A little over three weeks ago, ESPN's Marc Stein released his annual First Trimester Report. With a third of the NBA schedule gone by at the time, Stein took a look at the seven major NBA awards and gave his current winner for each. Among his choices was Kevin Garnett for Defensive Player of the First Trimester. 

Let's just say some fans (Orlando Magic followers especially) weren't too happy with that choice, given that Stein snubbed Dwight Howard for the award .. a player many deemed to be more deserving of the honor than Garnett. Despite the fact the Boston Celtics got off to such a historic start (27-2) to begin the season, many felt that Garnett had the benefit of being surrounded with more competent defensive players than Dwight Howard. On the other hand .. and no offense intended to the Magic players .. it was clear that Superman was a one-man wrecking crew defensively, leading the NBA in rebounds and blocked shots at that juncture, without much help from the rest of his teammates. 

Fast forward to now, and well .. things have certainly changed. The Celtics are currently in a tailspin (haven't you heard?), losing seven out of their last nine. As a result, Boston now sits at 29-9, 3rd in the East behind Cleveland & Orlando. Meanwhile, the Magic continue to hum along at 29-8 and have quietly jumped ahead of Boston (for the moment) to 2nd in the East. 

Given what has transpired the past few weeks for the Celtics, its fair to say that Garnett's bid to win DPOY has taken a hit. Boston still plays outstanding defense (2nd in defensive efficiency) but it's becoming increasingly difficult for one to deem Garnett more worthy of the individual honor than Howard. Although Dwight continues to lead the NBA in rebounds & blocks, those aren't the only stats that can be used to differentiate between the two superstars and determine who truly deserves the award. 

Want to see what those numbers are?

Click after the jump to see the results.

The fact that Superman leads the Association in boards and swats should be enough justification to hand him the DPOY award, but for those that still doubt he should get the honor, I present a quick statistical case that'll show that Howard is indeed the best defensive player in the league.

Defensive Rating:

Dwight Howard - 93.4 (1st)

Kevin Garnett - 95.3 (3rd)

Defensive Win Shares:

Dwight Howard - 3.4 (1st)

Kevin Garnett 2.9 (3rd)

Defensive Composite Score (as of 12/31):

Dwight Howard - 94.12% (20th)

Kevin Garnett - 97.83% (8th)

It's important to note that the DCS for both Dwight & KG haven't been updated in a few weeks, so it's quite possible that a new update of the rankings would see Dwight inch closer, if not past, Garnett in this particular statistic. 

So .. aside from the DCS, Howard rates better than Garnett in every defensive category. As stated before, if there is doubt that Dwight doesn't deserve to be the DPOY, the numbers shown above should put the argument to rest (for now).