The Boston Celtics arguably were the best defensive team in the NBA during the regular season.
As such, it should not come as any surprise at all that the C’s were well-represented in the 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Marcus Smart took home the honors Monday night, becoming the first guard to win the award in over two decades. Smart received 37 of the 100 first-place votes, along with 18 votes apiece for second and third place.
Only six other players received at least one first-place vote. One of them was Celtics big man Robert Williams III, who finished seventh in the voting. Two spots behind Williams on the leaderboard was fellow Boston big man Al Horford, who received one second-place vote.
The Celtics were the only team in the league to have three players receive voting points. The Milwaukee Bucks were the only other organization to have multiple players (Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday) represented in the tally.
Smart, Horford and company were defensively sound for much of Sunday in their Game 1 win over the Nets at TD Garden. The Celtics on Wednesday will try to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven set before the series shifts to Brooklyn.
