NBA MVP Rankings: Carmelo Anthony moves up to No. 2 in latest voter’s list

RANK	PLAYER	RUNDOWN	LAST
1		LeBRON JAMES, F, MIAMI: He won the award during the 27-game winning streak, if not earlier, and it shouldn’t surprise folks if they only get a small dose of LBJ here and here for the rest of the regular season as Coach Erik Spoelstra rightly rests his players. It won’t even matter to me if the Knicks win the rest of their games and enter the playoffs with an 18-game winning streak — at least not in MVP voting. Coach of the Year? That could very well impact my vote.	1
2		CARMELO ANTHONY, F, NEW YORK: Quite the bump, eh? But quite the week it was, too — games of 50-41-40-36 to move him ahead of Kevin Durant in the scoring race as the Knicks made it to 50 victories. He got his points in all manner of ways, and Sunday’s 36 was most impressive for the bully work he did on the boards and the muscle plays he made inside. He didn’t even get to the foul line until 31 seconds remained. All in all, it was about as impressive of a week as we’ve seen from anyone all season.	6
3		KEVIN DURANT, F, OKLAHOMA CITY: Their monthlong streak without a quality win ended when they defeated the Spurs. He has not shot below 50 percent except once in his last seven games, putting up three 30-point efforts over that span, and the Thunder will ride him hard down the stretch as they now have to catch the Spurs atop the conference to earn the tiebreaker edge. That should impact the scoring title race, as both KD and ‘Melo still have plenty to play for. Let’s not forget that KD has won the last three.	3
4		TIM DUNCAN, F-C, SAN ANTONIO: All season long you could make the case that Tony Parker was more important to the Spurs than Duncan. In fact, you could have made the same argument for the past couple of seasons. But this Fountain of Youth thing that Timmy has going if getting him a bump over his now-injured teammate, Parker, who rises and falls in these weekly rankings more than anyone. Duncan remains in the top 50 in FT pct. at .813.	4
5		TONY PARKER, G, SAN ANTONIO: Gregg Popovich “has yet to decide” if he’ll shut down Parker, who is listed as day-to-day with a variety of ailments, including a sore neck, a bruised ankle, a sore back, a shin injury and a finger injury. Pop said on Saturday that Parker “feels better” than he did on Friday, so take that for what it’s worth. The Spurs don’t play again until Wednesday in Denver, and Parker could easily go for 30 against Andre Miller if Ty Lawson remains sidelined.	2
6		DWYANE WADE, G, MIAMI: Much like James, his numbers are pretty much going to remain what they are over the final 9 days of the season as he figures to be rested. But what numbers they are, and people don’t fully appreciate how he has evolved his offensive game. At 52.1 percent from the field, he is 20th leaguewide and trails only Parker (.526) among guards. In these rankings, he could drop if one of his pursuers flourishes at the finish line. For now, I’m content with him 6th.	5
7		CHRIS PAUL, G, LA CLIPPERS: The more I watch the Clippers, the more I can’t help but think I am watching the final days of Vinny Del Negro prowling the sidelines (same thing with the Nets and P.J. Carlesimo. Gossip outta Brooklyn is that Jeff Van Gundy will be the man next season.) And as noted in this news roundup, Stan’s name is already being tossed around in El Lay. CP will have a say.	7
8		STEPHEN CURRY, G, GOLDEN STATE: His season-high 15 assists against Phoenix didn’t earn him a bump because he failed to reach 20 points for the fifth time in the past 20 games. ‘Dubs are surging but need to hold off the Rockets to get into the playoffs as a No. 6 seed, where they would face a Denver team that will be without Danilo Gallinari (not that it bothered the Nuggets Saturday night as they put up 132 to sweep the season series from Houston).	8
9		RUSSELL WESTBROOK, G, OKLAHOMA CITY: Admittedly, we have spent more time bashing Westbrook than praising him over the course of this season, and it is never too late to rectify a wrong. Aside from Curry, he is the most entertaining point guard to watch in the West, and he has been surging lately from an efficiency standpoint and keeping his turnovers relatively under control. When his head is fully in the game, he is an All-NBA first-team caliber talent. He deserves a spot.	–
10		KOBE BRYANT, G, LA LAKERS: Either this guy or James Harden was going to get knocked out, and Kobe’s workload over the past week outshines James Harden’s two stinkers in the past four games in his matchups with good teams, the Grizzlies and Nuggets. Yes, the Lakers look to be on life support. No, I am not betting against Kobe, the guy who guaranteed a playoff spot. But I still say Mike D’Antoni is a goner one way or another.	9