Boston Celtics' Garnett wins the NBA's Defensive Player of Year

Kevin Garnett beat out Denver's Marcus Camby and Houston's Shane Battier for NBA's top defensive player.

Kevin Garnett led the Boston Celtics with 9.2 rebounds per game and added 18.8 points, 1.2 blocks and 1.4 steals. He received 493 points, including 90 first-place votes. Camby, who won the award last season, finished 2nd with 178 points and Battier had 175 points.

As part of its support of the Defensive Player of the Year Award, Kia Motors plans to donate a new 2009 Kia Borrego 7 passenger SUV on behalf of Garnett to Boston Centers for Youth and Families. Kia Motors will present a Borrego to the charity of choice of each of the 4 year end award winners in 2008.

Garnett helped the Celtics to achieve records of 66-16 (.805) overall and 31-10 (.738) on the road. The team held opponents to just 90.3 points after allowing 99.2 points per game last season. Garnett led the Celtics to the biggest turnaround in NBA history when they won 42 more games this year than in 2006-07, surpassing the previous record of 36 games, set by the San Antonio Spurs in the 1997-98 season.

The 2007-08 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award presented by Kia Motors is part of a series of on-court performance awards called “The NBA Performance Awards Presented by Kia Motors.” The awards are part of a multi-year marketing partnership betwee
Kia Motors and the NBA. They also include the Most Valuable Player, 6th Man Award and Most Improved Player as well as the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month.

Garnett's season was dominant in terms of the way he impacted his team. He brought a toughness and intensity that was contagious. He never let his team slack on the defensive end of the floor. The Boston Celtics ended with the league's best record, led the league in opponent's field goal percentage allowed and were 2nd in points allowed per game. None of that would have happened without Garnett. nnnnn