Better defender: Kobe or Camby?

April 22nd, 2008, 3:28 pm · Post a Comment · posted by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COM

EL SEGUNDO — Kevin Garnett breezed to the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, getting 90 of 124 possible first-place votes. Kobe Bryant, who quietly would’ve loved to get this honor but faced a very uphill battle, did not get a single first-place vote.

The tally was announced Tuesday, and Bryant actually did reasonably well in finishing fifth overall. He got 10 seconds and 10 thirds and wound up behind only Garnett, Marcus Camby, Shane Battier and Bruce Bowen — four players with established defensive reputations. Bryant didn’t get anything but one third-place vote last season; he didn’t get any votes at all in either of the two years before that.

Camby had a few nice plays in Game 1 Sunday, but Denver’s strategy of using him as a frequent double-teamer on Bryant didn’t work at all. Pau Gasol will probably see a lot more of Camby in Game 2. My guess is that Denver will double-team Bryant more with other players, leaving guys like Vladimir Radmanovic and Derek Fisher to make jumpers and beat them … as happened three times in the regular season.

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