<H1>Mavs' Nowitzki will receive MVP trophy next week</H1><!-- mojo //--><!-- end pagetitle --><!-- begin bylinebox -->
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<DIV class=bylinetext>By <STRONG>Marc
Stein</STRONG><BR><STRONG>ESPN.com</STRONG><BR></DIV><!-- begin presby2 -->
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<P>It appears that the worst-kept secret in the NBA will be out in the open by
early next week.
<P><!--------------------------START PLAYER CARD------------------>
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<TD class=whitelink colSpan=2><A
href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3252">Dirk
Nowitzki</A></TD></TR>
<TR class=evenrow align=right>
<TD align=left><IMG height=90
src="https://img1.daumcdn.net/relay/cafe/original/?fname=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.espn.go.com%2Fi%2Fnba%2Fprofiles%2Fplayers%2F65x90%2F3252.jpg" width=65
align=right border=0>Power Forward<BR>Dallas Mavericks<BR><BR><A
href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3252">Profile</A></TD></TR>
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<TD align=middle>
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<TD align=middle colSpan=6><FONT style="COLOR: white">2007 SEASON
STATISTICS</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR align=right>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">GM</TD>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">PPG</TD>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">RPG</TD>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">APG</TD>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">FG%</TD>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" width="17%">FT%</TD></TR>
<TR align=right bgColor=#bcbcb4>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">78</TD>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">24.6</TD>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">8.9</TD>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">3.4</TD>
<TD style="BACKGROUND: #999999">.502</TD>
<TD
style="BACKGROUND: #999999">.904</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!---------------------INLINE MINI-PLAYER CARD ENDS HERE---------------------></P>
<P><A href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=dal">Dallas
Mavericks</A> forward <A
href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3252">Dirk
Nowitzki</A>, whose coronation as the first European-born Most Valuable Player
in NBA history has been expected for weeks, is scheduled to officially receive
the MVP trophy at a Tuesday news conference in Dallas, ESPN.com has learned.
<P>The NBA has handed out its past three MVPs -- two straight to Phoenix's <A
href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3103">Steve Nash</A>
after Minnesota's <A
href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3007">Kevin
Garnett</A> won in 2004 -- at the start of the second round. But it's believed
the league opted to put some distance between Nowitzki's ceremony and the
Mavericks' stunning first-round exit against Golden State.
<P>By the time Nowitzki collects his award, nearly two weeks will have elapsed
since the 67-win Mavs became the just the third No. 1 seed in NBA history to
lose to a No. 8 seed. The previous two No. 1 seeds to lose so quickly, however,
suffered five-game exits as opposed to losing a seven-game series: Seattle in
1994 to Denver and Miami in 1999 to New York.
<P>Said Nowitzki, reached by phone Thursday night: "Nobody's told me anything.
You [media] guys have been talking about it for a while, so let's see what
happens.
<P>"[But] it's hard to even think about that stuff right now. Everything [from
the Golden State series] is still pretty fresh. It's been some tough days since
we lost.
<P>"I thought this was such an incredible year. We won 67 games and then to lose
in the first round, it just feels so empty right now."
<P>Asked to imagine what an MVP ceremony would be like after such a
disappointment, Nowitzki said: "If I do get it, it's an incredible honor. I'm
sure 20 years from now or whatever, to see that in the [record] books, it's an
amazing achievement. But right now, it's hard. Obviously, you can't feel good
about the way our season ended."
<P>Nowitzki averaged 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and a career-best 3.4 assists
during the regular season and was the only player in the league to shoot at
least 50 percent from the field (.502), 40 percent from 3-point range (.416) and
90 percent from the free-throw line (.904). His percentages in each of those
categories were career highs, helping Nowitzki secure his third successive berth
on the All-NBA first team, which was announced earlier Thursday.
<P>But it all changed in the playoffs against longtime mentor Don Nelson, who
crafted a defensive strategy -- which included constant double-teaming, largely
by fronting Nowitzki and then sending over help defenders on his catches -- that
the 7-footer and Mavs coach Avery Johnson never solved. Nowitzki scored just
eight points on 2-for-13 shooting in Dallas' Game 6 elimination and wound up
averaging a mere 19.7 points for the series on 38.3 percent shooting and just
21.1 percent on 3s.
<P>
<P>Complete ballot results remain unknown, but all indications point to Nowitzki
edging his close friend and two-time reigning MVP Nash for the award. In a
recent survey of MVP voters conducted by The Arizona Republic, in which the
Phoenix newspaper received responses from 96 of the 132 ballot-holders, Nowitzki
totaled 57 first-place votes to Nash's 37, with <A
href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3118"><FONT
color=#666666>Kobe Bryant</FONT></A> of the <A
href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=lal">Los Angeles Lakers</A>
receiving the other two.
<P>The German is poised to join Houston's Moses Malone (in 1979 and 1982) and
Baltimore's Wes Unseld (who was rookie of the year and MVP in 1969) as the only
MVPs in league history to lose in the first round of the playoffs. Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar was named MVP in 1976 in his first year in Los Angeles even though
his Lakers failed to reach the playoffs that season.
<P>Nowitzki said Thursday that he hasn't been watching much of the playoffs
since the Mavs' ouster and that he's still in the process of finalizing his
offseason plans, which are likely to include some travel to get a break from the
game before joining the German national team for one last run at qualifying for
the Olympics. Nowitzki has maintained for years that leading his country to an
Olympic berth is his "dream."
