MVP race muddled as year winds down

Dirk Nowitzki leads a short-handed Dallas team into San Antonio and scores 30 points, carrying the Mavericks to a huge victory in the Western Conference playoff race.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich afterward called it “an MVP performance.”

So is Nowitzki the NBA’s most valuable player?

To answer that question in this year’s crowded race, you first need to tackle the tougher one: “What is an MVP?”

The best player? The most important player on a winning team? The one whose team could least afford to lose him?

Any way you look at it, as many as six players seem to have an MVP-worth case.

Mark Cuban doesn’t need any convincing.

“There should be no question that Dirk is the leading candidate,” the Mavericks owner said. “You can’t look at any other team with a single All-Star and find one who has been more valuable to his team and has led his team to more wins.”

What about LeBron James? He scored 37 points the following day as Cleveland went to New Jersey and snapped the Nets’ league-best 14-game winning streak. In his next game, he made the game-winning basket with 0.5 seconds remaining to beat the Hornets.

Maybe he is the best choice.

“LeBron had a spectacular year, which has really helped our team take the next step,” Cavs general manager Danny Ferry said. “And we did it with injuries, and we did it with a first-year general manager, first-year coach, all those things, and he really led the way.”

Nowitzki and James are far from the only worthy candidates in what is shaping up as one of the deepest MVP fields in years. There’s plenty of support for Steve Nash, last year’s winner in Phoenix, as well as Chauncey Billups of Detroit and Miami’s Dwyane Wade.

Oh, and don’t forget Kobe Bryant’s choice: Kobe Bryant.

“I’d vote for myself,” the Lakers star said with a smile.

And if he couldn’t?

“I wouldn’t vote at all.”

The people who will vote have until the day after the regular season to get their ballots in, and they may want to wait right up until the deadline to sort through the choices.

The race seems headed to a finish like 1999, when Karl Malone, Alonzo Mourning and Tim Duncan were separated by fewer than 100 votes; or the 1990 vote when Magic Johnson edged Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan.

Before voters decide who is the most valuable player, they first have to decide what is a most valuable player.

“What’s the criteria? Make your team better,” Knicks coach Larry Brown said. “And then look at the record. Look at the people around them and then you make a decision.

“You pick five guys out on Detroit. You look at the teams that are winning in the league. You look at Dallas right away, you look at absolutely LeBron, you look at Steve Nash not having (Amare) Stoudemire.

“There’s a lot of pretty neat stories.”

Nash won a close race last season, beating Shaquille O’Neal by 34 points. He seemed to be the favorite among players during the All-Star break and has led Phoenix to a second straight Pacific Division title, even though the Suns only had Stoudemire for three games.

But the Suns stumbled a bit down the stretch, possibly opening the door for someone who has a strong finish – someone like Nowitzki or James.

Dallas had to play for portions of the second half without regulars Josh Howard, Adrian Griffin, Devin Harris, and Keith Van Horn, but Nowitzki’s play has kept the Mavs neck-and-neck with the Spurs for the best record in the West.

“He’s as valuable to his team as any player in the league,” Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said. “The most unusual thing about Dallas is that they lose last year’s MVP (Nash played with them two seasons ago) and still get better. It’s mind-boggling.”

James had a sensational stretch to lock up the first playoff berth of his career. His run of nine straight games with 35 points made him only the third player since 1970 with such a run, topped by only Jordan (10 games in 1986) and Bryant (13 in 2003).

In those nine games, James averaged 38.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 7.6 assists. The last player to post at least those averages in a nine-game span was Oscar Robertson in 1964-65.

Most importantly, James’ play prevented the Cavs from the type of second-half collapse they had last year. As Ferry said, “The guy was driven not to let that happen again this year.”

“I never worry about individual accolades,” James said.