Insider Special: MVP Watch

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Scoring numbers boost

McGrady's status

by Terry Brown

Thursday, February 27 Updated 1:15 PM EST

Who's wearing Allen Iverson's gold chains now . . .

Tracy McGrady at 30.1?

Kobe Bryant at 30.12?

Tracy McGrady . . . again, at 31.3?

Does Kobe play tonight at 30.8?

In 2001, the Answer won the scoring title at 31.1, the Eastern Conference crown and MVP award.

McGrady

In that order.

The year before, Shaquille O'Neal won the scoring title at 29.7, the NBA title and MVP award.

In 1991, 1992, 1996 and 1998, Michael Jordan won the scoring title, the NBA title and MVP award. He also won scoring and NBA titles in 1993 and 1997 but you get the point.

The game is still won by putting the ball through the hoop, whether we're talking about the five-on-five version you see on TV or the one-on-10 going on below because, well, a rebound, assist, block, steal or triple-double, at best, only leads to someone putting the ball through the hoop and doesn't even register in the final score.

More times than not, the one with the most points wins.

Last year, Tim Duncan won it after scoring 25.5 per game. That was fifth best in the league and lowest ranking since Charles Barkley won the award in 1993 after scoring 25.6 per game for fifth best in the league.

And, let's be honest, we've regretted it ever since.

Don't think for a second that if Kevin Garnett were leading the league in scoring or even second or third that he wouldn't be at the very tip of this list. As it is, he's second in rebounds (to a guy who averages about 6 points a game) while being tied for ninth in scoring at 23.2.

He's second below.

But if Tim Duncan were around 30 a game to go with his third-best rebounding average and second-best record, he'd be the unquestionable MVP. We'd leave second vacant in honor of the accomplishment.

As it is, he's tied for seventh in the league in scoring at 23.3 and fourth on the list below.

But if Dirk Nowitzki were hitting two more three-pointers a game to boost his scoring average to 29.6 after having won more games than anyone else in this league at a projected 63, then we'd be engraving the trophy in German.

As it is, he's sixth in the league at 23.6 and fifth below.

Tracy McGrady, despite a 29-29 record in the terrible Eastern Conference and even worse Atlantic Division and an offensive strategy obscenely designed to get him 60 looks, 45 screens and 30 points a game, is leading the league in scoring and many a writer's ballot for the league's MVP.

Quite simply, no MVP in the last 12 years has averaged fewer than 23.8 points per game (Karl Malone in 1999 was third in the league that season) and, as previously mentioned, no one has been ranked lower than fifth.

As a whole, the MVP has averaged 28.2 points per game.

In that same span, the league scoring champ has averaged 30.

Right or wrong, the rest, as they say, is mathematical.

The Top 10 Contenders

1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers

Numbers: 30.8 ppg, 7 rpg, 6.2 apg, 2.2 spg, 0.9 bpg, 45% field, 38% three, 83% line

Who knows what Kobe did with the ball he scored 51 with on the Nuggets in 31 minutes. Or the one he scored 52 with against the Rockets in critical mass. Or any of the other nine balls he used consecutively to score 40 or more points. I mean, not even he knows what happened to the ball the Lakers and Pacers used on Feb. 4, when he tallied 35 points, seven boards, two assists, two steals and two blocks in the game before The Streak started. But the ball he used on Feb. 25 when he tallied 32 points, six boards, three assists, five steals and a block to end The Streak, was chased down after the buzzer, gripped in one hand and then tucked under his arm for safe keeping. While the rest of us are amazed at what the kid has done, he is still concentrating on what he hasn't. For the record, he was a scant 15 points of a minimum 560 spread over three games of actually scoring 40 or more a game in 14 straight to catch Wilt.

2. Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves

Numbers: 23.2 ppg, 13 rpg, 5.6 apg, 1.4 spg, 1.5 bpg, 49% field, 34% three, 75% line

Twenty-ten-and-five used to seem as rare and precious as the 50-point game. Now, the two are merely vulgar as KG single-handidly stretches it to 23-13-and-5.661 while every Tom, [censored] and Jamal ring up fiddy. But lost in the statistical sedation is the fact that the Timberwolves have gone from a 6-13 record against playoff-caliber teams before the new year to 10-5 since. That and 0.005 percentage points from Portland will give them home-court advantage and a first-round victory, which would propel one Kevin Garnett beyond any number, decimal point and average ever could.

3. Tracy McGrady, Orlando Magic

Numbers: 31.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 5.2 apg, 1.6 spg, 0.8 bpg, 45% field, 37% three, 79% line

See above.

4. Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs

Numbers: 23.3 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 3.9 apg, 0.7 spg, 2.9 bpg, 49% field, 26% three, 70% line

A few days ago, John Mayer accepted his grammy for Best Male Pop Performance by telling us that it had come too fast but he would try to catch up. Hopefully, Duncan was listening.

5. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks

Numbers: 23.6 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.4 spg, 1.2 bpg, 46% field, 36% three, 85% line

You didn't expect the Dallas Mavericks to get off to a 14-0 start, go through a tough 7-7 patch before winning six of their last seven and remain 4 1/2 games better than anyone in the division, conference or league. And you didn't expect a guy who averaged 8.2 points per game as a rookie lottery pick to be a top-5 player in the game less than four seasons later. But until we expect the Mavericks and Dirk to do and be just that, he and they can go from No. 2 on this list to No. 11 with the click of the refresh button or first-round loss.

6. Chris Webber, Sacramento Kings

Numbers: 22.9 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 5.4 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.5 bpg, 46% field, 8% three, 57% line

The most regular-season games Webber has ever played in his career is 75. This year, the most he can play is 67. Three words: woulda, coulda, shoulda.

7. Jason Kidd, New Jersey Nets

Numbers: 19.9 ppg, 6 rpg, 8.5 apg, 2.2 spg, 0.3 bpg, 42% field, 34% three, 83% line

Last year, he almost won this thing with a 14.7 point per game average. This year, at 19.9, he has never been further as the Nets go 6-7 in the month of February and he scores 19.4 on 39 percent shooting.

8. Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics

Numbers: 26.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.8 spg, 0.8 bpg, 41% field, 29% three, 81% line

He scored more points than any other player in the league last season and is averaging more per game this year along with more rebounds and more assists and less help from teammates than ever before as the Celtics fall to fifth in the East, closer to sixth than fourth at this rate with Yugoslavia and Argentina not far behind.

9. Steve Francis, Houston Rockets

Numbers: 22.8 ppg, 6 rpg, 6 apg, 1.7 spg, 0.4 bpg, 43% field, 39% three, 79% line

Hanging by a thread. Perhaps a 7-foot-5, 296-pound thread, but a thread, nonetheless. But unless he plans on scoring 40 or more in 10 straight, he best get used to the ride in shotgun.

10. Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles Lakers

Numbers: 26 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 3.3 apg, 0.6 spg, 2.2 bpg, 56% field, 0% three, 61% line

Penance pending but it's about time we stopped pretending that the big guy behind the three bigger trophies and the biggest grin in the game really isn't there when we can plainly see his big toe sticking out from behind that curtain.