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Show NBA - 07 SUNDAY Apatt 6, 2003 NBA NOTEBOOK TODAY As season winds down, MVPbecomes obvious: Spurs’ Duncan UTAH at SEATTLE 7 p.m. MDTtv: KJZZ rophy for Tim? TUESDAY UTAH at GOLDEN STATE 8:30 p.m. MDTtw: FSN WEDNESDAY HOUSTON at UTAH 7 p.m. tv: FSN FRIDAY DALLAS at UTAH By Sreve Luum The Salt Lake Tribune 7 p.m. tw: KJZZ im Duncan is the Most Valuable Player. NBA Dirk Nowitzkiis the runner- PLAYEROF THE WEEK up. Shaquille O'Neal L.A. Lakers haven't been payingattention. You haven't lookedat the standings. the NBA THIS WEEK 1B Had33 points If youthink otherwise, you You have forgotten that the idea in oronany level, for that matter —is to win Notentertain. Not scorethe mostpoints. Not appearon SportsCenter more thananyone else. and 19 rebounds as Los Angeles rallied to beat the Grizzlies onFriday and had 31 points and 17 rebounds B) Thursday ina win The MVP is the oneplayer who helpshi: teamwinthe most games, andthat’s why Dun can and Nowitzki are the onlytwo deserving candidates this season. The MVP cannotplay in the woeful tern overDallas. Conference, games. OTHERPERFORMANCES Jason Kidd, Nets, scored 30 points and wherethebest team might win 50 The MVP cannotplay for a teamthatfinishes thirdorfourthinits division, which eliminates this year’s third-most compelling candidate, dished out eight assists in New Jersey's 9983 win Friday over Miami 18 Sharif Abdur-Rahim, Haws, hit a desperation heave atthe buzzer to give Atlanta 191-89 victory over Chicago on Thursday, Tim Duncan, Spurs, posted 33 points and 19 rebounds Wednesday to ead San Minnesota's Kevin Garnett. ‘The MVP cannot havetoe surgerytwo weeks beforethe start of training camp and, by doing pend most of the season getting himself in shape and his teamintothetopeight in the West. Antonio to a 105-87 win over Memphis. §@ Troy Hudson, Timberwolves,scored 3 points as Minnesota held off Seattle 91-86 ‘The MVP cannotbe the second-bestplayer on his team, even if that makes himoneofthe top five playersin the league. Wednesday. The MVPcancomefrom a teamthatis so deepthathis statistics are compromised, but he cannotmiss six weeks with a sprainedankle. 1 Allen Iverson, 76ers, scored 24points and tied a season high with 12 assists as Philadelphia topped Chicago 108-101 Wed- The MVP cannotbe 41 yearsold. Or 39, for that matter. atleast The MVP cannot comefrom Chin nesday LEADERSfa" notyet No,this season’s MVPis Duncan, Nowitzki is the runner-up. Endofsto! doesn’t matter. SCORING PTs NeGraty,On. 776 830 2296 Bryant, LAL ONea, LAL Aroundtheleague Iverson, Phil After a recent gameagainst GoldenState, the Rockets decidedto stay overnightin San Fran ciseo and busto Sacramento the next day. En route, they pulledinto an In 'n Out Burgerin Pi- Marbury, Phoe. nole,Calif., for lunch. Chaos brokeout. Thestaff 73 617 387 1656 227 and customers started chanting, “Yao Ming, Entre Gay/ The Associated Press Tim Duncan,right, should be the favorite to win the MVP award. He is averaging 23.6 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.84 blocks per game andhasled the Spurs to one of the best records in the NBA. Yao Ming.” Everyplayers wasbesieged by autoJamison, GS, Stackhouse, Wash. Mashbum, NO, Francis, Hou. 76 66 76 75 630 471 621 599 358 434 281 451 1675 1445 1642 1611 graph and photo requests. Yao eventually, mobbed and, had fo eat his burgerinthe bus.“It was nuts id trainer Keith Jones, “We walked in. Theplace went nuts.” REBOUNDING Gettingdrafty Wallace, Det Looking aheadto the draft on June 26, Boston teampresident Red Auerbach likes Marquette’s Dwyane Wade, Georgetown’s Mike played againsthigh school kids who are probably yoursize and have your talent. He's tal Donnie Nelson: “I rememberseeing himin col lege and thinking, ‘Hey, this kidis pretty good.’ Then I saw himin some predraft camps and | didn’t realize he was so small. I figured he was just too small to make it. But, boy, did he prove adapt.” Jordan called James’ potential “unbe Sweetney andKansas’ Nick Collison. Heis a lievable, but hehasn’t played against [top] com petition. He’s played against high schoolkids whoareprobablyunder6feet and have the tal little leery ent of sports writers.” J. Williams, Tor, ten andhe has somereservations about Xavier BA 204 982 585 power forward Mark West. Askedabout Ari zonaforward Luke Walton, Auerbachsaid, “He ASSISTS n be thebest passer out there. He always seems to make theright play. | just don’t know if he can overcome the quickness thing.” Of course,the experts said the same thing about a formerCeltic draft choice, and LarryBird he Franass, Hou THREE-POINT % 3FG 3FGA PCT Person, Mem, Bowen, SA Nash, Harpring, Utah Hounton, N.Y’ ‘Aten, Sea Nash, Dat Hudson, Minn. R. Miler, tod Terry, Al Bitups, Det 97 215 96 214 283 282 «182 197 FIELD-GOAL % Cumy, Ch ONeal, LAL Boozer, Clev. Brown, NO. Nerstoronsc FG FGA 290 803 577 If Kansas’ Roy Williamsdoesnotreplace Matt Dohertyat North Carolina, the 76ers’ Larry Brown wouldbecameatop candidate. “1 havea lot ofinterest in the success of that program, and the school,” Brownsaid, “I love it. 1 umnist TomSorensen attended two purported “sellouts” in New Orleans but, when