Gasol credits teamwork for their no-nonsense defense

The Memphis Grizzlies are known to be defensive minded and Marc Gasol typifies this style.

Gasol won his first NBA Defensive Player of the Year award on Wednesday simply because he plays great defense just what they do in the team.

He said that he believes the entire team has been recognized for how the Grizzlies play defense, crediting guards Tony Allen and Mike Conley for having a big share of the award with him.

”It’s a team game, and there’s no way around it. That’s how we play basketball,” the 28-year-old Gasol said. ”We play as a unit, and defensively, you need five guys to play. One of us is not playing defense, we cannot do it. We play as a team. It actually feels much better when we do it like that. You create something bigger than yourself. It’s not just about you.”

The Grizzlies are currently trailing the Los Angeles Clippers 0-2 in their NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs series.

Gasol, younger brother of LA Lakers power forward Pau,  anchored that defense, and he received 212 points and 30 first-place votes to edge Miami’s LeBron James, who had 149 points and 18 first-place votes. Gasol appeared on only 60 of the 121 ballots cast, with James on 47 ballots despite his 129 steals and 67 blocked shots.

The 7-foot-1, five-year veteran Spaniard became the first European to win the award, though just the latest big man following Tyson Chandler of New York last year and Dwight Howard three straight seasons before that. Gasol called being the first European to win this award an honor.

”Now I think my kids are going to believe me when I tell them I played in the NBA,” Gasol said, smiling.

Gasol averaged 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steals for a Memphis defense that allowed a league-best 88.7 points per game. He ranked 12th in the league in blocks.