NBA Roundup

IF YOU THINK THE NBA MVP IS OUT WEST?  GUESS AGAIN
Freddy C. fastbreakblog

Shaquille O'Neal. Kareem. Magic Johnson. Larry Bird. Michael Jordan. The register of MVP hardware winners include only those who have taken their game and many times their team to the pinnacle. The holy grail of personal honors, earned through toil, consistency and leadership. This season, one will rise to accomplish what the rest of the NBA hungers for.

Those in line are eager. Stars who feel the time is theirs to shine brighter than their counterparts. LeBron James, long strides fitting his 6' 8" frame, has an early jump on the field. Carrying his team on his sculpted shoulders for yet another season.

Maturing into the team leader the Ohio faithful prayed for as he emerged, King James did, out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, Akron's pride and joy. What's that you say? Not LeBron's year? Fair enough. His time is coming. Heavy dose of competition for MVP, that's understood.

Then it's got to be The Big Ticket. Punched all the way to Boston by way of Minnesota, Celtics fans could not trust their Irish eyes when Boston papers screamed that Kevin Garnett would be donning green and white for probably the rest of his career. Big season for the big man so far. Best player on the best team in the league. Leadership plus.... Not happening for KG? Boy, who's having the year to beat out Garnett?

It's a skinny, white guard that will take home the prize? Oh, sure. Nash is a great choice. Little Stevie Wonder, the Phoenix floor General, his eye on a title, flashing assists and as unselfish as it gets. Not Nash either? The Arizona sun must be getting to your head, you say. The list for skinny white dudes as MVP begins and ends with Nash. If not Nash, then who?

Heading back east, our NBA MVP search finds us winding through Haymarket and the Freedom Trail, making our way to Boston Celtics' practice. Shootaround has begun as streaks of morning light slice along the beige court. Kevin Garnett notices that someone has entered the team's space. Bald head shooting up, Garnett is palming an orange and black Spalding with his gigantic right hand. Beads of moisture drip down to the shining strips of parquet from his chin like a New England Autumn drizzle.

He begins to slowly move in my direction, two or three steps maybe, then halting. His teammates have stopped their dribbling, their shooting, the chores of the morning. The team is staring intently at their new leader, who seems to have been there for years already.

Garnett stares for a moment, fire in his eyes, beads burning from deep within. He nods slightly, pivoting slowly back to his teammates. "Work to do", Garnett says to no one in particular, but everyone hears...and listens. The sound of Spaldings rapping against plank again begin to echo through the gym. Paul Pierce dribbles twice with his left hand, flicks the ball into the right, and drains a jumper from the key as I slowly move out of the room.

I make my way up the elevator to the team's Executive Offices. A beautiful red-head greets me at the front desk. Her curly mane streaks gently down to the middle of her back, her comely legs wrapped one over the other, clearly visible through the expensive glass desk. I tell her who I am here to see. She smiles knowingly and points with a well-manicured nail to the corner office, where he is awaiting my arrival.

Boston Celtics HQ. Moving through the pile, green carpet, I pass by the smaller, windowed offices by which the business of running an NBA team gets done. Finally, I reach his office. Standing there, bidding me a good morning, 6'4 and still close to his 175 pound playing weight, is the MVP of the NBA for not only this season, but maybe the next few as well. The memory of his .220 career batting average a shadowy memory of a previous sports life.

Once the forgotten man on a hall-of-fame starting five, the only way it was said that he would enter Springfield as a player is by reaching into his pocket, pulling out his wallet and shelling out the admission fee. Don't think Danny Ainge is still a player in the NBA?

It was Ainge, as Boston's Executive Director of Basketball Operations and General Manager, fighting through traffic, calling for the ball against the defense of 28 General Managers in the Kevin Garnett sweepstakes. 29 if you count the last line of defense, Ainge's old Boston teammate, Kevin McHale, who concluded negotiations with Ainge as Minnesota parted with the best player the team may ever have.

That shot, maybe a season-winner, brought the Celtics instant karma in what was a run of bad Irish luck going on almost two decades. This team is now stamped with his signature next to the clover.

Who's Hot

The Suns big man combo of Shaquille O'Neal and Amare Stoudemire have been amazing, over the last 7 games they are AVERAGING 10.36 rebounds and 24.4 rebounds each. With Amare going for 32 pts and ten rebounds a game and Shaq pulling down 10.7 rebounds and 16.7 points a game they are quickly becoming an unstoppable force.

Who's Not

Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas appears to have entered full lame-duck status. Donnie Walsh stepped down from the Pacers after some 24 years last week is Thomas' presumptive replacement as head of basketball operations and the likelihood is that Isaiah is gone. At least he will be leaving Walsh a nice lottery pick.

Around The League

It's an age-old truism that, it doesn't matter how you start, but how you finish. And after some stops and starts this season, the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets are finishing the regular season running strong the teams split their back to back this week and could match up again in the playoffs. This writer is hoping they do as those were two of the best games this season.

CLIPPERS
The Clippers medical staff has officially cleared power forward Elton Brand for a return to the lineup. Brand hopes to return as soon as some conditioning issues are resolved.

MAVERICKS
The Associated Press reports star power forward Dirk Nowitzki has improved to day-to-day status for the Mavericks.

SUNS
With 18 assists Tuesday against the Nuggets, Steve Nash pulled his season assists average up to 11.2 per game. That pulls him closer to Hornets' point guard Chris Paul, who leads the NBA at 11.4 per game. Nash has led the NBA in assists-per-game for the past three seasons in a row.

WIZARDS
Gilbert Arenas had been expected by many to opt out of his contract after this season, but in a recent interview with the Washington Post, Arenas announced his intentions to remain in Washington following the season, including willingness to "take a pay cut" assuming the team also signs free-agent-to-be Antawn Jamison.

Information provided in NBA Roundup has been gathered from A.P. reports, ESPN.com, Sportsline.com, NBA.com and numerous other e-sources.

About this weeks Guest Author: Freddy C. runs the great website fastbreakblog. Freddy has watched more NBA, NFL and baseball than a human being should be allowed to. I have seen them all from Dr.J to Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady and even the controversial A-Rod. Some old-schoolers would have you think that the players from years ago were better, but guys like Dwyane Wade (even though he gets super friendly with Chuck in those ads—brunch, suit-shopping, etc. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, Jerry), Peyton Manning and Manny Ramirez would be great in any era

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