It took a few months, but the faith the Boston Celtics placed in head coach Ime Udoka looks like it's finally paying off.
The Celtics improved to 10-1 in their last 11 games Thursday night by handling the Brooklyn Nets 129-106 at the Barclays Center. They boast the NBA's best defense (by a wide margin) since Jan. 1 and the best scoring differential (+5.7) in the Eastern Conference this season.
While it hasn't played the most challenging schedule of late, Udoka's squad has looked like one of the NBA's best teams over the past month-plus and could be a legitimate playoff contender if its core group can stay healthy.
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That's an impressive achievement for a first-year head coach: Of the eight new coaches in the NBA this season, only Udoka (35-26) and the Dallas Mavericks' Jason Kidd (35-24) have winning records. The other six are all among the eight worst (by record) in the league.
Does that mean Udoka should be in the discussion for NBA Coach of the Year? Here are the current odds, per PointsBet:
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| Coach, Team | Odds |
| Monty Williams, Suns | -200 |
| J.B. Bickerstaff, Cavs | +325 |
| Erik Spoelstra, Heat | +700 |
| Taylor Jenkins, Grizzlies | +800 |
| Billy Donovan, Bulls | +1200 |
| Steve Kerr, Warriors | +1400 |
| Ime Udoka, Celtics | +4000 |
| Doc Rivers, 76ers | +6000 |
Let's be honest: Udoka isn't winning this award. The Phoenix Suns boast the NBA's best record under heavy favorite Monty Williams, while there are strong cases for both J.B. Bickerstaff and Taylor Jenkins, who have transformed Cleveland and Memphis into contenders.
But it's nonetheless impressive that Udoka has the seventh-best odds on this list, and we should note he's the only first-year head coach in the group.
Udoka was adamant about building a strong defensive identity in Boston, and he deserves a lot of credit for getting the Celtics' "core" of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Robert Williams -- as well as veteran Al Horford -- to buy in.
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"Just real impressed with our group and like coach said, the focus," Horford said after Thursday's win. "That’s one of the things he talked about and he emphasized for us and I think it all started with that practice (Wednesday). I felt like we had a really good practice and we were all really engaged, committed in what we needed to do."
It's hard to see Udoka overtaking anyone ahead of him on the odds list. More important for Celtics fans, though, is that Brad Stevens appears to have found a very good replacement who is helping this team unlock its full potential.