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NBA MVP Player of the year is?
It appears that the worst-kept secret in the NBA will be out in the open by early next week.
Dirk Nowitzki
Power Forward
Dallas Mavericks
Profile
2007 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
78 24.6 8.9 3.4 .502 .904
Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, 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.
The NBA has handed out its past three MVPs -- two straight to Phoenix's Steve Nash after Minnesota's Kevin Garnett 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.
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.
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.
"[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.
"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."
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."
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.
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.
Dirk Nowitzki
Power Forward
Dallas Mavericks
Profile
2007 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
78 24.6 8.9 3.4 .502 .904
Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, 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.
The NBA has handed out its past three MVPs -- two straight to Phoenix's Steve Nash after Minnesota's Kevin Garnett 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.
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.
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.
"[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.
"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."
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."
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.
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.
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