Spurs forward Bruce Bowen, runner-up in voting for Defensive Player of the Year the previous two seasons, finished fourth for this season's award.

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Boston's Kevin Garnett was this season's winner, announced Tuesday. Denver center Marcus Camby, who beat out Bowen last season, was the runner-up, while Houston's Shane Battier finished third.

Bowen said he was happy to see the winner come from the Celtics, a team that led the league in defensive field goal percentage and team point differential. Garnett, he said, deserved recognition for his own defensive prowess and his ability to instill a defensive mind-set in his teammates.

“It wasn't a surprise that it went to a big man,” Bowen said. “Except for the year (Ron) Artest won, it has gone to a big man most of the time.”

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said the fact Bowen went from second to fourth in the voting didn't reflect a drop-off in his defensive skill.

“There's no second, third, fourth, fifth,” Popovich said. “There‘s the guy who wins it and everybody else. There's a whole bunch of good defenders, and he's one of them. He's important to us, and that's what's meaningful to me.”

Tim Duncan was ninth in voting by a 124-member media panel.

Suns guard Raja Bell finished in a three-way tie for 13th.

Politics in play: Popovich spent part of his pregame time watching election returns from the Pennsylvania Democratic primary election.

Popovich's response to Shaquille O'Neal's post-Game 1 complaints about the Spurs being “floppers” was to compare such talk to diversionary tactics in the political arena, saying he would rather talk about real issues, such as universal health care.

Suns point guard Steve Nash, a Canadian, knows universal health care and likes it.

“I think it's fantastic,” he said. “No one is left behind, unless you need an MRI for a Suns-Spurs game. That might take you six months. Other than that, we're good.”

Recycler: Nash, the two-time Most Valuable Player, released a commercial Tuesday, which was Earth Day, promoting his new Nike sneaker, the “Nike Trash Talk,” which is made of recycled materials.

Nash's production company, Meathawk, produced the spot, which features Nash as the “$60 million man” and plays on his numerous on-court collisions.

“I'm the first athlete ever to wear a recycled high-performance shoe,” Nash said, “and since today is Earth Day, I created a viral commercial for the shoe. Filmmaking, obviously, with my production company, is a passion of mine, and the environment is a passion of mine, too. To put the two together is a lot of fun.”