Derick Hingle-US Presswire
Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant led in votes for players and earned a record 15th consecutive All-Star game.
Kobe will overtake the likes of Jerry West, Karl Malone and Shaquille O’Neal in becoming the player with the most consecutive All-Star nods.
Bryant received 1,591,437 votes edging out Miami Heat’s LeBron James who received 1,583,646.
Representing the West, Kobe will be joined by Los Angeles Clippers duo Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, his own teammate Dwight Howard and Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durrant in what looks to be an extremely strong looking starting roster.
LeBron will be representing the East alongside Carmelo Anthony who has been playing to MVP form this season with the New York Knicks, Dwayne Wade and Boston Celtics’ pair Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo.
The highly anticipated 62nd All-Star game will be held in Houston on February 17th, where the reserves for the game will be chosen by a poll of 30 NBA coaches who will vote for seven players in their own conference but cannot vote for players from their own team, results will be announced on January 24th.
The starting lineups have been chosen from votes from the fans, on who they want to see play in this exhibition game and we saw a twist in the way that it was done this year as fans were able to vote on social network sites Facebook and twitter.
The coaches for the game will be determined on February 3rd with the teams leading the East and the Western conferences will be chosen.
The fact that Kobe will be entering his 15th straight All-Star game says a lot about how much of an impact he has had in his 17 year career in the NBA and will play a big part in any future debates on who is the game’s greatest player of all time.
Michael Jordan is considered to be the best by many but had years out of the game while Kobe has remained Mr. Consistent and is still playing at the top of his game, leading the league in points.
In last season’s All-star game in Orlando, Kobe came out on top with the MVP for the fourth time passing Jordan’s record. It is certainly fitting for Kobe to set a record of All-Star games as the match certainly means a lot to him. As well as being MVP on the most occasions he was the youngest ever player to be picked for the match when he was selected when he was 19 back in 1998.
The game is a showcase of the game’s greatest players showing what they can do on a global stage whilst celebrating the game and this year will be no different as fans will flock to the Toyota Center in Houston to watch the game.
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