USA/GER - Nowitzki the first European to capture MVP award in NBA

DALLAS (NBA) - German international Dirk Nowitzki has been named Most Valuable Player in the NBA, becoming the first European to win the prestigious award.

The German superstar forward of the Dallas Mavericks outpolled Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, who had won the title for the last two years.

"I'm still speechless about it," Nowitzki said at a news conference.

"When I first started playing this game at 13, 14, I was the biggest fan of this league. I would never have thought I could have played in this league."

Nowitzki watched a lot of games involving the Chicago Bulls, who won six NBA titles in the 1990s.

Unlike many fans, he was not awe-struck by Michael Jordan but took an interest in the versatile Scottie Pippen.

"I was a huge fan of Pippen," he said. "He was a great all-around player. That was always my goal - to be an all-around player."

A perennial All-Star, Nowitzki rounded out his game in his ninth season, averaging 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and a career-high 3.4 assists.

He was the only NBA player to shoot at least 50 percent from the field (.502), 40 percent from the arc (.416) and 90 percent from the line (.904).

Nowitzki finished no lower than 13th in scoring, rebounding, field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage.

More important, he led the Mavericks to a 67-15 mark, which matched the fourth-most wins in NBA history.

Nowitzki placed no lower than third on all 129 ballots from members of the media. He received 83 first-place votes and 1,138 points in balloting tabulated on a 10-7-5-3-1 basis.

Nash also was no lower than third on every ballot and received 44 first-place votes and 1,013 points.

Yet the point guard was denied his third straight MVP award, a feat achieved only by Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird.

Nowitzki joins Canada native Nash, Tim Duncan of the Virgin Islands (2002, 2003) and Hakeem Olajuwon of Nigeria (1994) as the only foreign-born players to win MVP.

It was a bittersweet day for Nowitzki, who would much rather have been accepting the Maurice Podoloff Trophy before a play-off game rather than at a scheduled gathering.

Balloting was completed before the play-offs, where Dallas suffered a stunning loss to Golden State in the first round in one of the biggest upsets in post-season history.

Nowitzki averaged just 19.7 points on 38 percent shooting and and shouldered much of the blame for failing to take charge.

Tuesday's honour made him the first MVP to fail to advance past the opening round since Moses Malone with Houston in 1982.

"It's still a little hard for me to be happy because of the way the season ended," he said. "But this is an award for the regular season and I'm very proud. I think 67 games is a very, very special season. I'll try to look at it this way."

FIBA