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Kobe Bryant has won the NBA's MVP award for the first time, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site Friday night, citing anonymous sources familiar with the outcome of voting by media members.

The newspaper reported that commissioner David Stern will be in Los Angeles next week to present the trophy to Bryant.

"We have not been told anything by the league," Lakers spokesman John Black told The Associated Press.

Bryant, who entered the season as the league's two-time defending scoring champion, had finished third in the MVP voting twice - after the 2002-03 campaign, when he averaged 30 points for the first time, and again last season, when Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki won the award.

Bryant averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.84 steals while playing in all 82 games despite tearing a ligament in his right pinkie finger in February. A hand specialist recommended surgery, but Bryant decided to put it off until after the Olympics this summer.

He led the Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference and a sweep of Denver in the first round of the playoffs. The Lakers open the second round Sunday against Utah at Staples Center.

Bryant, second in the NBA in scoring behind Cleveland's LeBron James, will be the first Lakers player to win the MVP award since Shaquille O'Neal was a near-unanimous choice in 2000. Other previous Lakers to win the award dating to 1956, when it was first presented, were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, who each won it three times. Abdul-Jabbar also won three with the Milwaukee Bucks.

The AP reports: Kobe Bryant has won the NBA’s MVP award for the first time, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site Friday night, citing anonymous sources familiar with the outcome of voting by media members. The newspaper reported that commissioner David Stern will be in Los Angeles next week to present the trophy to Bryant.

LeBron James had the last word.

In an NBA playoff series filled with trash talk, hard fouls, 13 technicals, one ejection, one suspension and plenty more, James was everywhere and did a little bit of everything in Game 6. And, in what's become his personal rite of spring, he led the Cleveland Cavaliers past the Washington Wizards.

James compiled 27 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists for his third career playoff triple-double, all the while helping slow Caron Butler at the defensive end, and the Cavaliers beat the Wizards 105-88 on Friday night to close the contentious series.

"Cleveland is advancing. We won the series 4-2. That speaks louder than me saying anything about the fans here, anything about DeShawn Stevenson," James said, referring to the Wizards guard who called him overrated. "Cleveland is advancing. That's all that matters."

It's the third consecutive postseason that the Cavaliers eliminated the Wizards in the first round -- ending each of those series on Washington's home floor.

"Three times in a row. It's tough," Washington's Antonio Daniels said. "But who knows what happens if we have a healthy team? A healthy Gilbert Arenas? If we had Darius Songaila for Game 6 -- who knows what happens?"

Songaila, a reserve forward, was barred from Friday's game by the NBA for hitting James in the face at Cleveland in Game 5, a one-point Washington victory that extended the series.

Cleveland, which reached the NBA Finals a year ago, now faces Boston or Atlanta. The Celtics host the Hawks in Game 7 on Sunday, and whoever wins will have to try to do something Washington certainly could not: stop James.

"We have LeBron on our team, and there are 30 other teams or 29 who don't," Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said, "and that's the biggest difference."

Indeed, James was involved in pretty much every key sequence, including when he was whistled for one of the game's three technical fouls. And when Butler drew another for throwing an arm across James' waist. And when James lit into his teammates at the end of the third quarter for allowing Daniels to cut through the lane for an uncontested dunk.

"We can't allow that," James said. "Not in the postseason."

He was more of a passer than a scorer early, with twice as many assists (four) as shot attempts (two) in the first quarter. That allowed his teammates to get in a rhythm, and Wally Szczerbiak scored a career playoff-best 26 points, Daniel Gibson added 22, and they combined to make 10 of Cleveland's 11 3-pointers.

"He passed up a couple of wide-open shots to get even more wide-open shots for me," Szczerbiak said.

Butler considered the contributions from the Cavaliers' lesser-known players and said: "The thing was we wanted somebody else to beat us, and that's kind of what happened."

Perhaps. But check out these stats: James' triple-double was accomplished before the third quarter was over, and he dished out more assists than the entire Wizards team (11).

