Monday, May 5, 2008
While the Los Angeles Lakers' players were watching the finale of the Houston-Utah first-round playoff series Friday night at a Hollywood restaurant, Bryant received an e-mail informing him he had won his first Most Valuable Player award.
While it hasn't been made official, the honor has been expected since the completion of the regular season 2 1/2 weeks ago, when the Bryant-led Lakers finished with a Western Conference-best 57-25 record.
The word came through a Los Angeles Times report, which quoted sources as saying NBA commissioner David Stern would be in Los Angeles this week to present the MVP trophy to Bryant. That's expected to happen Wednesday night before Game 2.
League spokesman Brian McIntyre declined to confirm or deny the Times report, and wouldn't comment further.
"The game tomorrow is a beast sitting on my shoulders," Bryant said after practice Saturday, referring to the opener of the second-round series against the Jazz. "I'm reserving judgment until I hear from David Stern."
That being said, the 29-year-old Bryant didn't need much prodding to share his feelings.
"I'm very excited about it. I didn't know if it was going to happen in my career," he told reporters. "It's a great honor. It means a lot. To me, it's very special. It's very special to share it with these guys."
SOURCE
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment