The NBA announced today that Chicago Bulls Head Coach Scott Skiles was selected the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for games played in April.  This is the second time as head coach of the Bulls that Skiles has earned such recognition.  He also claimed the honors in January of 2005 after he led the Bulls to a 13-3 record.

Skiles and his staff guided the Bulls to an NBA-best record of 9-1 in April; the team concluded the year as the hottest group in the league, winning 12 of its final 14 games and closed out the campaign on a season-high six-game win streak.  For the month, Chicago went 6-0 in back-to-back games (vs. PHI and @IND, vs. NJ and @ATL, @MIA and @ORL) and limited their opponents to under 40.0% FG shooting in five games.

On April 16 at Miami, the Bulls erased a 15-point second-quarter lead and clinched a playoff spot for the second straight year by defeating the Heat 117-93.  Chicago followed that up the very next night at Orlando, and knocked off the Magic in overtime, 116-112.  The victory ended Orlando?s eight-game win streak, as well as the Magic?s 12-game win streak at home.  

For their encore performance, Chicago defeated the visiting Toronto Raptors last night at the United Center, 127-106.  The point total was a season high for Skiles? squad and the win moved the Bulls into seventh place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Chicago finished the season 41-41 and limited its foes to an NBA-best .426 field goal percentage.  Last year, the Bulls also held their opponents to an NBA-low .422 field goal percentage, marking the first a team led the league in that category two years in a row since the San Antonio Spurs did it in 1997-98 and 1998-99.