May 6, 2008 4:46 pm US/Eastern
Lakers' Kobe Bryant Wins NBA's MVP Award
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
Kobe Bryant received the Most Valuable Player award from the National Basketball Association Tuesday for a season in which he made the Lakers into contenders for a championship.
Through the regular season, Bryant averaged 28.3 points per game -- second only to LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Bryant led the Lakers to a 57-25 record, the best in the Western Conference. The Lakers had won 34, 45 and 42 games the previous three seasons.
Shaquille O'Neal, the last Laker to win the MVP, won the award in the 1999-2000 season.
The Lakers have made five straight playoff wins, sweeping the Nuggets and starting round 2 by taking game one against the Jazz.
Game 2 will be played Wednesday night before the best-of-seven series shifts to Utah for Games 3, which can be seen on KCAL 9 at 5:30 p.m., and 4.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
