Bewerbung » ever it was, it was in the moment. Em

Third time was the charm for James Harden.

The Houston Rockets star was voted the NBA’s Most Valuable Player after twice being runner-up Youth Albert Wilson Jersey , beating out four-time winner LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the Pelicans at the NBA Awards on Monday night.

Harden joined Michael Jordan as the only players to average at least 20 points, eight assists, five rebounds and 1.7 steals in a season.

He led the league in scoring, 3-pointers and 50-point games with four while helping the Rockets to an NBA-leading 65 wins.

”The last four years have been like knocking on the door, knocking on the door. Now the moment is finally here,” Harden said backstage. ”Just every single year you try to come back and be better than you were the year before, and just to be holding that trophy finally, it means a lot.”

James didn’t attend the show in Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport amid frenzied speculation about his future. He has until Friday to tell the Cavaliers if he will pick up his $35.6 million option for next season or opt for free agency.

Harden, who is from Los Angeles, led his mother on stage before he accepted the trophy from Commissioner Adam Silver.

”I’m not going to get emotional,” he said from behind dark sunglasses. ”She’s my backbone in good times and bad times.”

Harden received a total of 965 points and 86 first-place votes. James finished second with 738 points and 15 first-place votes, while Davis was third with 445 points and no first-place votes.

Harden didn’t prepare a speech.

”I felt like last year I should have won as well, so I didn’t see a difference between last year and this year,” he said backstage. ”If I won it, then I was going to go off the top and try to show my appreciation to everybody helping me along the way.”

Harden’s teammate, Chris Paul Thurman Munson Jersey , popped up among reporters backstage and asked Harden how many bottles of liquor Rockets CEO Tad Brown would have to buy at the next location.

”Couple cases,” Harden said, grinning.

The Rockets had another winner in Daryl Morey, who was honored as Executive of the Year.

In other awards, Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers won Rookie of the Year.

The guard averaged 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, joining Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson as the only rookies to post those numbers in a season.

Simmons helped Philadelphia to a 52-30 record, including ending the season with a 16-game winning streak.

He beat out finalists Donovan Mitchell of Utah and Jayson Tatum of Boston.

Guard Victor Oladipo of the Indiana Pacers earned Most Improved Player.

He averaged 23.1 points in his first season with the Pacers while nabbing his first All-Star berth. He also led the league in steals for the first time.

The Defensive Player of the Year went to center Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz.

He was the leading vote-getter for the league’s All-Defensive first team while anchoring a Jazz defense that ranked second in the NBA in defensive rating.

Lou Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers took Sixth Man honors.

The guard became the first player to average at least 20 points for the first time in his 13th season or later. He led the league in fourth-quarter points and scoring average.

Williams kissed his two young daughters on his way to the stage after becoming the Clippers’ third winner in the last five years.

Dwane Casey was chosen Coach of the Year for his work with the Toronto Raptors, who fired him last month. He has since become coach of the Detroit Pistons.

”Can’t look in the rear view mirror,” Casey said backstage. ”Winston Churchill said success is measured by failure, failure, and then come back with enthusiasm, and that’s what I’ve done.”

Casey led the Raptors to the No. 1 seed in the East for the first time in franchise history after winning a team-record 59 games. Casey coached the East in the All-Star Game for the first time.

Casey won over Quin Snyder of Utah and Brad Stevens of Boston.

Robertson received the Lifetime Achievement Award from presenters Charles Barkley and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

After Barkley mentioned last year’s recipient Bill Russell, Boston’s Hall of Fame center flipped his middle finger in Barkley’s direction.

Robertson is the career leader in triple-doubles and was the first player to average one for a season. His antitrust case against the NBA also ushered in free agency for players, which Robertson said was his most important assist.

Backstage, Robertson commended the activism of today’s players Authentic Dallas Goedert Jersey , although he wondered why more white athletes aren’t speaking out.

