Garnett Expected to Be MVP

Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett has won his first most valuable player award, sources told Associated Press on Sunday.

The Timberwolves said there would be a major announcement regarding Garnett today at Target Center. Two team officials said Garnett would receive the MVP award.

Writers and broadcasters from each NBA market vote on the award, and ballots are due before the playoffs begin.

“That’s just a formality,” Coach Flip Saunders said earlier this week. “I don’t think there’s much drama. It’s pretty much signed, sealed and delivered. It’s probably on a UPS truck coming up here right now.”

San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, who won the last two MVPs, and Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal were likely Garnett’s closest competitors this season. But the 27-year-old forward, a seven-time All-Star, made his ninth NBA season his best.

Leading Minnesota to a 58-24 record and the top seeding in the West, Garnett averaged 24.2 points and led the league with 13.9 rebounds.

He also joined Larry Bird as the only players to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for five consecutive years.

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves finished Sunday’s practice with only nine players after centers Michael Olowokandi and Oliver Miller sat out because of flu-like symptoms and center Ervin Johnson fell on his wrist during practice and was sent for X-rays as a precaution.

The Timberwolves are already missing point guard Troy Hudson (ankle) and swingman Wally Szczerbiak (back).

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Joe Crawford, one of the NBA’s senior referees, injured his right foot and had to leave late in the first quarter of the New Orleans Hornets’ victory over the Miami Heat on Sunday.

A Hornet spokesman said the early diagnosis was a torn plantar fascia.

The game resumed with only two referees, Sean Corbin and Blane Reichelt.