PHOENIX (AP) -Bill Russell was never an NBA finals MVP.
Now the award is named after him.
Starting this year, the finals MVP will receive the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award, commissioner David Stern announced Saturday.
“This is one of my proudest moments in basketball, because I determined early in my career, the only important statistic in basketball is the final score,” Russell said. “
Russell’s wife, Marilyn, recently died of cancer, and he was visibly moved as he accepted the honor.
“This is a bittersweet award,” Russell said. “I just lost my special person. But I wanted to thank my teammates because we played a team game quite well. I accept this for my team, and my team included our coach, Red Auerbach, and all my teammates over the years. This is quite flattering.”
Russell, a cornerstone of Boston’s NBA dynasty in the 1960s, was a five-time NBA MVP and won 11 championships as a player and coach. But he never won the finals MVP award.
Lakers. The Celtics won the title but Los Angeles’ Jerry West won the MVP trophy – the first and only time the award has gone to a member of the losing team.
“Who better to name this prestigious award for than one of the greatest players of all time and the ultimate champion,” Stern said.
The award, presented at the end of the finals, is voted by writers and broadcasters covering the series.
“What I’m going to do next week is visit my father’s grave, because he was my hero,” Russell said. “And I’m going to share that with him.”
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DURANT’S TIME COMING: Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant was left out of the All-Star Game. But he’s made his presence felt in Phoenix this weekend.
Durant scored a Rookie Challenge-record 46 points to lead the NBA’s sophomores to a 122-116 victory over the rookies on Friday night, shattering the record of 36 set by Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire as a sophomore in 2004.
Players were still buzzing about it during All-Star practices on Saturday.
“He’ll have his time,” San Antonio center Tim Duncan said. “He’ll be on this floor just like we are. I’ll probably be gone by then, but he’ll definitely be out here and be representing the right way.”
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MEMORIES OF MARIAH: Michael? Nope. Magic? Not quite.
Mariah? Definitely.
gest All-Star impression on LeBron James.
“My favorite All-Star memory was seeing Mariah Carey in the Michael Jordan jersey dress,” James said Saturday. “Was that Atlanta? Yeah, that’s my favorite memory of All-Star weekend. Whew!”
James was a high school senior in Akron, Ohio in 2003 when that performance took place. During a tribute to Jordan, who was playing in his final All-Star game, Carey sang while wearing tight-fitting dresses patterned after Jordan’s Chicago and Washington jerseys.
Speaking of All-Star outfits, James gave high marks to his Olympic teammate Dwyane Wade, who sported a bow tie Friday night when he acted as an assistant coach for the rookies in the rookie challenge.
“I wore a bow tie before,” James said. “I thought D-Wade looked good. He looked really good.”
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STAYING OR GOING?: Phoenix All-Star Amare Stoudemire has been the subject of intense trade rumors in recent days.
The fans seem as confused as Stoudemire about where he might end up.
“I’m hearing people say don’t go. I’m hearing people say come to the Knicks, come to the Bulls, come to Miami,” Stoudemire said at All-Star practice. “I’m hearing everything. Everybody’s attacking me.”
Stoudemire said he expects a positive reaction from the fans in his homecourt, U.S. Airways Center, on Sunday night. West coach Phil Jackson believes he’ll get it.
to the All-Star Game, but he is on a favored court where he feels comfortable, and there’ll be enough fans to really give him support,” Jackson said. “There’ve been a lot of rumors around Amare during this weekend. We want him to play loose and free and the best that he can do out there on the floor, and we think he’ll be fine.”
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NO ‘D’ FOR D-WADE: Although his rookies team lost the Rookie Challenge, Dwyane Wade said he enjoyed his turn as an assistant coach.
Wade chuckled when asked if he was in charge of defense for a team that gave up 122 points in 40 minutes.
“I was in charge of patting guys on the back,” Wade said.
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AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this report.
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