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As recently as the 2004-05 season, the New Orleans Hornets were an NBA joke with an 18-64 record. It looks like the coach of that team, Byron Scott, will get the last laugh.
Before the Hornets take on the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series on Tuesday, Scott will be named the NBA Coach of the Year, according to multiple media reports. ESPN.com confirmed the reports on Monday night.

New Orleans sent a media advisory Monday afternoon, saying it planned a "major announcement" at 11 a.m. ET Tuesday following the Hornets' game-day shootaround.

Other front-runners for coach of the year included Boston coach Doc Rivers, who led the Celtics to the best record in the NBA (66-16), as well as Houston coach Rick Adelman, who oversaw the Rockets' improbable 22-game winning streak and helped his team stay competitive after a season-ending foot injury to star center Yao Ming.

Rivers agreed with the choice of Scott.

"He should," Rivers said before the Celtics played Atlanta in Game 4 Monday night. "He really should. You look what they've done."

Scott led the New Jersey Nets to consecutive trips to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003 but lasted only 42 games the next season. He was hired in 2004 to guide a New Orleans team in transition.

A series of moves over the next few years drew as many jeers as cheers. The Hornets traded All-Star guard Baron Davis, drafted undersized point guard Chris Paul, signed aging veteran Peja Stojakovic to a long-term contract and acquired Chicago Bulls castoff Tyson Chandler.

A 16-game improvement in 2005-06 and a run at the playoffs the next season quieted some of the criticism, but few thought Scott would last to see the project through … until this season.

For much of the campaign the Hornets had the best record in the conference and finished with a franchise-record 56-26 mark, good for a No. 2 seed in the West. That drew a matchup with Dallas, who many thought would expose the young Hornets. But Scott and New Orleans have kept proving the doubters wrong.

They go into Game 5 with a surprising 3-1 series lead and their eyes on the Larry O'Brien Trophy which goes to the NBA champ. Scott takes home some hardware of his own first.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Denver Nuggets - Los Angeles Lakers playoff highlights

ORLANDO -- The Orlando Magic ended 12 years of postseason misery Monday night with a 102-92 defeat of the Toronto Raptors for their first playoff series victory since 1996.
The Magic won the series 4-1, capturing three victories at Amway Arena and one in Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.

The Magic got huge big-game performances from franchise center Dwight Howard (21 points and 21 rebounds) and star forward Rashard Lewis (18 points and 13 rebounds), but it was huge 3-pointers from point guard Jameer Nelson (19 points) and Keith Bogans (11 points) that paved the way to the victory down the stretch.

The Magic led just 84-82 with 6 minutes remaining, but they then pulled away in similar fashion to Saturday’s Game 4 with a strong closing kick. Orlando used a clutch 13-2 spurt, nine of the points coming on 3-pointers from Bogans and Nelson, over the next four minutes to pull comfortably into the lead.

A sellout crowd of 17,519 inside Amway Arena exploded with noise and raw emotion with each fourth-quarter basket, propelling the Magic to one of the franchise’s biggest victories in years.

The Magic hadn’t won a playoff series since 1996 when they beat the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Orlando had lost its past seven straight series, stretching from the defeat against the Chicago Bulls in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals to last spring’s first-round sweep against the Detroit Pistons.

Orlando will face the survivor from the Detroit-Philadelphia series, which is tied at 2-all. That second-round series would begin either this weekend or next week depending on how long the Pistons and Sixers play. The third-seeded Magic would have the homecourt advantage against the seventh-seeded 76ers, but would start on the road against the second-seeded Pistons. Orlando was 3-1 against Philadelphia this season, but split four games against Detroit.

Howard had his third game of the series with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. He led the NBA with eight 20-20 games during the regular season.

Toronto star Chris Bosh scored just 16 points for the Raptors.

Orlando grabbed the lead and control of the game in the third period with some gritty defense on Bosh and a barrage of 3-pointers. Bogans gave the Magic a 65-62 lead on a 3 from the corner and when Nelson drilled a 3-pointer minutes later it jump-started a 9-2 quarter-closing rally.

Bosh, who had 39 points and 15 rebounds in Saturday’s Game 4 loss, seemed to come unglued late in the third period. He missed 10 of his first 14 shots and he was whistled for a technical foul when he argued after being hit by a Howard shoulder to the chest.
Unlike in Saturday’s second half when they pulled away from the Raptors with efficient execution, the Magic’s offense was mostly a disjointed mess in the first half. Orlando jumped to an eight-point lead in the first three minutes of the game, but crumbled a bit and often looked as if it was pressing under the weight of the circumstances.

