LeBron James was selected to make his record 20th consecutive start in an NBA All-Star Game, as his hometown hero Tyrese Haliburton was chosen to make his first.
According to the results of the vote published Thursday evening on TNT for February 18 NBA classic, to be held at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Haliburton will represent the Pacers on their field as the starting point guard for the East. He will be joined by colleagues Milwaukee guard Damien LillardPhiladelphia center and reigning NBA MVP Joel EmbiidMilwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo – the top fan vote-getter – and Boston forward Jayson Tatum.
James will be joined in the West by Dallas guard Luka DoncicOklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver center and reigning NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic And Phoenix Before Kevin Durant – a 13-time All-Star hasn’t been healthy in February to play in the actual game since 2019.
James, 39 years old, Lakers The star forward, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and leading vote-getter in the West, has started every All-Star Game since 2005 and broke free of his tie with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the previous record for All-Star selections.
Like Haliburton, this will be Gilgeous-Alexander’s first start and second All-Star Game appearance. Both Haliburton and James are out for their respective teams due to lingering leg injuries, but hopefully they will be healthy enough to take the floor for the All-Star Game.
The fan vote represented 50 percent of the total for the choice of starters; the player vote and the media vote accounted for 25 percent, respectively. The seven reserves from each conference, which will be announced on February 1, are selected by NBA head coaches.
There were actually only two close calls, the second-most guards in each conference.
In the East, the The hawks Trae Young topped all other guards in the fan vote, while the The Knicks Jalen Brunson was chosen to start with the media and the 76ers Tyrese Maxey was chosen by the players. The best Lillard finished on any ballot was third (fans) and tied with Brunson in total points – he made his 8th All-Star Game in a tiebreaker (more fan votes than Brunson).
In the West, fans chose Warriors awesome of all time Stephen Curry against Gilgeous-Alexander, but the Canadian was the one who obtained the most votes among the media and players.
Curry is now a 9-time All-Star, and of the eight All-Star Games he has played in (he was injured last year), he has started all eight. Entering Thursday, he was averaging 26.7 points and shooting 40.1 percent from 3-point range (he also leads the league with 172 3s), but the Warriors are struggling mightily right now and the combination of stats and victories from Gilgeous-Alexander and Dončić It was too much for Curry to overcome.
The 73rd installment of the NBA All-Star Game returns to the old format – last seen during the 2017 All-Star Game in New Orleans – where players play for the Eastern and Western conferences, instead of ‘be chosen, like on a playing field, by the top vote-getter in each conference.
Additionally, the game will consist of four 12-minute quarters, like a regular game, instead of the “Elam” scoring model consisting of a target score for each team in an untimed fourth quarter to determine the winner, which had been in place since the start of the match. 2020 game in Chicago.
Captains still exist, and they are once again based on vote totals in each conference, so James will be captain for the seventh time in his career, seventh consecutive year overall, and sixth consecutive year outside the West . Antetokounmpo will be captain for the third time.
Additionally, in keeping with recent traditions, the highest scoring team in each quarter will win money for their captain’s chosen charity.
Changes to the All-Star Game over the years were implemented to try to add a competitive edge and entertainment that the league (and fans and media) had felt was lost. After some initial success — the 2020 and 2022 All-Star Games were better under the “Elam” scoring model — last year’s competition in Salt Lake City was such a dud that the league decided to return to its old model. With one caveat.
Just play harder.
“All-Star Weekend has become an incredible weekend, and it is,” NBA vice president Joe Dumars said in October. “But at the end of All-Star Weekend, the game can’t be an afterthought where guys aren’t playing (hard). We talked with the players about putting on a big show on the last night, Sunday night, going out and competing.
Haliburton, currently with a hamstring injury, has averaged 23.6 points and 12.6 assists in 34 games this season. Last month, Haliburton became the third player in NBA history to record consecutive games of 20 points and 20 assists, joining Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and John Stockton.
“When you’re 23 or 24, you want to keep pushing yourself to higher levels, keep pushing yourself to higher levels of play on the court,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton, who is 23 and last played for USA Basketball. summer. “These things lead to high rewards and stature, but it never stops. You can never expire with things like that. … You can’t see it that way, and I don’t see Tyrese seeing it that way. I think he has a bigger fish to play as far as his commitment to the organization, the city and what he wants to be a part of this team’s success.
James, with an ankle injury, is breaking records for “oldest player ever” left and right. Currently, he’s averaging 24.8 points per game, which, if it holds up, would be his lowest average since his rookie year. But James, who turned 39 in December, still averages 7.4 assists and 7.2 rebounds. He is second on the Lakers in scoring behind Anthony Daviswho is having an excellent individual campaign (25.1 points per game, 12.2 rebounds per game) and is a virtual lock to be selected as an All-Star reserve.
Embiid leads the NBA in scoring, with an absurd 36.1 points per game, followed by Dončić (33.6 points per game), Antetokounmpo (31.3 points per game) and Gilgeous-Alexander ( 31.1 points per game). Gilgeous-Alexander leads the league with 32 games of 30 points or more.
Embiid is now a seven-time All-Star. Jokic has done it six times, and Dončić and Tatum are now five-time All-Stars.
Required reading
(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
