Rudy Gobert wins 3rd Defensive Player of the Year award in a landslide
Rudy Gobert was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday.
The Utah Jazz center beat out Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green in a landslide vote of media to win the award for the third time. Gobert earned 84 of 100 first-place votes, while second-place finisher Simmons garnered 15. Green was the third finalist without receiving a first-place vote.
This is the third NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for Rudy Gobert. He is the fourth player to win the award at least three times, joining Dikembe Mutombo (four), Ben Wallace (four) and Dwight Howard (three).
More ➡️ https://t.co/63VBakX4xU
Full voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Cmv6yR3SnC— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) June 10, 2021
Gobert averaged 14.3 points, 13.5 rebounds and 2.7 blocks this season as the Jazz ranked fourth in the league in defensive efficiency and posted the NBA's best record. Appropriately, Gobert put his defensive value on full display Tuesday night with a game-sealing block of a Marcus Morris 3-pointer in the final seconds of Utah's 112-109 Game 1 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Gobert's teammates surprised him with the trophy in the locker room Wednesday during Utah's off day.
The @utahjazz surprised @rudygobert27 with the #KiaDPOY trophy 👏 pic.twitter.com/8vqCCESVUV
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 10, 2021
Gobert previously won Defensive Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019.
As of Wednesday evening, Gobert's Jazz were a -225 betting favorite to win their series with the Clippers and advance to the Western Conference finals.
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