Race to MVP

The 2008-2009 season elimination round is coming to an end as the playoffs will tip off this coming April 19. As the positioning in the western and in the eastern conference is becoming very tight, the race to the MVP award is also becoming tough. The early candidates are deserving as far as their heroism in their team is concern. We have the last year’s MVP, Kobe Bryant, the ever-reliable guard of the LA Lakers. He averages 27 points per game and one of the very reason why Lakers is on the top of western conference. We also have the star of the top seed of the eastern conference, Lebron James who averages 28.4 points per game. He brought the Cavaliers in the top of the eastern standings. Finally, we have Dwayne Wade, he averages 29.8 points per game. Wade almost single-handedly brought the Heat in the fifth spot in the east. Two of the candidates came from the 2003 elite draft class.

Personally, my bet for this year's MVP is King Lebron James because he does not only bring on the scores, he also put some magnificent numbers in assists, rebounds and in hassle points. Who is your bet? Pick your choice.

Paul " The Truth" Pierce

Paul Anthony Pierce born in Oakland, California, also known The Truth is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the NBA. He earned All-America First Team honors in his junior year at Kansas, and has been a starter every season since being selected by the Celtics with the 10th overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft. He is a 6-time All-Star and led Boston to appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002 and 2008. Pierce, who was raised in Inglewood, a suburb of Los Angeles, California, was the star of his Inglewood High School, playing basketball his junior and senior years. He was cut from the varsity team his freshman and sophomore years, and even thought about transferring schools, but eventually decided to work harder and keep trying. He also participated in the 1995 McDonald's All-American Game alongside future NBA stars Kevin Garnett, Stephon Marbury, Vince Carter, and Antawn Jamison, and was a contestant in the game's Slam Dunk Contest, which was won by Carter.

Kobe Bryant the MVP

Kobe Bean Bryant was born on August 23, 1978 is an American All-Star shooting guard who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. Bryant is the only son of former Philadelphia 76ers player and former Los Angeles Sparks head coach Joe "Jellybean" Bryant. His parents named him after the famous beef of Kobe, Japan, which they saw on a restaurant menu.

Bryant rose to national prominence in 1996 when he became the first guard in league history to be drafted out of high school. Bryant and then-teammate Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. Since O'Neal's departure following the 2003-04 season, Bryant has become the cornerstone of the Lakers franchise, and was the NBA's leading scorer during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. In 2006, Bryant scored a career high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second highest number of points scored in NBA history. He was awarded the season's MVP in 2008 after leading his team to the 2008 NBA Playoffs as the first seed in the Western Conference.

In 2003, Bryant made headlines when he was accused of sexual assault at a ski resort in Eagle, Colorado. In September 2004, the judge dismissed all charges on Bryant after the accuser declined to testify. A separate civil suit brought by the accuser was ultimately settled out of court

King James

LeBron Raymone James is a superstar in basketball who currently plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA. He was called "King James" and "The Chosen One", the Akron, Ohio-born James was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA star while still in high school, and was named Ohio's "Mr. Basketball" three times. At the age of 18, he was selected with the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cavaliers and signed an unprecedented US$90 million shoe contract with Nike before his NBA debut. He has since set numerous youngest player records. In his first season, he received the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and in the following three seasons received All-NBA and All-Star honors. He has led the Cavaliers to consecutive playoff appearances in 2006, 2007, and 2008; in 2007, the team advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1992 and the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.
James is listed as a small forward, but can also play point guard and shooting guard. This versatility has led to his classification as a "point forward." James was a member of the United States men's national basketball team that won the bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and he finished second in the league Most Valuable Player balloting in 2006.

CP3 on the Go

Christopher Emmanuel Paul was born on May 6, 1985 is an American professional basketball player who currently plays point guard for the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA. He is tagged with the name CP3.
Paul was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Charles and Robin Paul. He has an older brother, Jordan Paul Jr, and younger brother, Shalik Maxwell. Paul played Pop Warner football for the Lewisville Titans and AAU Basketball. He attended John W. Moore Elementary School, Hanes-Lowrance Middle School and West Forsyth High School.
Paul played at West Forsyth High School in Clemmons, North Carolina, where he was a 2003 McDonald's All-American and was named North Carolina's Mr. Basketball for 2003 by The Charlotte Observer. Paul averaged 30.8 points, 8.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.0 steals per game as a senior in leading his team to a 27–0 record and the Class 4A Eastern Regional finals. While in a game during high school, Paul scored 61 points in honor of his grandfather, who in 2002 was beaten to death in his own carport during a robbery -- one point for every year his grandfather lived.
Paul attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. He played there for two years leading the Demon Deacons to two NCAA Tournaments, and one Sweet Sixteen appearance. In his freshman year he was named a Consensus First Team All-American. Chris had also received the ACC Rookie of the Year as well as ACC All-Defensive Team honors during his play at Wake Forest. He left Wake Forest with records near the top of nearly every offensive category. Paul decided to make himself eligible for the NBA Draft after his sophomore year at Wake Forest.