Pacers' Granger voted most improved

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger was named the NBA's Most Improved Player on Tuesday after averaging a career-best 25.8 points a game this season.

Granger edged New Jersey Nets guard Devin Harris 364-339 in voting from a panel of 121 journalists.

Granger was selected to the All-Star team this year for the first time and improved his scoring average by at least five points in each of the past three seasons. He averaged 7.5 points as a rookie, then 13.9 in his second season and 19.6 in 2007-08.

Granger had the NBA's fifth-highest scoring average this season.

"I think in my fourth year, I just had the experience of playing a lot of minutes," he said. "I could read defenses a lot better. I could get my shot a lot easier than what I had in the past. I think I just thought my way through the game a little more than I had previously."

Granger also has been invited to participate in a USA Basketball training camp this summer, the first phase in selecting the squad for the 2012 Olympics in London.

Granger averaged 34.7 points and shot 49 percent over a six-game stretch against Western Conference teams that began Jan. 3.