Congrats to the LA LAKERS on Winning their 15th Championship

Dwight Howard Named Defensive MVP

The 23-year-old Howard became the youngest player to win the NBA's defensive player of the year award Tuesday. Howard was only the fifth player to lead the league in blocks and rebounds in the same season, a goal he set in training camp.
"A lot of guys don't want to go up [for blocks] because they're afraid of getting dunked on," Howard said. "Dikembe and Patrick told me, 'As many times as you're going to get dunked on you're going to have more blocks.'"
Howard led the Magic to a second straight Southeast Division title and 59 wins in the regular season, one shy of tying the best record in franchise history set in the 1995-96 season. Orlando trails Philadelphia 1-0 in the first round of the playoffs. Game 2 is Wednesday.
Howard received 542 points, including 105 first-place votes from a panel of 119 writers and broadcasters. Cleveland's LeBron James was second with 148 points and Miami's Dwyane Wade finished third with 90 points.
Even Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu, not known for his defense, managed to get one third-place vote.
"Probably the most impressive thing about the defensive player of the year award was two things," Magic general manager Otis Smith said. "The fact that Turkoglu finished in the top 16, and probably the fact that Dwight set out at the start of the season with a goal in mind to be the best defensive player in the league. He started with that goal in mind, and he finished it."
Howard averaged 13.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game this season, his fifth in the league.
The only other players to be rebounding and blocks champions in the regular season were Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon and Ben Wallace. Blocks were not kept as an official statistic until 1973.
"To be the defensive player of the year at 23 is remarkable," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "To be a great defensive player usually comes later in a career. And he still has so much room for improvement."
The award caps a remarkable year for Howard.
He won gold as the center of the U.S. men's team at the Beijing Olympics, passed Wilt Chamberlain as the youngest NBA player to reach the 5,000-rebound mark and became an All-Star for the third time.
Many saw this coming -- just not so soon.
Howard is five months younger than Alvin Robertson, who was 23 years and nine months old when he won the award with San Antonio in the 1985-86 season.
The No. 1 overall draft pick out of high school in 2004, Howard has quickly become one of the NBA's most dominant centers. His chiseled, 6-foot-11, 265-pound physique makes him one of the most intimidating players, and his incredible vertical leap is even rarer for a big man.

Mike Brown NBA Coach of the Year 2009

Mike Brown, who has taken Cleveland to the postseason in each of his four seasons, was honored Monday as the league's top coach after leading the Cavaliers to 66 wins, a Central Division title and the No. 1 overall playoff seed following the greatest regular season in club history.
With James and the other Cavaliers standing behind him and his coaching staff seated a few feet away, Brown humbly accepted the Red Auerbach trophy.
"If they did not want me to coach them, I wouldn't be able to coach them," he said. "I look at this as a partnership. Yes, my name is on this, but this is the ultimate team award from a coaching standpoint. I haven't put on a uniform or done anything out on the floor. The players have done it all. The coaching staff has done a lot and when you win an award like this, you can't do it by yourself.
"You have some great people around you."
None greater than James, the likely league MVP, who feels Brown has been overlooked mostly because he has a superstar at his disposal.
"That was the main reason," James said. "But that doesn't take away from the fact that we still have to go out there and play for him and abide by his system. There are a lot of teams with great talent, but that doesn't automatically qualify you as a good coach or give you wins.
"It just showed this year how good of a coach he is."
Brown joins Bill Fitch in 1976 as the only Cleveland coaches to win the award.
Expected to be a close vote, Brown won in a landslide. He received 55 first-place votes and earned 355 total points from a panel of 122 sports writers and broadcasters, who awarded five points for first, three points for second and one point for third.
Houston's Rick Adelman was second with 151 points, one ahead of Orlando's Stan Van Gundy. Both got 13 first-place votes. Portland's Nate McMillan was first on 15 ballots and finished fourth with 127 points.
New Orleans coach Byron Scott won the award last year.
Preaching the importance of trust to his players since training camp, Brown has created a tightly knit team fronted by James, who led the applause for his coach during the news conference at Cleveland's training facility. The 38-year-old Brown also has given more authority to his assistants, a sign of both his maturity as a coach and confidence as a leader.
"This is our fourth year together," Brown said. "The biggest thing this year was finding that elusive word chemistry among a group of individuals to try and reach one goal. Our goal has not changed, but the thing that we felt would help define chemistry is trust. They have shown tremendous trust in one and other. We've tried as a staff to show trust in them and in order to help that I had to show trust in my assistants."
As he complimented his assistants, James, Delonte West and other players reached over and began patting assistants Mike Malone, John Kuester, Hank Egan, Melvin Hunt and Chris Jent on their backs.
"I had to show our players that I trust those guys," Brown said. "We can talk about something and I can turn my back to it and we know the job is going to get done."
Ferry praised Brown for an unmatched work ethic. Brown's attention to detail has endeared him to his players and staff, but like any successful coach, the long hours have taken away time from the father of two's family. Brown's wife, Carolyn, was on hand to see him get the award.

The WNBA Reacts Quickly To Stop Their Players From Fighting

AHSI.....NEW YORK (AP) - The WNBA swiftly suspended the Detroit and Los Angeles players and Detroit Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn for their role in a skirmish at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Melee in the WNBA. WNBA rookie Candace Parker has already earned attention for her dunks. Now she'll get more after being part of a fight that led to four ejections. Shock forward Plenette Pierson was suspended Thursday for four games for initiating and escalating the altercation in what was the harshest penalty. Mahorn was suspended for two games as were Shannon Bobbitt and Murriel Page of the Sparks. Players suspended for one game included: Detroit's Kara Braxton, Tasha Humphrey, Elaine Powell and Sheri Sam along with Los Angeles' Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker and DeLisha Milton-Jones. WNBA president Donna Orender issued a statement that said the events Tuesday were inexcusable and were not indicative of what the league stands for.