"LeBron puts so much pressure on your defense," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said.

James put in work at the other end, too, where Cleveland knew it needed to hound Butler more than it did in Game 5, when he scored 32 points on 50 percent shooting.

Before the opening tipoff Friday, Butler was alone on the court, skipping and waving a hand in the air, encouraging the fans in a sellout crowd of 20,173 to twirl their white towels. Then, taking a breather with Washington leading by six points in the second quarter, the two-time All-Star stood on the sideline and spun his warmup shirt overhead.

But on the court, Butler didn't have nearly as much pep. He entered the third quarter only 2-for-9 for seven points with zero assists or steals, and wound up with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Antawn Jamison led Washington with 23 points and 15 rebounds.

The Cavaliers were ahead 56-48 at halftime, thanks in large part to a 15-0 run during the second quarter and 7-for-12 shooting on 3-pointers. The Wizards? They were 3-for-12 on 3s to that point.

It never really got competitive in the second half, and it didn't help matters for Washington that it didn't manage a fourth-quarter basket until Butler made one 3 1/2 minutes in.

The Wizards didn't learn about Songaila's punishment until after their morning shootaround. That left Jordan with a seven-man rotation, because he already was without Arenas, who ruled himself out for the rest of the season before Game 5 because of his surgically repaired left knee.

Arenas held up Songaila's No. 9 jersey on the sideline, then set it down on a chair in tribute. Some fans in the stands raised signs reading, "Free Darius."

In the end, all that really mattered was that James was on the court.

He ignored the booing and chants of "Ov-er-ra-ted!" from the stands. He set aside his war of words with Stevenson, which wound up dragging in a pair of rappers: James' pal, Jay-Z, and Stevenson's supporter, Soulja Boy. He dealt with Washington's suddenly hard-hitting defense.

"We had a lot of things go on besides basketball in this series, which was fun. But at the same time, we took care of business," James said. "Soulja Boy, DeShawn Stevenson, my big brother 'J,' myself, the crowd, 'overrated.' All that. It comes down to us winning a really gruesome series."

Notes: Szczerbiak's previous career high for the playoffs was 25. ... This was the 30th game between these teams since 2005-06, counting preseason, regular season and postseason. The Cavaliers hold an 18-12 edge. "We play them a lot. You almost know the hotel personnel by name, you know? 'Good to see you again. Good to see you again.' For some bizarre reason, we keep running into each other,'' Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. "It's good and bad. Good, because we know each other so there's not much surprises. But at the same time, there's some bad blood.'' ... Arenas said before Friday's game he'd be getting his left knee drained of excess fluid.

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Kevin Durant Named T-Mobile Rookie of the year
Kevin Durant of the Seattle SuperSonics is the recipient of the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy as the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year, the NBA announced today.

Durant received 90 first-place votes (545 points) from a panel of 125 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Atlanta’s Al Horford finished second with 390 points and Houston’s Luis Scola finished third with 146 points. 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.

Drafted with the second overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, Durant averaged a rookie- and team-high 20.3 points – 7.6 points higher than any other rookie – to go along with 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 80 games (all starts). Durant was the only rookie to lead his team in five statistical categories, including points, blocks, steals, free-throws made and free-throw percentage. Durant also blocked more shots than any other guard in the league (75). He is the first SuperSonic player to win the award.

Durant led Seattle in scoring 47 times, including a career-high 42 points against Golden State on April 16. A five-time T-Mobile Western Conference Rookie of the Month selection (November, December, January, March and April), Durant scored at least 20 points 47 times and at least 30 points seven times. Durant represented the SuperSonics in the 2008 T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam, finishing with 23 points.

