MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The NBA announced the finalists for the 2022-23 Kia Performance Awards on Friday and a former Mountaineer made the list.

In his first year as the head coach of the Boston Celtics, Joe Mazzulla is one of three candidates for the Coach of the Year honor.

Sacramento’s Mike Brown and Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault are the other two finalists.

Mazzulla’s coaching career is off to a historic start in Boston. He started the year as the interim head coach before officially taking over the role and receiving a contract extension in February.

Last week, he guided his team to its 57th win, marking the second-most regular-season victories by a rookie head coach in Celtics history. Bill Russell racked up 60 wins during the 1966-67 season.

The Celtics finished second in the Eastern Conference standings at 57-25.

Mazzulla will make his first NBA postseason appearance as a head coach on this weekend as Boston hosts Atlanta in the playoffs. The best-of-seven first round will begin at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.