NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls and LeBron James of the Miami Heat, winner of the two previous MVP awards, were selected for this season’s All-NBA team, the league said yesterday.
Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder joined Rose and James on the first team.
Rose, who led the Bulls to an NBA-best record of 62-20, earned first team honours for the first time. He became only the seventh player ever to average at least 25 points, 7.5 assists and 4 rebounds in a season.
James earned first team honors for the fourth consecutive season and fifth overall. The Heat forward was second in the NBA in scoring, with 26.7 points per game, and recorded a team-high seven assists per game.
Howard, the league’s defensive player of the year for a record third straight time, also won All-NBA first team honors for a fourth consecutive season. The Magic center led the league with 66 double-doubles and ranked second in rebounds.
Guard Bryant was chosen for the sixth consecutive season and ninth time in his career while forward Durant, who led the league in scoring with a 27.7 average, gained the honour for a second time.
The second team consisted of Miami’s Dwyane Wade, Oklahoma’s Russell Westbrook, Lakers’ Pau Gasol, Dallas’s Dirk Nowitzki and Amar’e Stoudemire of the New York Knicks.
Third team members were San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili, Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge, Atlanta’s Al Horford, Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets and Zach Randolph of the Memphis Grizzlies.
The teams were selected by a panel of 119 journalists in the United States and Canada.