The Magic turned the ball over nine times, missed 10 of 13 3-pointers and trailed 50-49 at the half. Howard had 10 points and 12 rebounds by halftime, but he got just six shot attempts with most of them coming off his five offensive rebounds.

A Toronto team that made only two 3-pointers in Game 4 hit four in Monday’s first quarter alone, helping it grab a 26-22 lead by the end of the first period.

Contact Denton at jd41898@aol.com.

Hedo Turkoglu of the Orlando Magic is the winner of the 2007-08 NBA Most Improved Player Award presented by Kia Motors, the NBA announced today. The annual award is presented to a player who has made a dramatic improvement from the previous season or seasons.Turkoglu received a total of 380 points, including 61 first-place votes, from a panel of 125 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. The Memphis Grizzlies’ Rudy Gay finished second with 167 points (23 first-place votes) followed by LaMarcus Aldridge of the Portland Trail Blazers with 128 points (nine first-place votes). Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third place vote received.

As part of its support of the Most Improved Player Award, Kia Motors will donate a brand-new 2009 Kia Borrego seven-passenger SUV on behalf of Turkoglu to a grassroots program of the Parramore Kidz Zone, an initiative which provides positive, preventative programs for local youth in Orlando. The Orlando Magic made a previous $250,000 pledge to this program. Kia Motors will present a Borrego to the charity of choice of each of the four year-end award winners in 2008 as part of the “The NBA Performance Awards Presented by Kia Motors.”

The eight-year NBA veteran started every game for the Magic and averaged career highs in scoring (19.5 ppg). – nearly eight points above his career average (11.7 ppg) -- rebounding (5.7 rpg) and assists (5.0 apg). Turkoglu shot .400 from three-point range and .829 from the free throw line. The 6-10 forward earned two Eastern Conference Player of the Week nods (Jan. 27 and Feb. 3), and was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for games played in April. Last season, Turkoglu averaged 13.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists.

The 2007-08 NBA Most Improved Player of the Year Award presented by Kia Motors is part of a series of on-court performance awards called “The NBA Performance Awards Presented by Kia Motors.” The awards, which are part of a multi-year marketing partnership between Kia Motors America and the NBA, also include the Most Valuable Player, Sixth Man Award, and Defensive Player. The series also includes the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month presented by Kia Motors. For more information on the “The NBA Performance Awards Presented by Kia Motors” visit www.NBA.com/performanceawards.

Attached are the 2007-08 voting results and the all-time NBA Most Improved Player of the Year Award presented by Kia Motors winners:


ALL-TIME NBA MOST IMPROVED PLAYER AWARD PRESENTED BY KIA MOTORS WINNERS

1985-86 Alvin Robertson, San Antonio
1986-87 Dale Ellis, Seattle
1987-88 Kevin Duckworth, Portland
1988-89 Kevin Johnson, Phoenix
1989-90 Rony Seikaly, Miami
1990-91 Scott Skiles, Orlando
1991-92 Pervis Ellison, Washington
1992-93 Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Denver
1993-94 Don MacLean, Washington
1994-95 Dana Barros, Philadelphia
1995-96 Gheorghe Muresan, Washington
1996-97 Isaac Austin, Miami
1997-98 Alan Henderson, Atlanta
1998-99 Darrell Armstrong, Orlando
1999-00 Jalen Rose, Indiana
2000-01 Tracy McGrady, Orlando
2001-02 Jermaine O’Neal, Indiana
2002-03 Gilbert Arenas, Golden State
2003-04 Zach Randolph, Portland
2004-05 Bobby Simmons, L.A. Clippers
2005-06 Boris Diaw, Phoenix
2006-07 Monta Ellis, Golden State
2007-08 Hedo Turkoglu, Orlando

The Denver Nuggets finally gave the Los Angeles Lakers a good fight.

No surrender on this night. No frustration fouls filling up the fourth quarter of another blowout.

No matter. The Lakers dispatched the tempestuous Nuggets anyway.

Kobe Bryant scored 14 of his 31 points over the final 5 1/2 minutes Monday night, leading the Lakers to a 107-101 victory and a sweep of their first-round series.

"He is unbelievable," Luke Walton said of Bryant, his teammates and one of the MVP favorites. "It's always so comforting knowing you have the best closer in basketball. They were making huge plays down the stretch, but Kobe came right back to do whatever it took: huge plays, steals or an incredible shots like that fadeaway over Kenyon Martin from the top of the key. He wanted it badly tonight and we followed his lead."

