Finally, an MVP award for Kobe Bryant.
Regarded as the NBA's best player for several years but never its most valuable, Bryant earned the honor yesterday after leading the Los Angeles Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference.
"It's Hollywood, it's a movie script. The perfect ending would be for us to hold a championship trophy at the end of it," Bryant said.
The Lakers try to take a 2-0 lead against Utah in their conference semifinal tonight.
Bryant received 82 first-place votes and 1,100 points in the media vote. He was followed by New Orleans' Chris Paul (28 and 894), Boston's Kevin Garnett (15 and 670), and Cleveland's LeBron James (1 and 438).
Bryant averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.84 steals while playing all 82 games.
League: Refs erred
The NBA admitted Chauncey Billups's 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter of Monday night's Detroit-Orlando playoff game should not have counted, but said referees weren't allowed to review instant replays.League president Joel Litvin also said the disputed shot, which gave Detroit a 78-76 lead in its 100-93 victory, could not have been replayed after the clock malfunction was discovered.
Billups was dribbling upcourt when the clock froze at 4.8 seconds. Referees then had to estimate how long the play took.
The NBA said the timekeeper was from a neutral city, and that the league's Competition Committee soon is scheduled to discuss possible expanded use of instant replay and will raise the use of it in a situation like Monday night's.
Spurs in a hole
The defending NBA champion Spurs are trailing, 2 games to none, against the Hornets and searching for answers before tomorrow's Game 3."It's always a worry when you're down two, no matter what it is," Tim Duncan said after Monday's Game 2 blowout loss. "Obviously the goal is to get four games and they're a lot closer than we are."