<P>In an interview before the playoffs, though, Nowitzki left little doubt that
he knew the consequences of another playoff setback, given the level of NBA
media coverage and dissection compared to Malone's era and Dallas' collapse last
June in the NBA Finals after taking a 2-0 lead over Miami.
<P>"I've said it a million times: We could go 82-0 and we know it means nothing
unless we win it all," Nowitzki said on the eve of the Golden State series. "I
know what's going on. If we lose [in the playoffs], you guys will say they can't
win the big games and they have no leadership."
<P>Yet, Mavericks management has stood staunchly behind its franchise player,
pointing out that the 28-year-old is only a year removed from dominating a Game
7 on the road in San Antonio and hanging 50 points on Phoenix in a
series-turning game in the conference finals.
<P>"Don't forget that we took away his point guard and his best friend [Nash]
and that we went to a totally different style of play [from Nellie to Avery],"
Mavs president of basketball operation Donnie Nelson said recently. "Every time
we throw something new at Dirk, he masters it."
<P>After the Mavericks cleaned out their lockers for the summer May 5, Nowitzki
told reporters: "I always take things very, very hard on myself. I don't need
media people to tell me that I did bad. I know I didn't play my best in the
playoffs.
<P>"I understand the business by now. If you play well and you win, you're the
greatest. And if you lose, you're the worst player in the league. [It's]
obviously not the position I want to be in, but it's nothing I can change now. I
believe that everything happens for a reason. Hopefully I can learn from this
experience."
<P><I>Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, <A
href="http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/mailbagESPN?event_id=3033">click
here</A>.</I></P><BR><!-- begin sponsored links --><!-- content story sport nba--></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV>
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3년 연속 외국인 엠비피라...농담으로 바클리 같은 고참은 군대 식으로 미국 후배들 줄빠따라도 때리고 싶을 듯...그 중에 첫빠따가 웨이드=> "나하고 친구 먹으면서 광고나 찍고 말이야...빠져 갖고...내가 너만할 때는 외국인 엠비피라는 단어는 리그 내 존재하지도 않았다, 짜샤"
대충 읽어보니 mvp를 받은 것에 대해 무한한 영광을 나타내고 시즌 중 기록한 67승에 자부심이 많군요.. 그리고 1라운드에 떨어진 것에 대해 아쉬움을 나타내는 군여. 자기 머리는 백지상태라고 물론 자신이 플옵에 부진했던 것은 인정하지만 최선의 플레이는 아니었다고 함니다. 그리고 이번 업셋이 중요한 경험이 될 거라 함니다.
첫댓글 ㅊㅋㅊㅋ 하지만...팀이...
안타깝다... 서부 FINAL에서 만나길 바랬는데...
3년 연속 외국인 엠비피라...농담으로 바클리 같은 고참은 군대 식으로 미국 후배들 줄빠따라도 때리고 싶을 듯...그 중에 첫빠따가 웨이드=> "나하고 친구 먹으면서 광고나 찍고 말이야...빠져 갖고...내가 너만할 때는 외국인 엠비피라는 단어는 리그 내 존재하지도 않았다, 짜샤"
노비츠키 드뎌 MVP를 타는군요.ㅊㅋㅊㅋ ..우리 캡틴 코비도 조만간 노려봤으면~ (그넘의 팀성적이 문제 ㅡ_ㅡ;;;)
대충 읽어보니 mvp를 받은 것에 대해 무한한 영광을 나타내고 시즌 중 기록한 67승에 자부심이 많군요.. 그리고 1라운드에 떨어진 것에 대해 아쉬움을 나타내는 군여. 자기 머리는 백지상태라고 물론 자신이 플옵에 부진했던 것은 인정하지만 최선의 플레이는 아니었다고 함니다. 그리고 이번 업셋이 중요한 경험이 될 거라 함니다.
ㅊㅋㅊㅋ...1라운드는 아무리 생각해도 아쉽네요..ㅜ.ㅠ
현 상태로는, 달갑지만은 않은 MVP겠네요. 어쨌든 ㅊㅋ
정말정말 축하합니다~~!!!! 지금 만감이 교차할것같은데.., 이걸 경험삼아 다음시즌 그리고 그 다음시즌 계속 더욱더 발전하는 선수가 되어줬으면 좋겠네요^^
정말 씁쓸하겠군요... MVP... 골스가 2라운드에서도 돌풍을 일으키면 그나마 위안이 되겠지만 현재 2패로 영... --ㅋ
"it just feels so empty right now." ............
뭐 기정사실화 됬었기 땜에 놀라운일은 아니지만 영광스런 수상 축하합니다. 그나저나 수상방식은 정말 DHL밖엔 없나요?
노비는 그나마 출장해서 뛰기라도 했지만, 댐피어는 거의 코트에 나와보지도 못했는데... 댈러스로서는 참 이래저래 안타까웠던 시간이었습니다.
내쉬가 받기를 원했는데... 어쨋든 노비츠키 축하~ ㅎㅎ
축하합니다~
자...이제 나의 관심은 누가 받느냐가 아닌 택배비의 착불여부
직거래일수도...ㄷㄷㄷ
"노비츠키, 트로피는 NBA사무국에서 받아가시기 바랍니다."
내년엔 더 잘하는 노비가 되세염
축하합니다~!! 안쓰럽긴 하지만 어쨌뜬 좋은 일이긴 하죠!! 내쉬형..ㅜㅡ 아쉬웠었요 ㅜㅜ
축하~~내년엔 파이널 MVP로...ㅋㅋ ㅡㅡ;;아니다..내년은 가넷이 다휩쓸길~~
동감~~ㅋ