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Computer Indicates E-Mailman Is MVP

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From Associated Press

Karl Malone has won the latest NBA postseason honor, the IBM Award.

Unlike the others, which are determined by voting, this one was decided by a computer that measured a player’s overall contribution to a team.

Malone led the Utah Jazz to a 62-20 record, tied with Chicago for the league’s best mark, and averaged 27 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.19 steals a game.

Malone had 99.69 points in the statistical evaluation, San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, newly anointed rookie of the year, finished second with 98.70.

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“I didn’t even know I was really in the running,” Malone said.

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Dave Cowens admitted Thursday he enjoys dabbling in chess. The Chicago Bulls made that discovery one night earlier.

By employing the unusual defensive move of using 6-foot-8, 250-pound Anthony Mason to guard Michael Jordan, the Charlotte Hornets were able to hold Chicago’s star to a subpar performance and defeat the Bulls, 78-76.

Cowens, the Hornets’ second-year coach, broke into a sly smile and a chuckle when asked if he would use the same strategy tonight in Charlotte, when the Hornets go for a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

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“Maybe we can try to stay one move ahead,” Cowens said. “You know how in chess you try to get that horse out there early and pop around a little bit. You get that horse out of that back line and start attacking, you never know where he’s going to end up.”

In Game 2, Mason, Charlotte’s version of a chess knight, ended up spending much of the contest chasing Chicago’s answer to a king. Jordan didn’t score for more than 19 minutes during one stretch and finished with 22 points, 14 below his playoff average.

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Suspended Golden State Warrior guard Latrell Sprewell has rejected a pretrial offer in his reckless driving case that could have sent him to jail for 90 to 120 days, his attorney said.

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Sprewell, who was reinstated to the NBA this year after attacking Warrior Coach P.J. Carlesimo, faces as much as six months in jail if convicted of misdemeanor reckless driving.

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Washington Wizard forward Chris Webber made a brief court appearance in Upper Marlboro, Md., to request a jury trial on assault and drug charges stemming from a traffic stop in January. Hours earlier, his story of renewal had hit the newsstands--an interview in which he told the Washington Post he wanted to stay with the Wizards.

“I don’t want to make the same mistakes anymore and that’s why I want to come back,” Webber told the newspaper. “I’ve had some revelations, if that’s what you want to call it. . . . My whole attitude has changed.”

The date for Webber’s trial will be set within a week. He was charged with second-degree assault, resisting arrest, marijuana possession and several traffic-related charges after he was stopped on the way to practice Jan. 20.

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