Thunder coach Brooks honored by NBA

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Xinhua) -- National Basketball Association named Oklahoma City Thunder's Scott Brooks as the Coach of the Year on Wednesday.

Brooks, who engineered the league's best turnaround with the NBA's youngest roster, received 71 of 123 first-place votes and 480 points to finish ahead of Milwaukee's Scott Skiles and Portland's Nate McMillan.

The Thunder won 50 and lost 32 games and earned the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs, with 27 more victories this season than they did a year ago.

The improvement came without a significant free agent signing, but primarily with the same group of players as last season plus rookies James Harden, Serge Ibaka and Eric Maynor.

Brooks and the Thunder now face another daunting turnaround as they trail 2-0 in their best-of-seven series against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. Game 3 is Thursday night in Oklahoma City.