Reports: LeBron scores 2nd straight NBA MVP

Betallsports · Apr 30, 2010

CLEVELAND (AP)

LeBron James has joined one of the NBA's most exclusive clubs.

Cleveland's superstar was voted the league's MVP for the second straight year, a person familiar with the announcement told The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league has not announced the results of the vote.

James, who averaged 29.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.6 assists this season, will receive the trophy Sunday at the University of <NOBR style="FONT-FAMILY: inherit; COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_2_0>Akron

</NOBR>. The presentation by commissioner David Stern will come in front of Cleveland's fans. The Cavaliers play the Boston Celtics on Monday in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series.

James is the 10th NBA player to be the MVP in consecutive seasons. The 25-year-old star joins Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash. Russell, Chamberlain and Bird won it three times in a row.

James' win was expected after he had the finest season of his seven-year pro career. What remains to be seen is his margin of victory. Last season, James received 109 of 121 first-place votes, winning in a landslide in voting by a nationwide media panel of sports writers and broadcasters over Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, who won the award in 2008.

The Plain Dealer of Cleveland first announced that James won the award.

For the second straight year, James will accept the award in his hometown. A year ago, he went back to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, his alma mater, for a ceremony in the school's gymnasium that was attended by family, friends, former teachers and the student body.

As a high school star, James played many of his games at Rhodes Arena on Akron's campus. James also holds his summer basketball camps at the university and the Zips are coached by Keith <NOBR style="FONT-FAMILY: inherit; COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_8_0>Dambrot

</NOBR>, who coached the All-Star for a time in high school.

James, paired this season with center Shaquille O'Neal to help Cleveland win its first NBA title, led the Cavaliers to 61 wins in the regular season and the top seed in the playoffs. Cleveland's lineup was constantly changing because of injuries, but the Cavs could always count on James, the first forward in league history to average more than eight assists a game.

James delivered nightly jaw-dropping highlights, many of them coming at the defensive end on chase-down blocks. His value was never more obvious than when he sat out the Cavaliers' final four games, and they lost each one.

Despite playing with a strained and bruised right elbow, James averaged 31.8 points, 9.2 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 2.4 blocks and 1.2 steals as the Cavaliers eliminated Chicago in the first round of the playoffs.

"I give a lot of credit to my teammates, the coaching staff and my family," James said last week when asked about winning a second MVP. "It solidifies a lot of hard work and dedication I was able to put in the offseason to try to get better as an individual and bring it to this team."

Betallsports · May 3, 2010

As Reported Days ago.................

LeBron receives 116 first-place votes

AKRON, Ohio -- LeBron James looked out at the sea of faces from his past and present. There's no knowing if they'll be in his future.

Scanning an audience which came to celebrate his second straight runaway NBA MVP award, James pointed out his former high school coaches and best friends. He praised his mom, Gloria, who somehow raised him after giving birth when she was just 16. He had a special message for his girlfriend, Savannah, and their two young sons, LeBron Jr. and Bryce.
James thanked them all, and then singled out one special group.

"I'm sorry," he said Sunday, halting the ceremony at the University of Akron's James A. Rhodes Arena. "But all my teammates, you have to come up here with me, man."

He was soon surrounded on the podium by Shaquille O'Neal, Mo Williams, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team he led to 61 wins during the regular season and is determined to take all the way to an NBA championship.

Each of the Cavs hugged James before forming a half-circle around him. A few players used video cameras to record the all-for-one moment.

"My name may be put on the front of that trophy," James said, pointing at the Maurice Podoloff Trophy. "But these guys have a lot to do with it."
Dominating the voting just as he dominated on the floor all season, James became the 10th player in league history to win consecutive MVP awards, and he made sure to share it with the people closest to him, the ones who can never imagine him playing anywhere but Cleveland.

"Since I was a kid, I always said I'd find a way to put Akron on the map," James said. "It will always be my home and it will always be my life."

James' comments seemed slightly ominous for a player on the eve of a big decision. He has given few clues about his intentions for when free agency opens on July 1, but James almost sounded as if he was preparing to say goodbye.

"Akron, Ohio is my home," he said. "Akron, Ohio will always be remembered. Akron, Ohio is my life and I love this city."

Later, he was asked how he could leave "all this."

"This is home for me," he said. "I love this place to death. Every day I wake up I understand that I'm not just carrying myself but I'm also carrying this city to bigger and better heights. No matter where life may head me, I'm never gone from here."

James received 116 of a possible 123 first-place votes to win in a landslide over Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant, who was picked first on four ballots. Orlando center Dwight Howard received the other three first-place votes and finished fourth.

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant had no first-place votes and finished third.

Voting was done by a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters, and this year one ballot was cast by fans in an online vote, which went to James. Players were awarded 10 points for first, seven points for second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth.

James finished second on five ballots and two writers placed him third. A year ago, James received 109 of 122 first-place votes.

James finished with 1,205 points, nearly doubling Durant (609). His margin of victory is the second largest in history, topped by only O'Neal, who won by 799 points in 2000. His first-place total was also the most since Kevin Garnett got 120 of 123 in 2004.

James joined Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash on a who's-who list of back-to-back winners.

"Those are guys I looked up to growing up," he said. "To be in that same category is an unbelievable feat."

For the second straight year, James chose to have the award ceremony his hometown of Akron.

Last May, he returned to St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and received the award in the quaint gymnasium in front of family, friends and the student body. He moved it to a larger but still familiar stage, opting for Rhodes -- or the JAR, as it is known -- on Akron's campus, where he also played in high school.

The ceremony was open to the public, and hundreds of fans, a few of whom slept out overnight and many wearing an assortment of No. 23 James jerseys, stood in line for hours for their chance to witness yet another coronation of Ohio's basketball king.

James considered holding the ceremony in the school's new football stadium but was afraid the weather might not cooperate.
"We didn't want it to rain on my parade," he said.

James arrived fashionably late, riding in the back of a Maybach Zeppelin. He was greeted with screams from fans lining the sidewalk as he got out of the expensive ride, looking resplendent in a gray suit, blue shirt and sunglasses that weren't needed on an overcast day.

When he finally took the stage along with Cavs coach Mike Brown, general manager Danny Ferry and owner Dan Gilbert, James was serenaded with chants of "M-V-P" by a crowd estimated at 3,000. Winning a second MVP wasn't necessarily a goal. He does have another in mind.

"The only reason I do what I do on the court is to compete for an NBA championship," he said. "I understand that until I won that I won't go down as one of the greatest players ever. That's my only goal right now. This is the closest I've been to it."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press