but al have been legitimate candidates before. Bickerstaff has gotten votes now in each of the last four seasons, Udoka has gotten votes in all three of his seasons as a head coach and Atkinson finished fifth in the voting for the 2018-19 season.

No matter the order of finish — which will be revealed on a TNT broadcast shortly after 6:30 p.m. Eastern — it will be the best finishes ever in the voting for all three coaches. They’ll be 1-2-3 in some order; the NBA releases the three finalists ahead of time but does not disclose the winner of its major awards ahead of the broadcast announcement.

Atkinson and Bickerstaff both did this in Year 1 of their current stints. Atkinson led Cleveland to a 64-18 record and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference — doing so after Bickerstaff got fired following a run to the second round in Cleveland last season. Bickerstaff was then hired by Detroit and turned a 14-win team into a 44-win team that earned the East’s No. 6 seed.

Udoka led Houston a 52-30 mark and the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

The coach of the year award, like several other NBA honors, was voted on by a global panel of 100 writers and broadcasters who cover the league and cast ballots shortly after the end of the regular season.

The other awards that were part of that voting process and have already had their results unveiled: Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels winning most improved player, San Antonio’s Stephon Castle winning rookie of the year, Cleveland’s Evan Mobley winning defensive player of the year, New York’s Jalen Brunson winning clutch player of the year, and Boston’s Payton Pritchard winning sixth man of the year.

Other awards announced by the league since the end of the regular season: Golden State’s Stephen Curry won the Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year award, Warriors teammate Draymond Green won the hustle award and Boston’s Jrue Holiday won the sportsmanship award for the second time in his career. The executive of the year will be revealed Tuesday and the league’s social justice champion will be revealed Wednesday.

Major awards that will be announced later in the playoffs include MVP (either Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic or Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo), plus the All-NBA, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba