Kobe Bryant has been voted to his NBA record 15th consecutive All Star start, leading 4 Los Angeles players into next months All Star game. Lakers teammate Dwight Howard and the Clippers Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will join Bryant in the Western Conference lineup for the Feb. 17th game in Houston. Oklahoma City Thunder Kevin Durant, the MVP of last year’s game, rounds out the 5. Kevin Garnett held off Chris Bosh in fan balloting, giving the East 2 Boston Celtics and 2 Miami Heat players. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade will represent the defending champions and receive passes from Rajon Rondo. New York Knicks Carmelo Anthony is the other starter. Bryant finished with 1,591,437 votes, edging LeBron by about 7,800 to finish as the leading vote getter and breaking a tie with Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry West and Karl Malone for the most consecutive starting nods. Kobe is the NBA’s leader in scoring and is a 4 time MVP of the All Star game and last year became its career scoring leader. Garnett beat Bosh by about 25,000 votes. He tied Kobe and Shaq for 2nd all time with his 15th selection behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was selected to 19 games. It’s the 2nd straight year that Los Angeles teams will make up 4 players. Last year it was Kobe, Paul, Griffin and Andrew Bynum, who was dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers in part of the deal that sent Howard from the Orlando Magic to the Lakers. The 2013 NBA All Star Game will take place Feb. 17th in Houston. Reserves will be announced next Thursday. Coaches will vote for 7 players in their conferences: 2 guards, 3 frontcourt players and 2 players regardless of position. They can’t vote for a player on their own team.
Western Conference starters
PG Chris Paul Los Angeles Clippers
SG Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers
SF Kevin Durant Oklahoma City Thunder
PF Blake Griffin Los Angeles Clippers
C Dwight Howard Los Angeles Lakers
Eastern Conference starters
PG Rajon Rando Boston Celtics
SG Dwyane Wade Miami Heat
SF LeBron James Miami Heat
PF Carmelo Anthony New York Knicks
PF/C Kevin Garnett Boston Celtics