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2021-22 NBA All-Defensive Teams: See Which 10 Players Made the Cut

These 10 players were recognized for their defensive prowess over the course of the 2021-22 NBA season

NBA All-Defensive Teams: Smart, Williams make the cut originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The NBA All-Defensive Teams are here.

The league on Friday announced the 10 players chosen for the first and second teams to recognize their defensive prowess throughout the 2021-22 campaign.

Here’s a full look at how the teams shaped up:

2021-22 NBA All-Defensive First Team:

  • Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics
  • Mikal Bridges, Phoenix Suns
  • Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
  • Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
  • Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies

2021-22 NBA All-Defensive Second Team:

As expected, Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart and Phoenix Suns wing Mikal Bridges headlined the first team after being the top-two candidates for the 2022 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, with Smart taking home the prize.

Smart received 99 first-team votes, just one short of a perfect score.

Forsberg: Smart has quieted his doubters as Celtics' true PG

Adebayo was just one point short of making the first team for the first time in his career. He had 57 first-team votes and 38 second-team votes for 152 total points.

Williams earned All-Defensive honors for the first time in his four-year career after averaging career highs in blocks (2.2) and steals (0.9) per game.

A total of six Celtics received at least one all-defense vote. Here is how the rest of the voting panned out:

The Celtics (Smart, Williams) and Bucks (Antetokounmpo, Holiday) each had two representatives from the list.

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