Jazz centre Rudy Gobert collects 3rd NBA defensive player of the year award
Harden out for Game 3; Pacers fire Bjorkgren; Heat's Riley fined for LeBron remarks
Utah's Rudy Gobert won his third Defensive Player of the Year award Wednesday after helping the Utah Jazz to the best record in the NBA.
Gobert had the most total blocked shots and defensive rebounds in the league this season and became the fourth player to win the award at least three times.
A night after a game-sealing blocked shot in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, Gobert received 84 first-place votes and 464 points from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters.
Gobert was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019. Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace each won it four times and Dwight Howard three.
With Gobert in the middle, the Jazz went 52-20 and earned the overall No. 1 seed for the first time. They limited teams to 44.7% shooting, second-lowest in the league.
Miami's Bam Adebayo earned the other first-place vote and finished fourth. Giannis Antetokounmpo rounded out the top five.
Antetokounmpo ended Gobert's reign last year during a disappointing finish to the season for the native of France. Gobert's positive test for the coronavirus triggered the NBA's shutdown in March, and after play resumed the Jazz blew a 3-1 lead in the first round against Denver.
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But the Jazz powered through this season and took Game 1 in the second round against the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday when Gobert blocked Marcus Morris' 3-point attempt to preserve a 112-109 victory.
Gobert's third Defensive Player of the Year award broke a tie for the team record with Mark Eaton, who died last month at 64.
He averaged 14.3 points and 13.5 rebounds, tying a career high, in 71 games. His 2.7 blocks per game ranked second in the league.
Harden out
Brooklyn's James Harden will miss Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals because of the right hamstring injury that forced him out of the series opener.
Harden left 43 seconds into that game with tightness but the Nets haven't missed him, taking a 2-0 lead over the Bucks. Game 3 is Thursday in Milwaukee.
Harden missed 20 of 21 games late in the season because of the hamstring.
Coach Steve Nash said Harden is progressing and he was optimistic for the All-Star guard's return, but gave no timetable for that.
Nets forward Jeff Green also will miss at least one more game with a left plantar fascia strain. He was been out since Game 3 of the first round and is progressing but still not practicing.
Heat's Riley fined $25,000 US for remarks about a LeBron return
Miami Heat President Pat Riley was fined $25,000 US by the NBA for being too clear that he'd eagerly welcome a reunion with LeBron James.
The league said Riley violated its anti-tampering rule with his remarks during an interview Friday on Dan Le Batard's radio show.
Riley said he would "leave the key under the doormat" if James called and said he wanted to return to Miami. James led the Heat to two NBA titles and four straight appearances in the finals before returning to Cleveland in 2014.
Riley is the second executive to be fined in three days for tampering. The NBA penalized Philadelphia's Daryl Morey and the team $75,000 apiece on Monday for a tweet about Stephen Curry.
Pacers fire Bjorkgren as coach after just 1 season
The Indiana Pacers fired Nate Bjorkgren after missing the playoffs in his only season as coach.
The Pacers went 34-38 and their season ended with a 142-115 loss to Washington in the play-in tournament that ended their run of five straight playoff appearances.
Team president Kevin Pritchard chose afterward to take some time to evaluate the coaching position.
"The 2020-21 season was not what any of us hoped or anticipated it would be, and our results on the court certainly did not meet the standards for what our organization and our fans have come to expect," he said in a statement.
Pritchard added that the Pacers would move quickly to identify candidates to replace Bjorkgren but had no timetable for a hire.
Bjorkgren was previously an assistant in Toronto and Phoenix, but his move to the top spot was a rocky one, with both he and Pritchard acknowledging difficulties managing the players.
