Howard Beck of the L.A. Daily News reports that Shaquille O'Neal is backing Kobe Bryant for the NBA's MVP award.

"It's him," O'Neal said. "Because he's the only one making history, stats-wise. And he does it every night. He averaged 40 (points) through February. He had 50 on his idol at the half (actually, 42 vs. Jordan's Wizards). That's it right there. He had a great All-Star Game. We're going to win 50 games, after we were 20 games under (actually, eight). So that's my vote."

MVP voters aren't in such a hurry to agree with O'Neal - at least not the majority of them.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune conducted an informal poll of 126 writers and broadcasters who help vote for the league's MVP. In the 66 responses it recieved, Duncan was the leading candidate followed by Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant.