The best players in the NBA, including some of the best ever, watch every night with the same astonishment as regular folk. They get home and quickly surf channels for the highlights, or consult their PDAs for the up-to-the-second details. Did LeBron James have another triple-double? Did Kobe get 50? Did Dwyane Wade win the game by blocking a shot or hitting a 25-foot runner at the buzzer?
The most fascinating race for MVP in years has come down to the final dozen games, and it’s impossible to know which of the three will win. But watching it unfold has been thrilling to the point of exhaustion. Shaquille O’Neal, who has a definitive opinion on just about everything, paused for an extra long time Monday night when I asked him who he would vote for, if the season ended that very moment, for MVP…