Throughout the 2007-08 season, for every point scored by the T-Mobile Rookie of the Month, T-Mobile USA pledged to donate $20 per point scored during the month the player won the award to the New Orleans Recovery School District. T-Mobile will donate a total of $49,700 to the school district, with $28,500 coming from the 1,425 points scored by Durant alone during the five months he won T-Mobile Rookie of the Month. This philanthropic component is new to the T-Mobile Rookie Program and builds on T-Mobile’s strong appeal to the nation’s youth as the official wireless partner of the NBA. Other highlights of T-Mobile’s partnership with the NBA include the T-Mobile Rookie of the Year, T-Mobile Rookie of the Month Awards, and the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam, an All-Star competition between NBA rookies and second-year players. During NBA All-Star 2008, T-Mobile Huddle Up and NBA Cares hosted more than 5,000 local students in the lower bowl of the arena to watch this year’s Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam.

The Eddie Gottlieb Trophy is named in honor of Eddie Gottlieb, one of the NBA’s founders who coached the Philadelphia Warriors to the NBA championship in 1946-47.

Attached are the voting results for the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year Award and the all-time list of winners: Year

Gilbert Arenas' lost season is over.

Arenas, who missed most of the regular season following knee surgery, decided to end his season moments before the Washington Wizards faced an elimination game in their first-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers lead 3-1.

"Instead of me blocking the team from success, we just decided just go ahead and shut it down,'' Arenas said an hour before tip-off.

Hobbled by a bone bruise, the three-time All-Star played in the first four games of the series but was not the sharpshooting "Agent Zero" who has led the Wizards in the past.

He missed the past two days of practice to rest the knee, but then decided along with the team trainer that he would not play again this season regardless of whether the Wizards advance.

Arenas missed 66 games during the regular season and an MRI taken before Game 3 revealed that his surgically repaired left knee has a bone bruise and a pinched nerve.

"This nerve pinch, it just came out of the blue,'' Arenas said. "The swelling and the achiness -- I can play through that -- but the nerve pain where each step feels like you're hitting my funny bone, eventually, that was wearing and tearing. It's not going anywhere.''

He averaged 10.8 points and shot 39 percent in the series, averaging just 23 minutes. His final shot of the was a potential tying 3-pointer at the end of Game 4 against Cleveland.

"It's frustrating because I was willing to do anything. I ended up taking the shot,'' said Arenas, referring to his hesitancy to numb the knee because he was "scared'' of the needle.

"I'm taking four different kinds of pain pills ... just to play in a game, and it still doesn't work.''

In true Agent Zero fashion, Arenas surprised even his coach with the news.

Wizards coach Eddie Jordan knew it was a possibility Arenas wouldn't play, but he found out the guard couldn't go at about the same time reporters did.

"We've performed very well without Gil. Look, we are a different team with Gilbert, very explosive. But we're ready to go without him,'' Jordan said.

The typically chatty Arenas didn't talk to the media for months while he was out, then ripped the Cavs in a blog entry before the series.

"I think everybody wants Cleveland in that first round,'' Arenas wrote. "We want Cleveland for our own reasons; we don't think they can beat us in the playoffs three years straight.''

The comment was the first volley in a series that's been known more for the Wizards verbal jabs at LeBron James, than anybody's play on the court.

In spite of the jousting, the Cavs forward, who is freinds with Arenas, said, "I know he wants to play so bad, but the knee hasn't responded the best way. It's not good for him, but maybe it's the best thing for him so he's ready for the '09 season. He's a very good player and I know it's going to be tough for him not to be out there.''

Arenas thanked his teammates for giving him the chance to play in the postseason. He said they understood his decision.

"I did everything I can. I went out there wounded and all just to play in the playoffs,'' he said. "It's my duty to let these guys go out there and just fight it - put out some healthy bodies and beat this team. I can't go out there hobbling trying to help this team win because at the end of the day it's hurting us.''

Late in the first quarter of Wednesday evening’s Wizards at Cavaliers Game 5 playoff game (Cavs lead series 3-1), LeBron James drove down the left baseline at the rim, guarded by Darius Songaila. Their arms got tangled, and LeBron went up to try to score, was aggressively holding Songaila off with his arm in what appeared to be totally legal fashion but his other arm and Songaila’s arm were entangled the whole time, and as LeBron landed and they untangled, Songaila, using his left hand side-arm back-handed Lebron in the face. It clearly seemed intentional.

It wasn’t a full-on punch, but it was like a clear back-hand to the face. A pimp-slap, if you will.

LeBron just took the jab and stayed backed away, not retaliating.

I thought Songaila should have been ejected, yet the refs just called a personal foul and a technical foul on him, which was surprising.

And during the discussions after the incident, DeShawn Stevenson and Anderson Varejao had a very minor disagreement, and the refs quickly slapped a double-tech on them. I hate that call. Neither player needed a tech called on them.

Kevin Durant the NBA Rookie of the year

Kevin Durant, who led all first-year players in scoring, assists and free-throw percentage, will be named the NBA’s rookie of the year and become the first Sonics player to win the award.

Two league sources confirmed Durant outdistanced second-place finisher Al Horford, an Atlanta forward. The sources spoke anonymously because the official announcement is scheduled for Thursday.

Durant, who has spent the past couple of weeks in his hometown of Washington, D.C., will collect the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy at a team function in downtown Seattle.

Avery Johnson was dismissed as coach of the Dallas Mavericks the day after a disappointing season ended with a first-round playoff exit in New Orleans. Incredible highs and heartbreaking lows marked the tenure of Johnson, who leaves as the most successful coach in franchise history by many measures.



Johnson became the eighth coach in team history on March 19, 2005 and posted a record of 194-70 (.735) during the regular season. He led the Mavs to the playoffs four consecutive years, including a trip to the 2006 NBA Finals. His postseason record of 23-24 (.489) included 12 losses in the last 16 games.



“You’ve got to take the good with the bad,” Johnson said Tuesday night after the 99-94 loss to the Hornets that ended the series. “That is called life. There are a lot of highs and lows in coaching, but the highs outweigh the lows. The rewards outweigh anything.



“I’ve been through much worse. There are a lot of people in bad shape and I am not one of them.”



The search for the ninth coach in club history begins immediately. The next coach takes over a team that could be significantly different from the squad that suffered through an inconsistent 51-31 regular season that earned the seventh seed in the Western Conference.



The 15-man roster features eight potential free agents. Dirk Nowitzki remains the focal point, but the cast of characters surrounding the 2006-07 MVP is expected to undergo major change. Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Erick Dampier, Jerry Stackhouse and Brandon Bass are under contract, though Kidd can option out. Johnson’s staff – Paul Westphal, Joe Prunty and Mario Elie – currently remains under contract through next season.



In his first full season as head coach (2005-06), Johnson guided the Mavericks to 60 wins and their first appearance in the NBA Finals. He became the fastest coach to reach 50 wins (62 games), coached the Western Conference All-Star team and was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year.



Johnson led Dallas to a franchise-record 67 wins, the NBA’s best record, the following season. The mark was also the sixth best in league history. Following a 10-0 month of February, Johnson garnered Western Conference Coach of the Month honors, an award he won three times in his career.



This past season, Johnson became the fastest coach in NBA history to reach 150 wins with a victory over Memphis on November 17, 2007. He accomplished that feat in just 191 games.



“It is never easy to relieve a coach of his duties, especially one of Avery’s caliber,” owner Mark Cuban said. “He is a talented coach and I want to thank him for his efforts over the last four years and what he has done for this franchise. We wish him well in the future.”



The Mavs were the first head-coaching opportunity for Johnson, who played 16 years in the NBA before retiring before the 2004-05 season. He joined the staff of former coach Don Nelson and took the coaching reins 64 games into his first season on the bench.



“I would like to thank Avery for his valuable contributions to the Mavericks organization,” president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said. “Over the past four years, he has been an integral part of our team’s success. We wish AJ nothing but the very best in his future endeavors.”

Other than letting his friend, rapper and New Jersey Nets minority owner Jay-Z, make a disrespectful song directed at DeShawn Stevenson, LeBron James hasn't engaged in much trash talk with the Washington Wizards during this best-of-seven series.His only comment that could be interpreted as bulletin board material came after his Cleveland Cavaliers took a 3-1 lead on Sunday. James was asked if the Wizards had any chance of coming back to win, and he answered, "No."