he went to the ticket windowminutesbeforetipoff, he was told large blocks of seats remained in all areas of owner Mark Cuban staged a fight with a fa here.” In other words, the 62-year-old Brown will take the North Carolina job if it is offered. ever, that the players and coaches who saw the phony melee were momentarily terrified that even though Comeast-Spectator chairman Ed Cuban had gone crazy. “It was hilarious,” said Evan Eschmeyer. “At first, | just saw Cuban ar ing progress. I'mgoingto focusall my energy Snider says his coach“is too old to go back to college.” Snider also points out that Brown ha: Cotatit with the going to do, go aroundrecru hislife?” Snidersaid. “I'msure Larry’s staying here,” If Browntakes the Carolina job, Snider best rookie.Flat out. That’s whoit shouldbe.” said, “Hewouldbe out of his {expletive} mind.” Said Heat coach Pat Riley: “There's no question [Butler] is a legitimate candidate and should garner ereat attention and respect. But the real. Small wonder Dallas’ diminutive point guard, Avery Johnsen, has become the75th player in NBA history but only the second under 6 feet to play in 1,000 games. Generouslylisted at 5-foot Long wayfor LeBron 11, Johnsen joins Calvin Murphy (5-9) as the two smallest members of the exclusiveclub. “I The Denver Post's Jim Armstrong (5-foot-10, 190 pounds) asked Michael Jordan about con sensus No, | draft pick LeBron James before a Nuggets-Wizards game. Jordan replied: “He thought I'd just try to hang around a couple of years whenI first started,” said Johnson. “To makeit this long isa testament to hard work andto all the coaches andteammates andevery Matt Harpring is on pace to eclipse his total for most minutes played in a season, set last year in Philadelphia with 2,541 STATISTICS ave WN 367) FGMFGA PCT 557-1200 461 PONT oN (3 487-52 512 63-149 480579777 240-298 805 Cheaney ma 25 7% 7% M3 2-568 mee07 weer 496, 4) [ae] B10 7-7 aed 233-281 a Padgee 7% 159 161-89 ” a7 Collies 2 ei Be 4A or Ostertag 2 199 % 179 3 124 © 61 “95 ™% m3 7M % 25 wae OMT 136-343 37 Wes wH 47 Bie oH m7e572 ADEA AM 128 5\7 00 Prayer Malone Harpring 72 Kirton Stockton Stevenson ‘Aroye Aamaecty TEM OPPONENTS 1028 00 25-89 $10 26 00 295-1198 PCT guing. But he’s always arguing withthe refs, so 1 didn’t think anything ofit. Then Shawn [Bradley] said somebody better get out there. and that’s when I went to get the ref. I wasn't worried about theref getting hurt. | was worried about the guy who signs my paycheck. It was a good laugh. [But] it’s a good thing I didn’t go out and punchtheguy, or we'd probably all be look ing at this in a differentlight.” At least now PTS 1567 1277 AVG 209 17.7 «HG 40 33 877 119% om 2 7 «88 78-102 75 “3 OBB 55 5A 47 47 18 16 8) 10 wm % " Tm 7005 45 23 20 i 822 10 #3 266 36 fromthe lottery to No. 21 in last summer’s draft, whenhe was finally picked by Portland. After his arrest this week for marijuana possession anddriving without a license or insurance, Woods admitted telling representatives from several NBA teams that werethinkingof draft ing him that he smoked marijuana extensively The Blazers apparently didn't care. They took Woodsand toldtheir fans he no longer smoked pot. Oops. percent for the secondtime in his career 578 8a 64 +18 33 255) 40 ‘1650-2209 753 1524-2010 758 AsanApril Fool's prank, referee, So few people knew aboutthe joke, how Calbert Cheaneyis attempting to shoot 50 v4 “a 10 e282 60-77 77 50-78 786 thearena. we know why rookie Qyntel Woods dropped ity is that we aren't on nationaltelevision,a lot of people don’t see him and we'renot a team that politics like crazy.” JAZZ Jackson NewOrleans to maketherelocation of thefran chise look like a success. Charlotte Observer col andI'minvolved with a teamthat’s really mak moreorthis teamin losing more,” said Butler. “Somethings are like that like the Most Valuable Player. But the best rookieis just who's the 311 910 311 907 21390) 220 B05 Tar Heeltale Toprookie baseit onthefact that this team is winning 63149-4283 Briefly Hornet officials lowballed their attendance figures in Charlotte year, hopingto con vince the NBA theyneeded to move, Now, they are apparently inflating attendance figures in want to seeit do well. But I have job and I’m happy here. I’vegota lot of things going for me, hind Houston’s Yao Ming and Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire because both have helpedtheir teamscontend for the playoffs. “They shouldn't 7 people wrong.” hada decentcareer. Miami's Caron Butlerleadsall first-year players in scoring(15.6), but he probably will finish third in the Rookie of the Yearvoting be 451 449 Said Mavspresident of basketball operations level, he’s not in the upper echelonoftwoguards and small forwards. He's toward the bot tom respectfully so because there is so muchabout his game he’s going to have to Murphy, GS. Nowitzki, Dall about St. John’s guard Marcus Hat- body else who has helped mealong the way.” ented for 18 years old. But once hegetsto this Malone Hanpring Kirton Stoctton 18 Cheaney 1S Padgon 6 1 2 8 122 Stevenson Any Anaect TEAM OPPONENTS Coline Ontertay Massonburg Jackson John Stocktonwill finish among the NBA's topfiveinassists for the 16thtime. |