Video: LeBron James wins his third MVP. Here’s his Top 10 plays of 2012 to explain why

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2q9V40cLkA

LeBron James is the best basketball player on the planet and he has just scooped his third Most Valuable Player award. His season highlights explain why.

LeBron James is in the process of trying to win his first ever NBA Championship with the Miami Heat at the moment but he has just won his third regular season MVP award. That pushes into some very elite company indeed.

Only seven others have won three or more MVPs - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone. All of them won at least one NBA Championships. Most won multiple rings.

That is the next test for LeBron and watching how he and the Heat cope with the pressure, self inflicted it must be said, will be fascinating to watch for the rest of the play-offs.

But LeBron was undoubtedly the best player in the shortened 66-game season we just witnessed. He averaged 27.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists a game, and shot at 53 per cent for the season. Those are stunning numbers, especially in a year when the workload was so high and compressed.

In fact, they are Jordan like. LeBron has a long way to go to match the six rings that Jordan earned in his career. In the meantime, watch his top 10 plays of the 2012 season. They’re pretty good.