05/27/2006
College Stuff
Making his fifth consecutive appearance on the All-Defensive First Team is four-time Defensive Player of the Year, Ben Wallace. Wallace is joined by leading vote-getter Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs, named to the All-Defensive Team for the sixth consecutive season.
Also selected to the First Team are 2003-04 Defensive Player of the Year Ron Artest of the Sacramento Kings, who was named to the All-Defensive Team for the second time. Tying in votes received and rounding out the First Team are guards Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets, receiving their sixth and seventh All-Defensive honors, respectively.
Kirilenko tallied an NBA-best 220 blocks this season and finished second in blocks per game (3.2). Wallace was the only player in the league to finish in the Top 10 in rebounding (11.3 rpg, fourth), blocks (2.2 bpg, ninth) and steals (1.8 spg, 10th). Usually assigned to the opposing team’s biggest offensive threat, Bowen’s stellar one-on-one defense helped the Spurs hold opponents to 88.8 points per game, second in the league. Since joining the Kings on Jan. 25, Artest posted three or more steals in 14 outings and led the squad to a 25-14 run to capture their eighth straight playoff berth. Bryant ranked ninth in the NBA in steals with 1.8 per game, while Kidd finished eighth with 1.9 steals per game while averaging 7.3 rebounds.
The NBA All-Defensive Second Team consists of Denver’s Marcus Camby, Detroit’s Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince, Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett and San Antonio’s Tim Duncan.
The voting panel consisted of the NBA’s 30 head coaches, who were asked to select NBA All-Defensive First and Second Teams by position. Coaches were not permitted to vote for players from their own team. Two points were awarded for a First Team vote and one point was awarded for a Second Team vote.
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