Celtics forward Kevin Garnett became the first Boston player to be voted as the league's Defensive Player of the Year today.
Garnett earned 493 points (90 of 124 first place votes). Denver Nuggets center Marcus Camby finished second with 178 points, while Houston's Shane Battier finished in a close third with 175 points.
Garnett's defensive leadership helped the Celtics hold opponents to 90.3 points per game (second best in the NBA), after allowing 99.2 points per game last season, without Garnett. Garnett averaged 7.3 defensive rebounds per game, 1.2 blocks per game and 1.4 steals per game.
This season the Celtics had the biggest one-year turnaround in NBA history. Compiling a 66-16 record, the Celtics became only the 11th team in NBA history to conclude a season with at least 50 more wins than losses.
When Kevin came to the Celtics, I think all the Boston faithful felt something special in the air, just like he did when he walked into the Garden. With the new Big Three, the sky is the limit. This is the kind of season that Red needed to see firsthand. Now he has the best seat in the house.
Nothing is a gimme in the playoffs, and the C's will need to hang tough like they did all season to bring home that 17th banner. But we have faith.
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