Only Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird have won three consecutive Most Valuable Player awards. Could Steve Nash become the fourth to pull it off? Most of our experts believe he's the frontrunner in this year's race.
Maurice Brooks:
Steve Nash was my preseason pick for a three-peat and all he has done is power the Suns to two win streaks of 14 or more games, post a career high in points and lead the league in assists. As hard as it is to believe, he has been better this season than he was in his two MVP years.
-- Read Maurice's case for Gilbert Arenas
Jeff Dengate:
Quite simply: Steve Nash. That he's won the last two years may factor into the voters' decisions, but, really, he should join Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird as the only players to win the honor three straight years. His scoring average is up from each of his first two seasons in Phoenix, as are his percentages from the field and beyond the arc, and he also leads the league with 11.5 dimes a night – Jason Kidd is the closest at 9.1 apg. When you consider his team (32-8) is six games better than last year (26-14) and a game better than 2004-05 (31-9), Nash should be a lock for the award ... at this point at least.
John Hareas:
Dirk Nowitzki is leading the Mavs on a torrid pace since the team's first four losses of the season with no let up within sight (and a mere inches away from the best 41-game stretch in NBA history, that's right, history).
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Dave McMenamin:
To fully understand why Kobe Bryant should be the MVP this season you really ought to go to a Lakers game of his. But make sure you get there early. See, if you're not there to watch the pre-game shoot around you'll miss Kobe play one-on-one with reserve forward Ronny Turiaf.
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Rob Peterson:
Steve Nash, NBA MVP. The Suns point guard has won the award two years running and some people still haven't become accustomed to saying those words: Steve Nash, MVP. For those who couldn't see Nash as a one-time MVP, let alone two, imagine how they're gonna feel when he wins his third straight this year.
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Chris Rosenbluth:
I wrote in my December roundup that Steve Nash is the league's most statistically unquantifiable force. For those of you who don't buy an argument based solely on the transcendent greatness of a player and need numbers to satiate your doubts, chew on these for a while: 19.5 ppg, 11.6 apg, 53.9 percent from the field, 49.8 percent from 3-point land, 33 wins, eight losses. Oh, and one more thing. The Suns have won 30 of their last 32 games, all the while relying on Nash to steer the ship, as he's done so deftly since moving to Phoenix.
John Schuhmann:
I thought Dirk should have won it last year mostly because I think Shawn Marion is greatly underrated. But even though the Mavs are a better team, I think Steve Nash is more deserving this time around ... so far. The numbers he is putting up and the way the Suns are playing boggle the mind.
NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad
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