As you no doubt heard a couple days ago, LeBron James of the Miami Heat won the “Maurice Podoloff Trophy” for NBA Most Valuable Player. So as the Chicago Bulls prepare to get swept by the Miami Heat (well, they might win one game in Chicago) they’ll face the back to back MVP.
Lebron James got his fourth MVP award in five seasons. The only other player to win four of five is Bill Russell (1961, 62, 63, 65), and the only other players to win at least four regular-season are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Michael Jordan (five), Russell (five) and Wilt Chamberlain (four).
Michael Jordan isn’t first in this category? What?
Lebron James got 120/121 votes. Rounding out the top five in voting are: Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul (289 points), and Kobe Bryant.
Lebron James led the Heat to a league-best and franchise-record 66-16, and non-stop coverage of SportsCenter. Even by ESPN standards, this year was obnoxious. He was the only NBA player to lead his team in scoring (26.8 ppg), rebounding (8.0 rpg) and assists (7.3 apg). He shot a career-high from the field (.565) and from three-point range (.406).
He produced a record streak of six straight games with at least 30 points and a .600-or-better field goal percentage. Additionally, James led the NBA score differential (+9.5) and player impact estimate (22.1 percent), according to NBA.com/Stats.
Lebron James scored 2,036 points, in the process becoming the youngest player in NBA history to post eight different 2,000-point seasons, and the youngest player to reach the 20,000-point plateau. Additionally, he became only the third player in NBA history to total…well whatever, you get the idea. He’s really good at basketball and stuff.
And the Chicago Bulls will not have an answer for him in this round. Game one is tonight at 6.
The NBA MVP trophy is named in honor of the late Maurice Podoloff, the first commissioner of the NBA.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker
Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks)