Malone MVP for Second Time

This wasn’t the trophy Karl Malone hoped to be holding at the end of the season.

Actually, the Utah Jazz forward wasn’t even holding the Maurice Podoloff Trophy on Thursday in Salt Lake City after winning his second NBA most-valuable-player award in three years. It’s still in New York, where Malone is expected to pick it up over the weekend.

“So they got me a hat,” he said, looking at an “MVP” cap sent to him by the league office.

It was that kind of a season for the 35-year-old Malone, another banner individual year marred by setbacks in other areas, notably his team’s failure to win its first title.

“I wish we were here in a different scenario, but we’re not,” he said. “Last time when I won this award, I went out on the court, held it up and then had to go back to playing ball. . . . I prefer doing that to doing this.”

Despite posting his lowest scoring and rebounding numbers in more than a decade, Malone edged fellow big men Alonzo Mourning of the Miami Heat and Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs in the voting by 118 North American media members. Malone received 827 points and 44 first-place votes to Mourning’s 773 and 36.

Allen Iverson of Philadelphia finished fourth, followed by Jason Kidd of Phoenix, Shaquille O’Neal of the Lakers and Chris Webber of Sacramento.

Malone, who also won in 1997, is the ninth player in league history to win the award twice.

He led the Jazz to a 37-13 record, tied with the Spurs for the league’s best, but Utah sputtered down the stretch and was eliminated from the playoffs in the second round by the Portland Trail Blazers--its earliest exit since 1995.

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Isiah Thomas, 38, a former all-star guard with the Detroit Pistons and currently a studio analyst for NBC, has emerged as a candidate for the Washington Wizards’ coaching job, sources told the Washington Post.

Wizard General Manager Wes Unseld declined comment and Thomas did not return phone messages.

Sources close to Thomas said he has spoken recently with the Wizards, possibly as late as Thursday.

One of the Wizards’ earlier candidates, Glenn “Doc” Rivers, is expected to finalize a deal with the Orlando Magic today.

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The New York Knicks returned to business, practicing for the first time after receiving the news that center Patrick Ewing would be sidelined for the rest of the playoffs because of a partial tear in his left Achilles’ tendon.

The Knicks resume their best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals series against the Indiana Pacers--tied at one game apiece--Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

“We’re still confident,” guard Latrell Sprewell said. “We think we can win.”

He and guard Allan Houston will be counted on to carry the scoring load in Ewing’s absence. Actually, they had done the bulk of the scoring even when Ewing played in these playoffs.

The Knicks went 7-5 in the 12 games Ewing sat out because of tendinitis in that same tendon during the regular season.

Ewing spoke to reporters for the first time since the diagnosis.

“I still feel we have an opportunity to win [the conference finals],” he said. “I just would love to be a part of it.”

Staff Writer J.A. Adande contributed to this story.