El Vaquero

Issue date: 5/14/08 Section: Sports

L. A. Laker Kobe Bryant is the NBA's newest Most Valuable Player.

It is official. Number 24 in your programs, number one in your heart, Kobe Bryant is the NBA MVP. On May 6, Kobe became the fourth Los Angeles Laker to win the Most Valuable Player award. After 12 years in the NBA Kobe has won the award for the first time in his career.

The MVP is an award that is always up for debate. But after this season these are the top 10 reasons why Kobe deserves the award.

1. Played All 82 Games

For only the second time in his career, Kobe has played all 82 games in the season. He was injury free. Every other MVP candidate missed time with injuries, but not Kobe. The guy was a machine.

2. 28-5-6

Jerry West, the guy whose image is used as the NBA Logo, is the only other Laker to average 28 points, five rebounds and six assists per game. Yes he did it three times and never won an MVP but that is still some exclusive company. Especially when you realize that Magic Johnson never did it.

3. Defense

Kobe is the best defensive guard in the game. Not only will he score 50 on you but he can also hold you to ten. He is incredible at shutting down his man in tight situations. He is not only the defensive stopper for the Lakers but that is also his role for the U.S. National Team. He is a seven-time NBA All-Defensive team selection and will probably add number eight this year.

4. 15 Game Turnaround

The Lakers won 15 more games this year than they did last year. When you put that up against the 42 win improvement by the Celtics this year it doesn't seem that significant, but 42 wins is a record turnaround so you can't compare those two records. What you can say is that the Western Conference this year was the most competitive conference in NBA history. The Golden State Warriors won 48 games and didn't make the playoffs. If they were in the Eastern Conference they would have been the number four seed. Kobe didn't just lead the team to 15 more wins; he led them to the best record in the West.

5. Playoffs

So far in the playoffs Kobe has been phenomenal. The Lakers are yet to lose a game, sweeping the Nuggets in four games and winning game one against Utah. Kobe has averaged 34.4 points 5.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game in the playoffs. Utah head coach Jerry Sloan admitted, "We can't match up with Kobe Bryant." And that was DURING game one. The job of the coach is to come up with a way to stop Kobe and he is saying to everyone at home watching the game that they can't stop him; way to wave the white flag Jerry.

Continued...

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