Steve Nash won the NBA's Most Valuable Player award for the second straight year Sunday, beating runner-up LeBron James by a comfortable margin.
The award was presented Sunday at a news conference at US Airways Center, where Phoenix won Game 7 of its first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night.
The Phoenix Suns point guard 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 of Cleveland had 16 first-place votes and 688 points overall. Nash's close friend Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas was third with 14 first-place ballots and 544 overall.
The 32-year-old Nash is the ninth player to win consecutive MVP awards.
Last season, he directed the Suns to an NBA-best 62 victories. This year, the Suns lost Amare Stoudemire to injury and traded Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson. Yet they still won 54 games and a second straight Pacific Division title.
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.
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