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Article: Wallace worms to the top: Big Ben fulfilled a Pistons legacy in joining Dennis Rodman as our only three-straight honorees.(2003-04 Defender of the Year: Ben Wallace)
- Article from:
- Basketball Digest
- Article date:
- July 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Century Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE NBA MAY HAVE ENDED BEN Wallace's two-year stranglehold as the league's top defender by naming suffocator Ron Attest as its Best Defensive Player, but we aren't so easily fooled.
Neither is Wallace. "Congratulations to those guys," Wallace said after hearing of Artest's honor. "They put on a hell of a campaign. I would have voted for him, too, if it was about campaigning. But it's about the numbers, and the numbers don't lie."
Big Ben was referring to Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle's relentless campaigning--to the degree of calling voters on the telephone to state his case--to have his players honored at year's end.
But isn't Carlisle ...