Yes, he is. Why wouldn't he be?
Oh. Don't tell me we're going to start that "It matters how the team is going to do in the playoffs" stuff again. I thought we dispensed with that years ago, back when Iverson won his MVP.
The MVP is a *REGULAR SEASON* award. Nowitzki's Mavericks overachieved something fierce in the regular season, and it was MOSTLY due to Nowtizki. To me, that's the definition of the MVP.
If you're arguing that Nowitzki doesn't deserve this award because Golden State is beating him, I can argue that last year's MVP should have been Dwyane Wade. After all, Nowitzki stunk it up against the Heat. Oh, and forget Nash last year, too - especially after how both the Lakers and Clippers took the Suns to 7. And why did Kevin Garnett ever win an MVP? His team was never going to sniff the Finals.
What exactly did Nash and the Suns do during the season that was so spectacular?
For the MVP voting, my vote goes:
1) Dirk Nowitzki
2) Lebron James
3) Steve Nash
Also figuring significantly in the voting are Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams (although they lost a lot of ground in the voting when they lost the homecourt in the first round), and Tim Duncan.
WHOAAAAAA Nellie!! (i made a funny pun)
Hold on there a second, Joe, I never said anything about the playoffs having to do with the MVP. I just find it hilarious that during these playoffs, my biggest knock on Dirk Nowitzki has been so eloquently and illustriously...well...illustrated. In addition to his regression in statistics, his complete lack of the intangibles has shown through. Bill Russell won 5 MVPs during the Wilt Chamberlain era largely because of the intangibles and how that translated into Wins for his team. Chamberlain was the better scorer, the better rebounder, indeed, much more dominant all-around than Bill Russell could ever hope to be, yet, Russell was the MVP--why? Intangibles -- leadership, poise, decision-making, clutch delivery, will to power, etc. I'm sorry to say that Dirk has very little of each of these things and it is now showing through loud and clear.
The 7 win jump in record from last year has to do with Josh Howard emerging as a star and the fact that rotation regulars (Terry, Harris, Diop, Dampier, and Stackhouse) had another year in Avery Johnson's system. NOT THE MVP-calibre season of Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk was very important cog in a very successful machine. Nash was a much, much more important cog in a not-quite-so-successful-but-still-relatively-very-successful machine.
I argued for Dirk last year but this year it is Nash's (how fitting he came within 1 assist of breaking the playoff record in Game 4, giving one of the most brilliant basketball performances from a PG in recent history).
While I don't think the playoffs should have a bearing on the MVP, I remain tickled at the fact that my personal selections for MVP have been beautifully illustrated in the playoffs--last year AND this year.
Dirk was my MVP last year, not Nash:
Dallas disposes of the Grizzlies and has a classic playoff series for the ages against powerhouse SA before disposing of the Suns without too much trouble.
Suns get pushed to 7 games by the much more inferior Lakers and Clippers before helplessly succumbing to Dallas.
Nash is my MVP this year, not Dirk:
Dallas will very likely lose in a historic failure by any stretch of the imagination: only the 3rd one seed to lose in the first round and the first one to do it in a 7-game format.
While the Suns have maneuvered themselves to a 3-1 edge with efficiency and panache.
