From the cheap seats

NBA MVP a two-horse race

Romer Bautista, staff

With all apologies to Kevin Garnett and the wonderful job he’s done in turning the Boston Celtics into legitimate championship contenders, the race for the 2007-08 NBA regular season MVP is down to just two players: Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant. Both players have strong arguments as to why they should be the MVP and, more importantly, both players have led their teams to the top of the Western Conference, where every game looks like an all-out war.

In Chris Paul, you have a player who this year is playing the point guard position, arguably the sport’s most important position, better than any point guard ever has. As the team’s undisputed leader, he has brought the Hornets to the top of the Western Conference standings, a spot that no one expected them to be before the season started. In doing so, he has helped forward David West turn into an all-star, helped centre Tyson Chandler reach the potential that made him the second overall pick in 2001, and revitalized the careers of Peja Stojakovic and Bonzi Wells.

The numbers don’t lie; CP3 is dominating on both ends of the floor. He is averaging 21.5 points, 11.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game. Compare that to best of the two MVP seasons put together by Steve Nash (2005-06) when Nash only averaged 18.8 points, 10.5 assists, and 4.2 rebounds and, not to mention, was a liability when the opposition had the ball.

But Paul’s most compelling reason for being named MVP might be the way that he has brought life and energy back in the city of New Orleans when it so desperately needed it. Paul has been a catalyst in helping the Big Easy recover from one of the worst natural disasters in recent memory.

Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant has simply played the best basketball of his career, despite the fact that he has been the best player in the association for the past three seasons. The reason why this year’s version of Kobe is so much better? That would be his commitment to team play. While his 28.6 points-per-game average is nowhere near his career best (35.6 in 2005-06), Bryant is averaging more assists and less field goal attempts per game than in any other season in the post-Shaq era.

What might not be shown in the stats, however, is Bryant’s team-first work ethic off the court as well. Long gone are the days of Bryant bashing teammates and the Lakers brass on grainy, cellphone-produced videos. Instead, Bryant has ceased the whining and kept his mouth shut to the media all season. His teammates have responded positively to their leader’s confidence in them. Paul Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom are each playing the best basketball of their careers, while the likes of Luke Walton, Ronnie Turiaf, Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic have become one of the NBA’s most potent benches.

The award will likely go to the player whose team ends up winning the Western Conference. While Paul’s Hornets have a 1.5 game lead at the moment, Bryant’s Lakers are finally getting healthy again and are back to their winning ways. Whomever the MVP goes to, all I can say is that it was one of the most impressive, entertaining MVP races of all time.