Gregg Popovich won the NBA Coach of the Year award Monday for leading the San Antonio Spurs to the league's best record.

Popovich, the first Spurs coach to win the award, received 282 points, including 40 first-place votes. Points were awarded on a 5-3-1 basis.

Warriors first-year coach Eric Musselman finished second with 231 points, including 26 first-place votes, and the Utah Jazz's Jerry Sloan had 143 points and 18 first-place votes. Thirteen coaches received at least one first-place vote.

Brad Weinstein of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Warriors have intentions of trying to keep Earl Boykins in Golden St.

Warriors General Manager Gerry St. Jean said the team will persue "any avenue we can" to re-sign the 5-5 guard.

So what does Boykins want to do?

"I definitely could see myself playing here," Earl Boykins said. "At the same time, I want to keep all my options open.

"I've always said that this is a copycat league," said Boykins, who is being paid slightly more than $528,000 this season. "There is probably another coach who feels like if I had Earl, he would be successful here. I think there will be more coaches who are more willing to give me an opportunity."

His agent said he is hearing good things about Boykins around the league.

"This has been a big jump for Earl in his progression as an NBA player," Mark Termini, Boykins' agent, said. "The feedback I'm getting is that he's viewed as one of the top backup point guards in the league."

St. Jean expressed that Boykins would be a priority to be re-signed over the summer.

"The entire organization feels that he's been a key component to our success this year," St. Jean said.

Boykins, though, realizes where he stands in the teams mind and that he is not the number one priority.

Said Boykins: "I think they want me back, but I also realize that they also want Gilbert. And Gilbert is their first priority in terms of signing a point guard for next year. I realize that. I think if the organization wants someone bad enough, it will make the best effort possible to get that done."

There are no rumors about Gilbert Arenas going to Utah this summer when he becomes a restricted free agent. That, the Warriors guard said after Golden State's 128-102 win on Tuesday, is the main reason he played so much better than he did on Sunday against Denver.

Arenas scored 34 points against the Jazz at the Arena, two days after he scored one point against the Nuggets. There are plenty of rumors about him going to Denver, and he's tired about his dad and everyone else talking about it.

Gilbert Arenas is nothing if not unpredictable. One game, he'll take 26 shots from the point-guard position. In another game, he won't even look at the basket until the final six minutes and rally the Warriors to victory. Then he'll go a full game without recording a field goal.

Arenas shifted back into scoring mode Tuesday. He broke out of a two-week slump with 34 points in 35 minutes to lead the Warriors to a 128-102 victory over the Utah Jazz at the Arena in Oakland.

Perhaps the Jazz would have been better off not knowing they had already clinched their 20th consecutive playoff appearance.
     
Because in its latest outing, the team that's in for certain sure didn't look like it needed, or even wanted, to win.
     
Utah lost its third straight Tuesday night, this time falling 128-102 to the Golden State Warriors in The Arena at Oakland.

Bring on the playoffs. At least in the postseason, the Jazz can avoid Golden State.
   
For the second straight visit, The Arena at Oakland looked a lot more like the Bay Area Speedway to the Jazz, and the Warriors are the ones with all the horsepower. Golden State lapped the Jazz with a 67-point first half and Utah ran out of gas long before the finish line, dropping its third straight game, 128-102.

Marc Spears of the Denver Post reports on last nights Denver loss to Golden State.

Brad Weinstein of the San Francisco Chronicle reports: A day after his father Gilbert Arenas Sr. told Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News that the Denver Nuggets were the leading candidate to sign his son this offseason, Gilbert Arenas fired back.

"My father is making me look stupid." Arenas said he did not know that his father had done the interview until he saw the story on Saturday.

"I told him I don't talk about my contract until the summer," Arenas said. "Wherever he's getting this from, I don't know. It isn't from me."

Arenas did what he could to squash the Denver rumors.

He called the Warriors his first choice and questioned why he would want to go to Denver.

"All I keep hearing is you guys (reporters) talk about Denver," Arenas said.

"Just because I know Kiki? Everybody sits here and talks about Denver. There are a lot of teams out there. It's a decision to be made in the summer."

With the Denver Nuggets set to visit the Golden State Warriors this Sunday, the Gilbert Arenas saga is picking up just a bit more as both teams head towards the end of their respective seasons and the free agent season.

Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News reports: In a telephone interview on Friday, Gilbert Arenas Sr. said that the Denver Nuggets are the leading candidate to sign his son this offseason.

When asked which team his son would likely sign with if they left Golden State, Arenas Sr. had the following response.

"Denver is definitely the leading candidate," Arenas Sr. said from his Los Angeles home.

Then Arenas Sr. was asked if he thought it was more likely that his son would join the Nuggets or re-sign with the Warriors.

"Probably Denver," Arenas Sr. said. "But that's just me talking."

The Nuggets can give Arenas the maximum salary if they wanted with their expected $18 million in capspace but will probably offer a deal that starts at around $7 million.

"Having the salary-cap room they do certainly helps," Arenas Sr. said.

However, the Golden State Warriors are restricted in what they can offer Arenas.

Because Arenas only has Early Bird rights and the Warriors have no capspace, they only can offer him up to the league average salary, which will be around $4.6-to-$4.9 million next season, to start of his next contract. Also, because Arenas will be a restricted free agent, the Warriors will be able to match any offer for him that is for the league average, which is also the starting salary for the Mid-Level Exception, but won't be able to match anything above it.

Arenas Sr. said it was unlikely that his son would re-sign with Golden State for a starting salary of $4.5 million but said that could change if Golden State cleared some caproom.

"He would appreciate it if they would move some salary (to get room)," said Arenas Sr., who also named Miami, San Antonio and Orlando as suitors for Arenas. "That would show they would really want him."

Still, it is pretty much impossible for Golden State to clear capspace now.

Also, it's unlikely that San Antonio and Orlando would be suitors for Arenas.

San Antonio already has Tony Parker and Orlando will likely only have the Mid-Level Exception to bid on Arenas. If they tried to sign him with it, Golden State would just match the offer as they can because Arenas will be a restricted free agent.

Miami is a possibility but doesn't seem likely.

So, with July 16th, the first day free agents can sign new contracts, fast approaching, it's looking more and more like Gilbert Arenas will be heading to the Denver Nuggets.