Pau Gasol added 21 points in the Lakers' first sweep of a playoff series since whitewashing New Jersey in the 2002 NBA finals, the last time they won it all.

The Lakers will meet the winner of the Utah-Houston series, which the Jazz lead 3-1, in the Western Conference semifinals.

The Nuggets won 50 games this season for the first time in two decades, and they did it in the power-packed Western Conference. But they were no match for the top-seeded Lakers, who are 25-5 with Gasol in the lineup.

Gasol led the way early, scoring 18 first-half points, and Bryant took over in the waning minutes, scoring nine straight points in every way -- a turnaround jumper, a 3-pointer, a driving layup and a 15-foot floater -- to give the Lakers a 97-96 lead.

"It feels good to win the way that we won today," Bryant said.

When Walton made a wide-open 3 from the right corner, the Lakers went ahead 100-96 with 2:37 left, and Martin and Carmelo Anthony soon fouled out. Bryant made three free throws and a jumper after that.

Anthony accused his team of quitting in Game 3 and he insisted he wasn't going to let that happen Monday night. He was right. The Nuggets didn't lay down, even when they fell behind by 13 points in the first half. They stormed back to make it a seesaw game in the second half.

But again, Los Angeles had the answers and sent the Nuggets to their first-ever sweep in a seven-game series.

"My wish would be that we had four games like tonight and we all could have been happier," said Nuggets coach George Karl, who lost a seven-game series for the first time in his 20-year NBA coaching career. "I've said all along, when they play the right way, they're fun guys to coach."

Anthony fouled out with 1:19 left and Bryant made one free throw for a 101-96 lead. After Nene's slam dunk, Bryant's running bank shot make it 103-98.

Marcus Camby's first points since the series shifted to Denver came on a 3-pointer from the left corner with 33 seconds left, cutting the Lakers' lead to 103-101, but Gasol maneuvered underneath for a dunk, and Bryant added two free throws with 18 seconds left.

Lamar Odom had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Los Angeles and Vladimir Radmanovic scored 12 points.

J.R. Smith led the Nuggets with 26 points, while Allen Iverson had 22 and Anthony 21.

The Nuggets were bounced in the first round for the fifth straight season -- only this time, they didn't even win their customary one game, suffering their first sweep since San Antonio beat them 3-0 in 1995, when the first round was best-of-five.

"That's disappointing," Anthony said. "I don't know what else to say about that. All you got to do is try to come back next year and try to start all over again."

The Nuggets have great players who just don't play great together.

"They have a lot of talent," Bryant said. "But a lot of times it's not necessarily the amount of talent you have on a team but it's the chemistry within that talent and how well you play together.

"I'm very fortunate to be on a team where everybody just meshes. We all jell together. We all work well with one another. And that's really the key."

The Nuggets couldn't keep Los Angeles out of the lane for easy layups and dunks and they made the silly mistakes that the Lakers avoided, like the missed dunks by Nene and Anthony, who blew an alley-oop rim-rattler that bounced out of bounds at halfcourt in the third quarter.

Anthony trotted back downcourt, laughing all the way.

"I don't know what I did wrong," Anthony said. "I just bounced it off the rim. It was one of those dunks that wouldn't go down."

Moments later, he picked up his fourth foul, and it looked like the Nuggets were ready to surrender for the summer.

Then, out of nowhere, they made a game of it, taking their first lead of the night on Linas Kleiza's step-back 11-footer that put Denver ahead 73-71, igniting the crowd.

The Lakers righted themselves and took a 79-77 lead into the back-and-forth fourth quarter, which ended with the Nuggets walking dejectedly off the court, including Nene, who overcame testicular cancer, and Martin, who resurrected his career by becoming the first professional athlete to return to stardom after microfracture surgery on both knees.

"There's a lot of good stories," Karl said.

And another one walking across the court.

As Karl walked off, he embraced his son, Coby Karl, a rookie reserve guard on the Lakers who, like his dad, overcame cancer in recent years.

"Coby playing in the NBA is the best gift that has ever happened to me in my life," George Karl said. "And hopefully, I'll make him feel miserable one day."

Game notes: Gasol entered this series with an 0-12 playoff mark, all the games with Memphis. ... Iverson picked up the Nuggets' eighth technical foul of the series in the third quarter. ... Camby had 17 rebounds. ... The Lakers went 7-0 against Denver this season.