”The only thing that really bothers me is where are the white athletes when this is happening?” he said. ”This is not a black athlete problem. You see injustice in the world. It’s all around.”

Robertson went on to say he hopes ”the whites and the blacks get together, even with the football,” a reference to NFL players who have taken a knee or sat in silence during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality.

Former NBA player Dikembe Mutombo received the Sager Strong Award, named for the late Turner Sports broadcaster. He donned a garish sports coat similar to what Craig Sager always wore.

The Hustle Award went to Amir Johnson of the 76ers.

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PITTSBURGH — There is nothing routine or stale for the Pittsburgh Penguins as they begin their quest for their third straight Stanley Cup Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers at PPG Paints Arena in a first-round playoff series opener.

“I still pinch myself almost every day that you get to be a part of something like this,” said Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray, who won each of the past two Stanley Cups while technically a rookie under NHL rules.

“It’s just so exciting. It’s like Christmas when you’re a kid almost. You know how much fun you had watching when you were a kid. I’ll bet you I’ll feel like that for years and years. It’s really cool that I get to be here. I’m just trying to cherish that.”

They’re also trying hard to win it all again, while not overlooking the journey.

“Certainly, the expectation within our room is that we have the ability to compete,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We know that it’s hard, and we know that we’ve got to go out and earn it each and every day, each and every game. That’s where our mindset is. I don’t think any of us are trying to reflect on where this team stands.”

The Penguins finished second in the Metropolitan Division, just two points ahead of the Flyers, but seem to enter their first-round series as a bigger favorite than that margin would indicate, more than likely based on Pittsburgh’s recent postseason success.

Philadelphia isn’t arguing that point, but the team isn’t accepting anything as a foregone conclusion, either.

“We didn’t expect very many people to pick us to come out of this series http://www.cowboysauthorizedshops.com/authentic-mike-white-jersey , and that’s OK,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “There’s a quiet belief in our dressing room. … We’re the underdog. We’re pegged that. We know that. We’re playing against a hell of a hockey team that has a lot of experience at the playoff level. We’ve got to go out and earn it, and that’s what we’ll do.”

There are a couple more tangible reasons for Pittsburgh to be favored.

The Penguins, who have home-ice advantage in the series, were 30-9-2 at PPG Paints Arena during the regular season. They also have the most potent power play in the NHL going into the postseason, with a 26.2 percent success rate.

And then there were the head-to-head meetings. Pittsburgh swept the four games, scoring five goals in each, with star centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin combining for 14 points.

“I know we didn’t get the points that we wanted in the games against them, but I think out of the four games, in three of them we played really well and kind of let a few games get away,” Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov told the Philadelphia Daily News. “It doesn’t matter now. It’s a clean sheet now in the playoffs and all our focus is on getting the first win.”

Both teams have players who excelled during the regular season. Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux finished second in the league scoring race with 102 points. Pittsburgh’s Malkin was third with 98 points, while teammates Phil Kessel (92) and Crosby (89) ranked eighth and 10th.

The last time these teams met in the playoffs, in 2012, also in the first round, Philadelphia not only upset Pittsburgh in six games but also got under the Penguins’ skins with a physical, agitating style that led to several Pittsburgh star players getting involved in fights and scrums.

The only Penguins remaining from that team are Crosby http://www.bengalsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-mark-walton-jersey , Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang, but all three engaged in the uncharacteristic behavior in the 2012 series.

“We’re all over 30 years old now. We’re supposed to be mature,” Letang said. “I mean, it was. … whatever it was, it was in the moment. Emotional. We have a different team, different experience, different coaching staff. Everything is different, so we don’t even look at that.”

Philadelphia has five holdovers from that series — Giroux, Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds.

Couturier said this time the Flyers’ motivation is to win in a more direct way.

“I don’t think we’ve played our best game or a full 60 minutes against Pittsburgh yet,” he told the Daily News. “I like our chances if we play some good hockey and focus for 60 minutes, maybe even more.”
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