Detroit's Wallace repeats as NBA's top defender
Detroit Pistons' Ben Wallace blocks a shot by Orlando Magic Drew Gooden during the second half of game one of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan, on 20 April 2003. The Magic beat the Pistons 99-94. AFP Photo/Jeff KOWALSKY
NEW YORK (AFP) Detroit forward Ben Wallace was named the National Basketball Association Defensive Player of the Year here Wednesday for the second year running.
Wallace, the NBA's leading rebounder with 15.4 a game, became the sixth player to win the award in back-to-back years, joining Alonzo Mourning, Dennis Rodman, Sidney Moncrief and Africans Hakeem Olajuwon and Dikembe Mutombo.
The seventh-year NBA veteran was undrafted
out of unheralded Virginia Union University but his rebound average
was the best in a season by any NBA player since Rodman's 16.1
a game in 1996-1997.
Wallace also averaged 6.9 points, 1.42 steals and a league runner-up
3.15 blocked shots a game in 73 appearances, all starts, for the
Pistons.
Behind Wallace's efforts, the Pistons won 50 games and a second consecutive Central Division crown as well as claiming home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Wallace received 531 of a possible 585 points from a panel of North American sports journalists, including 100 of 117 possible first-place votes.
Indiana's Ron Artest was a distant second with 122 points, one point ahead of Minnesota's Kevin Garnett with San Antonio's Tim Duncan fourth at 90.
Wallace was the first Detroit player since Bob Lanier in 1974 to pull down 1,000 rebounds and block 200 shots in back-to-back seasons.
The Pistons kept rivals to a league-low 87.7 points a game, keeping clubs below 70 points five times.