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LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was named this
season’s National Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player
on Tuesday, marking the first time the flamboyant playmaker has won
the award.
Bryant, who said he had given up hope of ever
winning the award, matched 1997 MVP Karl Malone of Utah with the
most years in the league before winning the award, each having
finally taken the honor in their 12th NBA campaign.
“I didn’t think this award would ever come
to me in my career,” Bryant said. “I had resigned myself that I
was never going to have it. I’m surprised and deeply honored to
have it, to be standing here as the MVP.”
Bryant was challenged for the honor by star
turns from some of the NBA’s top talents, including NBA scoring
champion LeBron James of Cleveland, New Orleans guard Chris Paul and
Kevin Garnett, who led Boston to the NBA’s best record.
“I don’t know anybody who deserves this
trophy more,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “I don’t know
anybody who has worked as hard as Kobe has.”
Bryant received 1,105 points, including 82
first-place votes, from a North American media panel with 10 points
for first, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth and
one for fifth-place votes.
Paul was second with 889 points, 28 from
first-place votes, with Garnett third on 670 points with 15
first-place votes, James fourth on 438 with one first-place vote and
Orlando’s Dwight Howard fifth on 60 points.
“This is a team award,” Bryant said. “I
couldn’t have won this without my teammates. If I could have won
it alone, I would have won it when I was scoring 40 [points a
game].”
Bryant, 29, joins three-time MVPs Magic Johnson
and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal as Laker MVPs.
-- AFP
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