http://0rz.tw/af3YV WALTHAM, Mass. (AP)—When Kevin Garnett starts screaming, the Celtics’ defense stops struggling. For all his assets—athleticism, intensity, intelligence—it’s the ability to communicate with teammates that he considers the key to Boston’s skill at shutting down opponents. “I talk. I understand how defense works,” he said after being selected the NBA defensive player of the year Tuesday. “Communication’s probably the biggest thing when it comes to defense.” An outstanding defender throughout his previous 12 seasons, all with Minnesota, Garnett won the league award for the first time by a wide margin one day before Boston takes a 1-0 lead into Game 2 of the first-round series against Atlanta. He had 90 of the 124 first-place votes and a total of 493 points. Marcus Camby of Denver, last year’s winner, was second with 12 first and 178 points, just edging Shane Battier of Houston, who received 11 first-place votes and 175 points. ADVERTISEMENT “Any award you’re able to acquire in this league is a big deal,” said Garnett, who would much prefer his first NBA championship. “At the end of the day, it’s about winning.” The 6-foot-11, long-armed forward is the major factor behind the Celtics’ climb from a mediocre defensive team to perhaps the best in the league. They held opponents to an NBA-low 41.9 field goal percentage after allowing them to hit 46.8 percent of their shots last season. And they allowed just 90.3 points per game, second-fewest in the league, after giving up 99.2 last year. No surprise, then, that Boston improved from 24-58 last season to 66-16, the NBA’s best record, after trading for Garnett last summer. “He’s changed our culture defensively,” coach Doc Rivers said. “That’s the most important thing, just the team part of it. Individually, he’s been fantastic, but I think his presence for the team is what stood out.” Paul Pierce was surprised that Garnett hadn’t won the award before. “He’s been the class of the NBA defensively for a long time now,” Pierce said. “He just anchors our defense. He controls the paint, blocks shots, a lot of things that don’t show up in the stat sheet, with his talking.” Center Kendrick Perkins is having the best of his five seasons with Boston and credits some of that to Garnett. “You never know how valuable he is until you’ve played with him,” Perkins said. “He controls the whole court. He’s the only player besides Kobe Bryant that I’ve seen control the whole court.” Garnett is able to recognize early what opponents are doing and tell his teammates. He guides them to the right spots. Team defense, he said, is the key to stopping teams. No surprise, then, that Garnett credits his teammates with making his award possible. He spoke up after practice Tuesday to tell them that. “I got my teammates and my coaches together and said that when a team does well you can really pick anybody on this team” for the award, Garnett said. “Defense is not a one-man thing. It’s totally a team effort.” He averaged 1.2 blocks, 1.4 steals and 7.3 defensive rebounds to go with 18.8 points and 9.2 total rebounds per game. In this Feb. 19, 2008 file pho… AP - Apr 22, 1:41 pm EDT His decibel level was high, too. “You have to be able to talk, understand what’s about to happen and then, obviously, speak on it,” he said, “and talk loudly because sometimes you’ re on the road and you’re dealing with (noisy) crowds.” The crowd will be very noisy Wednesday night, but it will be rooting for the Celtics against the Hawks in the best-of-seven series between the top and bottom seeds in the Eastern Conference. The defense excelled in Sunday night’s opener, a 104-81 win in which Boston held Atlanta to 38.2 percent shooting. “You should see him in shootaround” before a game, Perkins said. “We’re going over the other team’s plays. He’s very focused and he wants everybody else to lock in. Team defense is key. … He gives us our whole swagger as far as how we’re the bad guys. We chose to be the bad guys of the league right now.” And if some Celtics don’t believe it, they’re sure to hear it from Garnett. “Doc always says I’m the talkative one out of the group. I beg to differ. I debate strongly,” he said, before admitting the obvious. “I’m just so happy to be the one that speaks louder than all those guys. “You could have pretty much gone through our whole roster and picked out a (solid) defensive guy,” Garnett said. “That’s what we are. That’s our identity -- 編號 看 板 類別 轉信 中 文 敘 述 人氣 板 主 1 RSSH93_305 瑞祥 ●大家好,我是F4的宅宅! funkyure/nogoo 2 ˇjoke 娛樂 ◎ ＝ 一券在手，失望無窮 ＝ HOTArmour/分隔線 3 ˇsex 男女 ◎機會就像老二一樣，緊握就會變大ꐠ 爆!WoonWoon/副長 4 ˇBeauty 聊天 ◎ ★ 發文請先參閱置底文 ★ 爆!highlight/FoxT ● 5 Timberwolves 球隊 ◎勇哉 nogoodlaugh 愛KG 愛21 18 jinshenn/tiber --

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