Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) for the 2020-21 season. It marked his third time receiving the honor in four years.

Only three other players in NBA history have won DPOY at least three times: Dikembe Mutombo (four), Ben Wallace (four) and Dwight Howard (three).

"It's unbelievable. When I started basketball as I kid, if somebody would have told me that I was going to be Defensive Player of the Year, I would have never believed them, let alone three times," said Gobert. "It's hard to put into words the things that you can achieve when you just enjoy what you do, first of all, and when you have a group of people that believes in you and you put the work in every single day. I try to write my own story, try to enjoy my own journey, but just being one of only four guys that have won the award that many times, it's just amazing."

Gobert won the award in 2018 and 2019 before his steak was interrupted by Giannis Antetokounmpo last year. He received 84 of 100 first-place votes this time, getting 464 points and beating Ben Simmons (287 points) of the Philadelphia 76ers and Draymond Green (76 points) of the Golden State Warriors.

"For me it's really been about getting better every single year and teams have been trying to negate my impact one way or another every single year," added the 28-year-old. "So I had to raise my level year after year and day after day to be able to try to keep dominating on that end."

The Jazz finished the regular season with a 52-20 record, the best in the league, and it had a lot to do with Gobert's defense. He has been an epic rim protector for several years, but the 2.16-meter-tall French giant is also an underestimated defender on perimeter players.

In Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Clippers, it did not take long for Paul George to find himself mismatched against Gobert on offense. One of the main reasons George scored 23.6 points per game while shooting 30.6 percent from downtown against the Mavericks was that he could bully his way into the paint for muscle points.

Gobert made him think again with a clean block. After that possession, George chose to fire from outside every time he met Gobert in a switch. In the last possession of the game, it was also Gobert who rushed outside and denied the last shot by Marcus Morris from the 3-point line, making sure the Jazz won in regulation.