[QUOTE] Insider First-Half Awards

MVP: Peja Stojakovic, G/F, Kings. Kevin Garnett has better numbers. Tim Duncan may be the best player in the NBA. Jason Kidd leads all players in the leagues plus/minus rating. Baron Davis is having a breakout year. So how does Stojakovic get the nod? There arent any easy answers here, but Ill try to explain my thinking. Stojakovics Kings have the best record in the NBA despite losing their best player, Chris Webber. In C-Webbs absence, Stojakovic has stepped up with career-high numbers. His 25.1 ppg ranks third in the league. But heres the amazing thing . . . the efficiency with which he is shooting the ball this season. Seventy-seven percent of Stojakovics shots this season are jump shots. Despite that fact, hes shooting 49 percent from the field and 43 percent from the 3-point line while taking an average of 6.6 3-pointers a game. He takes 33 percent of shots with less than eight seconds left on the shot clock, and hits 54 percent of them. Hes doing this without the benefit of defenses double teaming his teammates in the paint. In other words, hes making most of these shots with a hand in his face. In league where shooting has become a lost art, Stojakovics performance this season has been phenomenal. Once Webber gets back, this will change. At the end of the season, my guess is that this will be a two-horse race between KG and TD. But for the first half? Peja deserves the nod.