Everything's bigger in Texas, 90,000 expected at NBA All-Star Game

Basketball Betting Lines

02/14/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - They say everything is bigger in Texas and the NBA is about to prove that.

A record crowd of over 90,000 fans is expected at Cowboys Stadium tonight as the league's best from the Western Conference and Eastern Conference clash in the 59th annual All-Star Game at Jerry Jones' Palace just outside Dallas.

The previous record to watch a basketball game was 78,129, set for a college tilt between Kentucky and Michigan State at Detroit's Ford Field on Dec. 13, 2003.

Tonight's contest marks just the second time that the mid-season classic has emanated from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. In 1986, East coach K. C. Jones deployed Isiah Thomas in a one-guard offense late in the game, and the former Detroit star became a one-man show, scoring 30 points and contributing 10 assists in leading the East to 139-132 triumph at the old Reunion Arena.

This year's version of the game has already been impacted quite a bit by injuries and off the floor concerns.

The West has been extremely hard hit. Coach George Karl of Denver will be without the conference's best player, Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, as well as the game's best point guard, Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets, and rising star Brandon Roy of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Bryant, the co-MVP in last year's All-Star game, who is averaging 28.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game this season, is sidelined with a balky left ankle, while Paul, who is averaging a league-best 11.2 apg at the break, is on the shelf after undergoing left knee surgery. Meanwhile, Roy, the ninth leading scorer in the NBA at 23.1 ppg, is down battling a right hamstring strain.

The East and coach Stan Van Gundy of Orlando are without just one player, veteran guard Allen Iverson of Philadelphia, who is out for personal reasons.

Both Bryant and Iverson were voted in as starters by the fans.

Karl is expected to replace Bryant in the starting lineup with hometown favorite Dirk Nowitzki of the Mavericks. The NBA's reigning Finals MVP, Bryant led all West vote-getters with 2,456,224 votes, beating Denver forward Carmelo Anthony and Phoenix pivot-man Amare Stoudemire. Anthony and Stoudemire will be joined in the West starting lineup by San Antonio forward Tim Duncan and Suns guard Steve Nash.

Duncan, who was co-MVP in 2002 along with Shaquille O'Neal, is making his 12th appearance and will be joined in the frontcourt by Anthony, the third leading scorer in the NBA at 29.2 ppg, and Stoudemire, who despite rampant trade rumors makes his fifth appearance for the West after depositing 21.2 ppg in the first half of the season.

Stoudemire's teammate in the desert, Nash, a seven-time All-Star and winner of the Skills Challenge during All-Star Saturday Night, will be running the point for the West at tip-off and is second in the NBA to Paul at 11.1 apg.

Nowitzki, who is averaging 24.6 ppg and 7.7 rpg, highlighted the reserve selections for the Western Conference. A staple for the West, Nowitzki will dress for his ninth straight All-Star Game. Joining the German star for the first time is Thunder forward Kevin Durant, who is top scorer in the conference at 29.7 ppg, Jazz guard Deron Williams and Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph.

Lakers big man Pau Gasol was also named to the team despite missing 17 games due to injury while Paul and Roy were also honored for a third straight year.

Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups was named as Paul's replacement, LA Clippers center Chris Kaman steps in for Roy and Dallas quarterback Jason Kidd is the sub for Bryant.

Billups is a five-time All-Star while Kaman, who is averaging 20.0 points and 8.9 rebounds on the year, will be making his first All-Star appearance. Kidd, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time All-NBA First Team selection, will be making his 10th NBA All-Star Game appearance.

On the Eastern Conference side, the Cavaliers' LeBron James, Orlando's Dwight Howard, and Boston's Kevin Garnett were voted in by the fans as the starting frontcourt for a third straight season, while Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat and Iverson made up the backcourt.

James led all players with 2,549,693 votes in the fan balloting, becoming the first player in history to receive more than 2.5 million votes on three different occasions. The reigning NBA MVP is averaging 29.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game this season for a Cavs club that is an NBA-best 43-11 at the break.

Howard, who led all vote-getters for last year's All-Star contest and leads the NBA with 13.3 rpg, was right behind James in the East voting. Garnett earned his 13th honor by making this year's squad. A former MVP of the game in 2003, the Celtics' star was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field in last year's contest.

Wade will make his fifth straight All-Star start and sixth appearance overall. Iverson, meanwhile, has been honored 11 times but is home in Atlanta tending to his sick daughter. The Hawks' Joe Johnson is expected to be inserted into the starting lineup by Van Gundy.

The bench for the East features plenty of firepower. Boston placed two reserves into the game, as guard Rajon Rondo and three-point shooting champion Paul Pierce will be joining teammate Garnett on the East team. Meanwhile, Atlanta big man Al Horford will join Johnson on the Eastern squad for the first time.

