NBA All-Star Starters Announced

Washington’s Arenas Edges New Jersey’s Carter in Fourth-Closest Race in NBA All-Star History.

Photo courtsey: nba.com

NEW YORK - Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James and Houston Rockets center Yao Ming led all players in votes received in the NBA All-Star Balloting program presented by T-Mobile that determines starters for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game.

James, who earned Most Valuable Player honors in last year’s midseason classic in Houston, received 2,516,049 votes, the second-highest total in history behind Yao’s 2005 total of 2,558,278.

Yao received 2,451,718 votes this year, the fourth-highest total ever.

The closest voting race in this year’s balloting was among Eastern Conference guards.

Miami’s Dwyane Wade secured one starting spot with 2,029,591 votes and Washington’s Gilbert Arenas (1,454,166) edged New Jersey’s Vince Carter (1,451,156) by 3,010 votes in the fourth-closest race in NBA All-Star history trailing A.C. Green/Karl Malone (1,226 votes) in 1990, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/Ralph Sampson (1,817 votes) in 1984 and John Stockton/Derek Harper (2,562 votes) in 1990.

Miami center Shaquille O’Neal (1,622,446) was selected to his 14th straight All-Star team, tying Lakers legend Jerry West (14; 1961-1974) and Utah great Karl Malone (14; 1988-2002) for the most consecutive selections.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the record for most All-Star Game selections with 19.

Through the 2007 NBA All-Star Balloting program, fans worldwide were responsible for voting in the starters for the 56th NBA All-Star Game, which will be played in Las Vegas on Sunday, Feb. 18th at 8:00 PM ET.

There were 69.1 million votes cast this year, a 17 percent increase from 2006. The game will air live on TNT, ESPN Radio and in more than 200 countries and territories.

Head coaches in each conference will vote to determine the remaining All-Stars in their respective conference, which will be announced Thursday, Feb. 1st, on TNT.

Joining Yao as part of the Western Conference starting lineup is his Rockets’ teammate Tracy McGrady (1,942,796), who will be appearing in his seventh All-Star Game.

San Antonio’s Tim Duncan (1,436,584), who has been selected to every All-Star team since he entered the league in 1997, and Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett (1,616,575), who captured All-Star MVP honors in 2003, will be the starting forwards.

L.A. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (2,138,777), who was the youngest All-Star in NBA history in 1998, makes his ninth All-Star trip.

James will be joined in the Eastern Conference frontcourt by O’Neal and Toronto’s Chris Bosh (1,091,263), who will be making his first career All-Star start.

Arenas also will make his first career All-Star start while Wade makes his second consecutive start and third straight appearance.

In selecting the reserves, the head coaches must vote for seven players, including two guards, two forwards, a center and two players regardless of position.

Coaches are not permitted to vote for players on their team.

After the coaches select the reserves, if a player is unable to participate in the All-Star Game, NBA Commissioner David Stern will select a replacement.

Phoenix head coach Mike D’Antoni and the Suns coaching staff earned the honor to coach the West as a result of their 112-107 win over New York last night combined with San Antonio’s 90-85 loss to Houston.

The Suns (34-8, .800) have clinched the best winning percentage through games of Feb. 4th among eligible Western Conference teams for the All-Star coaching honors.

The Eastern Conference Coach is yet to be determined.

Last year’s All-Star coaches -- Dallas’ Avery Johnson and Detroit’s Flip Saunders -- are not eligible this year.

Through the Balloting program, which ran from Nov. 13th, 2006 through Jan. 21st, fans had the opportunity to vote at all NBA arenas, in 20 languages on NBA.com, on AOL.com/nba, at 1,250 T-Mobile-owned retail locations and at t-zones using T-Mobile service or wap.nba.com for any wireless carrier.

Fans also were able to vote at several locations in Las Vegas, the host city of NBA All-Star 2007, including the Las Vegas Convention Center, Fremont Street and the Thomas & Mack Center.

For the first time, 13 NBA team arenas also carried a Spanish-language version of the ballot.

T-Mobile is the presenting partner of 2007 NBA All-Star Balloting program.

This year’s other All-Star Balloting partners include 2K Sports, AOL.com, XBOX, GameStop & EB Games.

NBA All-Star 2007 is a week-long celebration that enables fans to experience the thrill of the world’s greatest athletes playing the game they love and features a full slate of community-enhancing activities and fan festivals such as NBA All-Star Jam Session presented by adidas.

Steve Nash is unfortunate that his coaching staff will be coahing the WC all star team. This means D'Antoni can't select Nash as a reserve for his team, meaning that the MVP will not be an all star!! When was the last time this has happened?

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