Suns' Nash beats out James for MVP award

PHOENIX (AP) -- That mop-haired Canadian did it again, running away with his second consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player award.
Steve Nash -- the maestro of the fast, frenetic Phoenix Suns -- beat runner-up LeBron James of Cleveland by a comfortable margin in results announced Sunday.
He is the ninth player to win consecutive MVP trophies and joins Magic Johnson as the only point guards to win the award more than once.
Incredulous
"I have to pinch myself," Nash said. "I can't believe that I'm standing here today. I couldn't believe it last year, and to do it again is even more difficult to understand -- but I'm not going to give it back."
The Suns playmaker received 57 first-place votes and 924 points overall from a panel of 125 sports writers and broadcasters in the United States and Canada.
James had 16 first-place votes and 688 points overall. But at 21, though, James knows he will have many more opportunities.
"It would have been nice of course to put another trophy in my house, in my showcase," he said. "But it's something I'm going to keep working hard for. I can't dwell on not being named MVP."
Nash's close friend Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas was third with 14 first-place ballots and 544 overall. Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers had the second-most votes for first place (22), but was fourth overall with 483 points.
Owner's opinion
"Steve is not just a great player," Suns chairman Jerry Colangelo. "He's one of the few players who I believe have ever played who makes everyone better around him. There are very few players who have the ability to directly control the flow of the game, and he does it as well as anyone ever has."
The 32-year-old Nash is the 11th player to win the MVP award more than once.
This season, Nash had career highs in scoring (18.8 points), rebounding (4.2), field goal percentage (.512) and free throw percentage (a league-leading .921). He led the league in assists at 10.5 a game and finished sixth in 3-point percentage at 43.9.
Others who have won consecutive MVP awards are: Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Karl Malone and Bob Pettit also won it twice, but not in consecutive years.
Wallace wins top defensive award
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Detroit center Ben Wallace won the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award for the fourth time in five years, a person within the Pistons organization told The Associated Press Sunday.
The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the award has not been announced, said Wallace will be presented with the award Tuesday night before Game 2 of the second-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Wallace joins Dikembe Mutombo as the only four-time Defensive Player of the Year in league history. The muscular 6-foot-9, 240-pounder also won the award last year in 2003 and 2002.
Detroit won an NBA-high and franchise-record 64 games during the regular season, helped by the work Wallace did while being honored as an All-Star for the fourth straight year.
Wallace ranked fourth in the NBA in rebounding (11.3), ninth in blocks (2.2) and 10th in steals (1.78) -- the only player among the top 10 in all three categories -- and led one of the NBA's top teams at the defensive end of the court.
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