Artest Heads All-Defensive Team

Indiana Pacer forward Ron Artest made the NBA’s all-defensive first team for the first time in voting announced Monday.

Guards Kobe Bryant of the Lakers and Bruce Bowen of San Antonio, Detroit center Ben Wallace and Minnesota forward Kevin Garnett also were chosen.

Artest recently was the runaway choice for the defensive player of the year. He finished third in the league in steals (2.08 per game) and held the players he guarded to 8.1 points a game.

Wallace ranked second in rebounds (12.4) and blocked shots (3.04). He is a two-time defensive player of the year, and made the first team for the third season in a row.

Garnett was chosen for the fifth consecutive year, and Bryant made it for the third time. Bowen was picked for the second team last season.

The second team this season included San Antonio forward Tim Duncan, New Jersey guard Jason Kidd, Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko, Portland center Theo Ratliff and Sacramento guard Doug Christie.

The players were chosen by the NBA head coaches. The coaches could not vote for players on their teams.

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Interim Coach John Carroll was dismissed by the Boston Celtics after taking over a team in turmoil and guiding it to a brief playoff appearance.

“This is a time that we need to make a change,” said Danny Ainge, the Celtics’ executive director of basketball operations.

Boston was swept in the first round of the playoffs by Indiana. The Celtics were 14-22 under Carroll to finish the regular season 10 games below .500, but still earned the last playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Carroll was a longtime Celtic assistant who took over when Jim O’Brien resigned Jan. 26 over differences with Ainge.

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Minnesota forward Wally Szczerbiak is expected to be sidelined for at least the rest of the Timberwolves’ series against the Denver Nuggets after cracking three vertebrae in his back in a fall.

Szczerbiak was injured in the Nuggets’ Game 3 victory Saturday, when he was fouled from behind by Chris Andersen on an attempted dunk and landed on his back.