Notebook | Kobe Bryant leads All-NBA picks

NEW YORK — Kobe Bryant added another honor Thursday to go with his MVP award, becoming the only unanimous selection to the All-NBA team.

The Lakers star was voted to the first team for the third straight season and sixth time in his career. Joining him were New Orleans' Chris Paul, who was three votes shy of being a unanimous pick; Boston's Kevin Garnett; Cleveland's LeBron James; and Orlando's Dwight Howard.

Voting was done by a panel of 127 sports writers and broadcasters, with points being awarded on a 5-3-1 basis.

Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash of Phoenix were second-teamers, along with San Antonio's Tim Duncan, Utah's Deron Williams and Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki.

The third team consisted of Houston's Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, Utah's Carlos Boozer, Boston's Paul Pierce and the Spurs' Manu Ginobili.

Notes

• G Chauncey Billups (hamstring) said he was still sore, a night after he was forced to leave the Pistons' loss to Orlando in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, and wasn't sure if he would be ready to play in Game 4 on Saturday.

• Utah owner Larry Miller, a member of the Mormon church, says he won't attend Game 4 of the West semifinals because it is on a Sunday.

• Milwaukee PG Mo Williams had surgery to repair ligament damage in his right thumb and is expected to be ready for training camp in October.

• New Jersey promoted Kiki Vandeweghe to general manager, less than six months after being hired as a special assistant to president Rod Thorn.

• NBA stars Fabricio Oberto, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino, Andres Nocioni and Ginobili were selected for a preliminary 10-man roster to defend Argentina's basketball gold at the Beijing Olympics.

• A man who accused Richard Jefferson of grabbing him by the throat in an incident in a Minneapolis club this year had too much to drink, the New Jersey forward said in a radio interview.

Jefferson was charged with assault on Wednesday for the Jan. 27 incident when the Nets were in Minneapolis to play the Timberwolves.

"I've never been involved in an incident in my life," he said. "But some drunk individual wants to come up and, you know, then, of course, when they start telling their side of the story we're the big bad athletes that think they can get away with everything and then they're some innocent individual that has never made a mistake in their life."

• Lines were so long at some of the 86 Cleveland-area Papa John's stores offering a large, one-topping pizza for 23 cents that police stood nearby to keep people calm. The company agreed to the offer after a franchisee in Washington, D.C., made T-shirts calling LeBron James a "crybaby." The shirts referred to James' complaints about hard fouls during a playoff series against Washington. The 23-cent price is a homage to James' jersey number.

"It's a recession busting offer, and we certainly hope we have made it up to Cleveland," said company vice president Tim North.