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ANDREI KIRILENKO NAMED TO NBA ALL-DEFENSIVE FIRST TEAM
Andrei Kirilenko of the Utah Jazz made his third All-Defensive Team appearance the NBA announced today. Kirilenko was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2003-04 and 2004-05.
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.
More Jazz for rural Utah
Rural Utah Jazz fans who have been denied television broadcasts of some of the early-season games will be in basketball heaven from now on.
Fox Sports Network Utah (FSN Utah), the cable television network that broadcasts half of the Utah Jazz games, has decided to make all of the games it is contracted to broadcast available on television throughout the state and parts of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Nevada, not just within a 75-mile radius of Salt Lake City.
FSN Utah, which had been broadcasting 27 Jazz games a season, made a deal with the Jazz to add 13 more games for a total of 40 in a move that meant all 82 Jazz games would be televised this season for the first time. KJZZ Channel 14 and TNT agreed to broadcast the other 42 games.
But FSN's new deal for 13 games led to complaints from cable subscribers last month when Comcast, Utah's largest cable company, announced it would not carry those additional games because it didn't want to pay the added fee to broadcast them. Meanwhile, about a half-dozen smaller cable subscribers along the Wasatch Front and satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network elected to carry the games.
There was another rub, however. FSN Utah only offered those 13 extra games to cable and satellite viewers within a 75-mile radius of Salt Lake City, in part because it would have been more expensive for FSN Utah to broadcast them to the whole state.
So "hundreds of thousands" of TV
viewers in rural Utah were left out in the cold for the first five of these 13 games, said Shane Baggs, director of operations for Precis Communications, a cable company based in Price.
"It really caused my company a lot of embarrassment," Baggs said. "There was no information out there about why the rural areas were not carrying the games. It was very poorly planned. It was not fair to the Jazz fans."
This week, however, FSN Utah decided to eliminate the 75-mile blackout restriction, and cable subscribers all over the state will be able to carry the remaining eight of the 13 added games for free.
Sonics silence all that Jazz at Delta Center
It wasn't so long ago that Ray Allen confessed that the stress of producing big points every night was wearing him thin. The Sonics had been so dependent upon the scoring of Allen and Rashard Lewis that they had little chance of winning unless the dynamic duo was at their best.
Now all of that appears to be changing, evidenced by Seattle's most satisfying victory in the Delta Center, 106-90 over the Utah Jazz. Utah's arena had traditionally been a house of horrors for Seattle, with Allen still struggling to regain his shooting touch.
In the not so distant past, the Sonics would have lost or at least struggled to pull out a victory when Allen makes just 6 of 22 shots, including a woeful 2-for-11 performance from behind the three-point arc.
But the Sonics have matured to a point where they can survive an off night from their scoring leader and still steamroll Utah in victory that evened their record at 9-9.
"Anytime you can take pressure off your primary scorers, it makes the game easier," said Allen, who managed 19 points on Friday night, but eight came in the fourth quarter when the game was decided. "Through 82 nights, you need some heroics by your rebounders, like Reggie (Evans). Scoring-wise, we had other guys step up, especially Rashard."
The past week had been tumultuous for Lewis, who was charged on Monday for drunken driving, which stems from an incident on Oct. 1. He's avoided the media for days and still directs questions pertaining to his Dec. 19 arraignment to an attorney.
Still, it's obvious that Lewis carries burdens other than leading the Sonics. He said he prays every night and like most superstars, views the court as a sanctuary where he's able to momentarily lose himself within the games.
"I just try to keep everything normal," Lewis said. "Take it a day at a time and try not to let everything get to me or put too much on my mind because right now my main focus is my teammates and making sure we win ball games, and I can't let that interfere with my job."
In Tuesday's defeat to New York, Lewis scored 11 points before the half, but faded in the stretch and ended with 18.
Against Utah, he pounded the Jazz from start to finish and led Seattle with 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Lewis punished Utah forward Matt Harpring in the post on a series of baby hook shots and didn't cool down once reserve Andrei Kirilenko entered the game.
The Jazz's defensive stopper had tormented Lewis in the past, but was helpless to stop him from draining several three-pointers. It was Lewis' mid-range jumper with 6:40 remaining in the third quarter that began an 11-2 spurt, culminating in Seattle's 80-61 lead with 3:32 left.
Utah, which fell to 8-12, never seriously threatened again and trailed by as many as 24 points (99-75). Seattle overcame foul problems in the first half with a suffocating zone that held the Jazz to 43.8 percent shooting.
The Sonics also forced 18 turnovers, which led to 22 points. Lewis was instrumental in the defensive stand, collecting a career-high seven steals as Seattle played one of its best defensive game of the season.
"It's good for me to play basketball and get my mind off of things," Lewis said. "I pray every night. I know I made a mistake over what I did, but I can't kill myself over it. It's not the worst thing in the world. It's not affecting somebody else, it's something that happened. I got to look forward to this season and let it play out."
Luke Ridnour tied his season high with 16 points, and added seven assists and seven rebounds. Reggie Evans collected 18 rebounds, a high for a Sonics player this season, Vladimir Radmanovic added 17 points after scoring 23 on Tuesday, and Ronald Murray tossed in 12.
But the night belonged to Lewis, who stretched his string of scoring at least 21 points to nine games.
During the streak, he's dealt with every defense imaginable as well as the drunken-driving charge that smudged his once squeaky-clean image and threatens to undo his charitable work in the community.
"I worry about my image because that's the type of person I am," he said. "I owe a lot to the city of Seattle. I'm loyal to the fans, they give us a lot of respect so I want to say sorry to them.
"But at the same time, people know what type of person I am and what I do for the community. I hope a lot of people know that this is just something that happened. I got to move forward and be careful next time."
