Lakers star Bryant claims his first MVP

LOS ANGELES -- Finally, an MVP award for Kobe Bryant.

Regarded as the NBA's best player for several years but never its most valuable, Bryant earned the honor Tuesday after leading the Los Angeles Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference.

He called the award a blessing and an honor and emphasized that he wants another trophy this year.

"It's Hollywood, it's a movie script. The perfect ending would be for us to hold a championship trophy at the end of it," Bryant said at a news conference attended by his teammates, club officials, his wife and two daughters.

"This is an award I couldn't have won on my own. I can't thank these guys enough. These are my guys, these are my brothers. Let's get ready for tomorrow."

The Lakers try to take a 2-0 lead against Utah in their conference semifinal tonight. Bryant will receive the MVP trophy from commissioner David Stern before the game.

Bryant, 29, entered the season as the league's two-time defending scoring champion. He had finished as high as third in the MVP voting twice -- after the 2002-03 season, when he averaged 30 points for the first time, and last year when Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki won.

"I don't know anybody who's ever deserved this trophy more. I don't know anybody who's ever worked as hard to accomplish what he's accomplished," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who had five-time MVP Michael Jordan with Chicago and was at the Lakers' helm when Shaquille O'Neal won the award in 2000.

Bryant received 82-first-place votes and 1,105 points in the media vote. He was followed by New Orleans' Chris Paul (28 and 889), Boston's Kevin Garnett (15 and 670) and Cleveland's LeBron James (1 and 438).

This season there was no denying the Lakers' 6-foot-6 star. Los Angeles rose to the top of the West despite key injuries and following Bryant's trade demands last spring, when his team was eliminated in the first round by Phoenix for the second straight year.

Bryant averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.84 steals while playing all 82 games despite tearing a ligament in his right pinkie in February. He put off surgery until after the Olympics.

Bryant, second in the NBA in scoring behind James, is the first Laker to win the MVP award since O'Neal.