Kobe's steady pace lands him top spot in rankings

Kobe fans rejoice. Your favorite is now the favorite.

After having LeBron James and Kobe Bryant one-two in Race to the MVP for nearly two months, this week we've flipped the two. Last season, before Bryant won his first MVP award, we didn't move Kobe to the top spot until he faced off against the Hornets' and Chris Paul in late April.

Until then, the authors of Race to the MVP had Paul at No. 1 for most of the season's second half, and rightfully so. The Hornets had exceeded expectations by not only leading the Southwest Division, the NBA's toughest and but also challenging for the top seed in the rugged West.

But then, Kobe and the Lakers -- with the help of a Spanish import -- came on strong down the stretch and challenged the upstarts from the Crescent City for supremacy in the West. On April 11, 2008, Kobe had 28 points, 10 boards and nine assists as the Lakers topped New Orleans 107-104 en route to staking their claim to the No. 1 seed in the conference.

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We bring up last season for two reasons: one, to illustrate how close we thought the race was between Paul and Bryant, and two, the speed with which Kobe overtook Paul.

But like most memories, ours have been clouded by time. We may have thought the race to be close, but when the votes were counted, it wasn't. Kobe was first on 82 of the 126 first place votes, with Paul receiving 28 first-place votes. That's a blowout.

Also, last year Kobe seemed to rocket into the No. 1 at the end. This year, Kobe's ascension into the No. 1 spot has had the feel of the tortoise vs. the hare, with Kobe calmly plotting, playing consistently excellent basketball after a slow statistical start. He subjugated his game to make his teammates better. "Isn't that what an MVP is supposed to do?" the e-mails said.

Yes, but LeBron had been making his teammates better as well as putting up incredible numbers. That's why we've had him at the top most of the season. That's why he may be No. 1 again next week.

It's that close. And wouldn't that be something to talk about?

You can e-mail us your thoughts at RacetotheMVP@gmail.com.

Hoops Line of the Week: LeBron James, Feb. 20: 55 points, five boards, nine assists vs. Milwaukee in a 111-103 win.

What, only five boards? Slacker.

Rise of the week: Yao Ming (back into the top 10)
Drop of the week: Pau Gasol (out of the top 10)

RACE TO THE MVP :: TALE OF THE TAPE 27.6 PPG 28.3 5.4 RPG 7.2 5.1 APG 7.1 1.3 SPG 1.8 0.4 BPG 1.2 .477 FG% .489 .866 FT% .773

Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers :: Team Record: 48-10 Last Week's Rank - 2 In order to justify moving Bryant into the No. 1 spot, we could have used the "Best-player-on-the-best-team" theory, which would have been just as legitimate as any. But look at the February Kobe has had: 31.5 points per game, 4.9 rebounds and 4.6 assist per game and the Lakers have gone 11-1. With Andrew Bynum out, Kobe has raised his game and his intensity has rubbed off on the rest of the Lakers. They can smell home-court advantage throughout the playoffs and Bryant has led the way. Also, Bryant's February has made his points per game average for this season comparable to LeBron's. I wonder if the gent who sent an e-mail chastising us for putting the stats side-by-side will complain this week.

LeBron James Cleveland Cavaliers :: Team Record: 44-12 Last Week's Rank - 1 It's been a long time since LeBron has been anything but No. 1 in these rankings. If we could, we'd have Kobe as 1A and LeBron as 1B, but that's not how it works. There are no ties in the NBA and we've made our decision -- for this week at least. His digits are still impressive and so is the Cavs' record, but neither LeBron nor the Cavs are playing as well as Kobe and the Lakers are right now. Luckily for LeBron, the East race is still up for grabs and he and his teammates will need to be on point from here until the end of the season. The one thing that is dismaying about James and the Cavs this season is they've only defeated one division leader on the road: Denver on Dec. 19.

Kobe's Top 10 From a big shot in Houston to a wild layup against the Thunder, watch Kobe's top 10 plays from this season. LeBron, Cavs wallop Pistons Watch highlights as LeBron James and the Cavs easily defeated the rival Pistons 99-78.

3. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic | Team Record: 42-15 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 21.1 14.2 1.2 1.0 3.0 .572 .601 Last Week's Rank - 3 I was at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday for his 21-point, 24-rebound performance against the Knicks, which at times seemed unfair. (I love David Lee, but he's just not big enough to check Dwight on the glass.) The game confirmed everything I thought about Howard: great rebounder, probably Defensive Player of the Year and he still needs to be more consistent on offense. He's a better passer out of the post than I thought, though. Also, it's nice to see the free-throw percentage get above .600.

4. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat | Team Record: 30-26 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 28.8 5.0 7.3 2.1 1.4 .484 .758 Last Week's Rank - 4 Against the Magic, Wade scored 50 and the Heat lost. Two nights later, Wade scored 31, but dished 16 assists and the Heat beat the Pistons (but then again, who hasn't?). I'd say that's the key to getting a Miami win, but strangely the Heat are only 3-3 in games this season where Wade goes for 30-10.

5. Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets | Team Record: 34-22 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 21.7 5.3 10.8 2.8 0.2 .501 .857 Last Week's Rank - 5 Paul has been very steady in his past four games, notching up a double-double in points and assists in three of them. The only game where he didn't was his 24-point, seven-assist game against his Draft classmate and on-court nemesis, Deron Williams. Paul has averaged 15.7 points in 12 games against the Jazz, his worst numbers against any team except Philly (15.0 ppg in four games).

6. Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs | Team Record: 39-17 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 20.7 10.7 3.8 0.5 1.9 .518 .700 Last Week's Rank - 6 Did you know that Duncan is only one of two players named Duncan to play in the NBA? Whenever I research Tim's stats, the other Duncan, Andy, a 6-foot-6 center -- center! -- pops up in the search. From 1948-51, he played two seasons for the old Rochester Royals and one with the Celtics. He averaged 5.5 points per game for his career. No I'm sure Andy was a fine man, but I think our Duncan is better. And now Tim is shooting .700 from the free throw line. Nice work, sir.

7. Chauncey Billups, Denver Nuggets | Team Record: 38-20 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 18.3 2.6 6.1 1.3 0.2 .419 .902 Last Week's Rank - 7 Rough week for Billups and the Nuggets. After he scored three measly points against the Celtics in Denver, I received an e-mail about how unworthy Billups was for a space on this list. Two things about that: one, check out his 33-point game on Wednesday in a win against Atlanta; and two, look at the Pistons without him.

8. Brandon Roy, Portland Trail Blazers | Team Record: 35-22 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 22.6 4.8 5.2 1.1 0.3 .475 .824 Last Week's Rank - 8 The trend continues: you need to go all the way back to mid-December to find a game where Roy played 40 or more minutes and the Blazers won. Weird. Also, you need to hope Roy's 5-for-18 from the field against San Antonio was an anomaly because the Jazz are closing in fast for second in the Northwest.

9. Yao Ming, Houston Rockets | Team Record: 37-21 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 19.9 9.6 1.7 0.4 1.7 .550 .864 Last Week's Rank - 10 Yao, who's been in and out of the top 10 most of the season, put on a clinic against the Cavs on Thursday night, hitting 13 of his 15 field goal attempts. His numbers don't scream M-V-P, but now that everything runs through him, you may see them go up.

10. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks | Team Record: 34-23 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 24.9 8.3 2.3 0.7 0.8 .470 .907 Last Week's Rank -- 10 Nowitzki's season scoring average dropped like the stock market this week, plummeting nearly a point this week. That's a huge drop this late in the season. Here's why: 9, 12, 14 and 14 for a total of 49 points in four games. Those aren't MVP numbers, and may not be top 10 numbers for long.

Outside Looking In (OLI)

11. Pau Gasol
12. Deron Williams
13. Kevin Garnett
14. Devin Harris
15. Paul Pierce
16. Ray Allen
17. Tony Parker
18. Carmelo Anthony
19. Steve Nash
20. Joe Johnson

A note about Reader's favorites: We like that you have favorite players who you like to suggest for MVP, but we're sticking with the top 20 from here on out. You can still write in and suggest players, but unless they're worthy of top 20 status, it'll be between you and me.