Computer Indicates E-Mailman Is MVP

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.

“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.

“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.

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.