After finishing second and third in the MVP race for the past two years, Kobe Bryant finally won his first MVP trophy last Wednesday.
Kobe received 82 first place votes from sportswriters and broadcasters from the US and Canada for 1,105 points. Second in the voting was Chris Paul (889) of the New Orleans Hornets, while Kevin Garnett (670) of the Boston Celtics was third. The other vote getters were Lebron James (438) of Cleveland Cavaliers and Dwight Howard (60) of the Orlando Magic.
Interestingly, at about this time last year, Kobe wanted out of LA and said he couldn’t win a championship with the kind of teammates he had. Now he’s thanking his teammates and the organization for what he had accomplished.
Bryant, the shooting guard of the Los Angeles Lakers, is having a banner year. In the regular season, he averages 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.84 steals. His post-season numbers are even more impressive: 34.4 points, 5.40 rebounds and 6.4 assists, so far, going into the second round of the playoffs.
What makes Kobe’s scoring numbers more impressive is the fact that he hurt his right ring finger in February. The torn ligament needs surgery but Bryant postponed it until after the Beijing Olympics where he will suit up for the US team.
The past two years, Kobe was the NBA’s scoring champion. He entered the NBA in 1996 out of High School.
For the record, Kobe was selected 13th by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996, and then shipped him to Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Vlade Divac. The number one pick of that draft is no other than Allen Iverson (ROY 1996, MVP 2000). The others were Steve Nash (MVP 2004-05), Marcus Camby, Shareef Abdul-Raheem, Ray Allen, Antoine Walker, Jermaine O’Neal, Tony Delk, Pedrag Stojakovic, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, among many other notable names.
Let’s go back to Kobe.
Already he has won two NBA All-Star MVP awards and this regular season trophy is more than just another piece of hardware. There is more to it especially now that LA is back as a title contender after failing to advance into the second round of the playoffs the past few years.
Kobe is still itching to show detractors that he could win another NBA title. He would just be too happy to show Shaq he has one more championship ring than he does. This could the year.
The Lakers are on its way to win the Western Conference title. The Jazz won’t be much of a challenge for them. However, the Hornets are, with Chris Paul churning out some impressive numbers as well.
Let’s say they win the West, will they be able to go all the way and win the NBA title?
In my column some weeks ago, I wished it would be a Celtics versus Lakers finals this year. I can’t wait until that happens because it will be such a hell of a series.
If LA wins, I’ll I won’t be surprised if Kobe wins the finals MVP. Two MVP awards plus Olympic gold medal - what a collection! It’s Kobe time, no doubt about it.
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