Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks has won the 2012 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, according to league sources. Hard to argue with the job he's done as, really, the lone front-court defender on the Knicks -- a team not known for its defensive prowess over the last few years.

Unfortunately for our Tony Allen, though, he did not finish in the Top 5. After Chandler were Serge Ibaka, Dwight Howard, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett. Of course if I had a vote, Allen would have finished in the Top 3, ahead of Dwight, but then again, I'm a Grizzlies blogger. But, to be fair, there is no denying just how great of a defender Allen is. At the same time, you really can make the case for any of the five players who finished ahead of him in the final tally. I've yet to see the official voting, so I don't know where Allen finished, but if it is 6th behind the aforementioned five, I really won't be all that upset.

In the end, these awards are a nice way to recognize play and effort, but you and I both know that Allen would give up the DPOY award any day for a chance to lead his team to the NBA Finals -- the two obviously don't go hand-in-hand, but you know right now he's not worried about not winning the award and is 100 percent focused on on winning tonight's game against the Clippers.

Congratulations to Chandler, it's good to know we won't have to face him int he playoffs this year -- save for, of course, a Grizzlies-Knicks finals matchup.