The Cavaliers are one victory from ending the Wizards' season for the third year in a row with Game 5 set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena. James, who is averaging 29.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists this series, is confident that it is not a matter of if but when Cleveland will eliminate the Wizards.

"It has nothing to do with the Wizards. They are a good team, but they've got to beat us three straight games, and I don't see that happening," James said on Tuesday. "I'm held accountable for our team's actions and I'm going to make sure our team maintains focus throughout this next game, and if it has to go beyond that. But I just don't see it happening."

James is 4-3 when the Cavs could close out an opponent the past two seasons, but he has never hesitated to eliminate the Wizards at the first opportunity, winning both times at Verizon Center. Two years ago, James tapped Gilbert Arenas on the foul line and told him he was going home if he missed the free throws. Arenas missed both and Damon Jones hit the game-winning jumper with 4.8 seconds left of a 114-113 overtime victory. Last year, James let Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Larry Hughes score 18 of the Cavaliers' final 20 points in a 97-90 victory.

The Cavaliers have some extra incentive to finish off Washington on Wednesday, with the winner of this series getting the winner of the Atlanta Hawks-Boston Celtics series, which is tied 2-2. "We have one more game to try to close these guys out and if not, get ready for a Game 6," James said. "We have to take care of our business and not worry about who's next after that."

The last time the Cavaliers held a 3-1 lead in the playoffs, they went home to Cleveland a year ago and had their worst postseason performance at Quicken Loans Arena in the James era, as the Nets beat them, 83-72.

James said he also wouldn't let the Wizards distract him with words or hard fouls. He nearly lost control of his temper in Game 1, when he was initially thrown off by the Wizards' physical play. He reacted to Andray Blatche slapping him in the mouth on a drive by popping Blatche with an elbow to the chin the next time they crossed paths. Although he wasn't penalized during the game, the league office assessed him with a flagrant-one foul before the next game.

Since then, James has kept his cool, even as the Wizards continued to knock him to the ground. Wizards center Brendan Haywood was ejected in Game 2 after sending him soaring into the photographers along the baseline. Haywood also mocked James for complaining about the physical contact and suggesting that Wizards are trying to hurt him.

"It happens in playground basketball, but it usually stops after the first hit because it can get really serious," James said. "It's part of basketball, I guess. It's happened more times than it should.

"I wasn't coming into the playoffs thinking I was going to be nick-free or not getting touched at all. But I'm built for it," James said. "It's obvious that [the Wizards] want to get me unfocused. That can't happen and it won't happen."

Stevenson has been getting under James's skin ever since he called him "overrated" in March. In the second quarter of Game 4, the two nearly came to blows after Stevenson picked up a flagrant foul when he clubbed James in the head with his elbow, knocking off James's headband and sending him sprawling.

James shot up and approached Stevenson but did nothing more than walk away after they were separated. He added that it would've escalated had the incident occurred when James was a kid playing at Elizabeth Park in Akron.

"I don't fight," James said. "That's so grade school. I stopped fighting a long time ago. I don't need to fight anymore. I can't afford to get kicked out of a game or say something that may stir something where I get fined. I mean too much to my team to allow guys to hard foul me or say something where I could get kicked out."

Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown praised James for keeping his composure through the physical play and the hostile environment in Washington, where James was greeted with boos every time he touched the ball and heard "overrated" on more than one occasion.

"It takes a special human being to keep your poise with all that has gone on," Brown said.

James was asked if the league and its officials have done a good job of policing this series. "I'm not the guy to ask," he said. "I'm just an employee of the NBA, not the boss."

So far, this series has included six technical fouls, three flagrant-one fouls, one flagrant-two foul, one ejection, a $25,000 fine for a "menacing gesture" by Stevenson and a hip-hop feud. "It's getting real commercial," James said. "Hopefully we can close them out so I can give you some more insight about what I think has been happening this series."

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