"It's the honor in the league," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "Making all-NBA is the status of acceptance, the status of 'you've arrived,"' Karl said.

Billups became the sixth Nuggets player to make an all-NBA team, joining Anthony, David Thompson, Alex English, Fat Lever and Antonio McDyess, one of Billups' closest friends in Basketball.

On the all-NBA first team, Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki was joined by fellow forward LeBron James of Cleveland, guards Kobe Bryant of the Lakers and Dwyane Wade of Miami, and center Dwight Howard of Orlando.

The second team featured guards Brandon Roy of Portland and Chris Paul of New Orleans, the team Denver defeated in the first round. At center is Houston's Yao Ming, and the Spurs' Tim Duncan and the Celtics' Paul Pierce are the forwards.

The third team had center Shaquille O'Neal from the Suns, forward Pau Gasol from the Lakers and guard Tony Parker from the Spurs, joining Denver's Billups and Anthony.

"For Melo, this is a huge step," Karl said of the 24-year-old forward. "And I think he understands the reason he gets it is because the team finished in second place, 54 wins, and that's respected by the Basketball world, not stats of points or big games of individuality, but more of how do you make your team successful."

The all-NBA teams were chosen by a panel of 122 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada.

Kenyon miffed. In reference to Mark Cuban's apology via blog, Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin said Wednesday morning: "I don't think it was sincere, to be honest with you."

After Denver's Game 3 on Saturday, the Mavericks owner shouted a postgame insult at Martin's mother, Lydia Moore. Martin said he hoped to speak to Cuban face-to-face at Monday's Game 4, but Martin said he didn't cross paths with Cuban that night. After that game, Cuban released an apology on his blog.

"He let all the stuff stay up out there - he should have (apologized) before," Martin said. "It's a calculated decision on his part."

As for Anthony, whose fianc?e La La Vazquez was verbally attacked by Mavericks fans in Game 4, he said Wednesday, "I think what they did was inappropriate. She released a statement (on Tuesday) and did the right thing to tell her side of the story.

"Is it bothersome? Yeah, anything that has to do with your family, that's going to bother you, but my family's all right, Kenyon's family is OK."

Asked his thoughts about Cuban's blog apology to Martin, Anthony said: "Man-to- man, you should do things man-to-man. But he did it, it's over with, we have no choice (but) to accept his apology."

When a reporter said, "So you don't prefer blog-to-blog," Melo said with a smile, "No blog-to-blog, Twitter-to-Twitter. Face-to-face."

Footnotes. Karl injured his shoulder in a swimming pool this past weekend and will have it attended to soon. "It needs an MRI," Karl said. "I hate MRIs." ? Nuggets center Chris Andersen was the top-selling custom jersey on NBAStore.com for the month of April.

And since the beginning of April, Anthony jersey sales are up 30 percent and Billups jersey sales are up 28 percent at the NBA Store and

NBAStore.com combined.

Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com