LeBron James Wins 3rd NBA MVP Award

LeBron James captured his third NBA MVP award Saturday, making him just the eighth player in league history to win that many.

The others to do so were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone.

''Heat nation, we have a bigger goal,'' James said. ''This is very overwhelming to me as an individual award. But this is not the award I want, ultimately. I want that championship. That's all that matters to me.''

James received 85 of a possible 121 first-place votes from a panel of sports writers and broadcasters who cover the league, with fans on NBA.com combining for one vote. He earned 1,074 points, topping Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant (889 points, 24 first-place votes), the Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul (385, six first-place votes), the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant (352, two first-place votes), and San Antonio's Tony Parker (331, four first-place votes).

James numbers this season were 27.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.9 steals per game on 53 percent shooting.