Reigning Rookie of the Year winner Derrick Rose of Chicago is also set to make his inaugural All-Star appearance, although he is struggling with a bad hip. If healthy, Rose will be dishing the ball to Toronto forward Chris Bosh, a Dallas native, and Charlotte forward Gerald Wallace, who made his first All- Star Game in his ninth season.

New York big man David Lee got the call to replace Iverson. In his fifth NBA season, Lee has recorded 30 double-doubles on the season for the Knicks and will be making his first NBA All-Star appearance.

In the 2009 annual event, Bryant and O'Neal reunited to lead the West to a convincing 146-119 thrashing of the East at US Airways Center in Phoenix.

Bryant scored 27 points and O'Neal, who was still with the Suns at the time, tallied 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting. The dynamic duo played together for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996-2004, winning three championships until O'Neal was dealt to Miami. The two were named as co-MVPs of the game, with each garnering a third MVP honor for the contest.

Bryant was also the MVP of the game in 2002 and '07.

James had 20 points for the East, which also received 18 from Wade and Pierce.

The starters for Sunday's contest were determined by the fans' votes, while the 30 head coaches in the NBA voted for the reserves in their respective conferences. NBA Commissioner David Stern selected the injury replacements.

Head coaches for the East (Van Gundy) and West (Karl) are based on the teams with the best winning-percentage in each conference following the games on February 2. Cleveland head coach Mike Brown and Lakers pilot Phil Jackson would have been the mentors but were not eligible because they both coached in last year's game.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

As you might expect, Bryant and James have dominated recent All-Star games, combining for a share of the last four MVP awards. Bryant is out of the picture after earning his third career All-Star MVP a year ago in Phoenix but James, who earned his second MVP two years ago, is tailor-made for this type of atmosphere as the game's best pure physical specimen.

The home floor also tends to mean a lot in these games so you have to look at Nowitzki and Kidd for the Mavericks. Dallas has limped into the break and impatient owner Mark Cuban pulled the trigger on a seven-player blockbuster that brought former All-Star Caron Butler to north Texas on Saturday night. Mavs fans are already pretty excited and a big performance from either Nowitzki or Kidd could really ignite the 90-plus thousand in attendance.

For the East, along with James, pay close attention to Bosh and Wade. Since Bosh is from the Dallas area, expect his teammates to feed him early and often when he hits the floor. Meanwhile, Wade's athleticism and ability to finish is a perfect fit for this type of setting.

NOTABLE

- Nine international players will take part in the NBA All-Star festivities by the end of the weekend: Nash (Canada), Duncan (U.S. Virgin Islands), Nowitzki (Germany), Gasol (Spain), Horford (Dominican Republic), Marc Gasol (Spain), Omar Casspi (Israel), Jonas Jerebko (Sweden) and Danilo Gallinari (Italy).

- Roy is the top shooter in All-Star history, connecting on an amazing 83.3 percent from the floor (15-for-18) in All-Star games, but he won't have a chance to build on those numbers due to his hamstring injury. Howard, meanwhile, is 22-of-32, good for fourth best all-time.

- Kidd is second on the all-time All-Star list in three-point field goal percentage, hitting on 50 percent (11-of-22). Former Heat star Glen Rice is tops at 9-for-15. Kidd is also in the top 10 in assists with 68 and steals (23).

- James is the all-time leader in scoring average for players who have toiled in three or more All-Star games at 23.4 points per contest.

- The East leads the all-time series by a 35-23 margin. There was no All-Star game in 1999 due to the lockout.

ALL-STAR WEEKEND

The game caps a busy weekend of activity for the NBA.

All-Star Saturday Night was highlighted by New York's Nate Robinson, who won the All-Star Slam Dunk contest for an unprecedented third time, beating Toronto rookie DeMar DeRozan in the final.

Robinson won 51 percent of the vote by fans via text messaging to edge out DeRozan to join the titles he won in 2006 and last year.

Robinson's first successful dunk in the final round came off one bounce and his other came when he tossed the ball off the backboard and came through with a reverse jam.

DeRozan leaped over teammate Sonny Weems for a one-handed jam on his first try and then took off inside the lane for a two-handed flush for his final attempt.

The Lakers' Shannon Brown, Wallace of the Bobcats and the Clippers' Eric Gordon were the other dunk participants.

Pierce made all five money balls and took home the Three-Point Shootout title. He became the first Celtics player to win the crown since Larry Bird captured it the first three years it was held (1986-88).

Pierce topped Golden State rookie Stephen Curry and Billups in the final round. Pierce had 20 points in the final round, while Curry had 17 and Billups 14.

Miami Heat sharp-shooter Daequan Cook, the 2009 champion, was eliminated in the first round as were New York's Gallinari and Phoenix's Channing Frye.

Nash won the Skills Challenge for the second time in his career, besting Utah's Williams in the final round.

The Skills Challenge consists of four players competing in a two-round timed obstacle course with dribbling, passing and shooting stations.

Nash won the final round with a time of 29.9 seconds, adding to the title he captured in 2005.

Milwaukee rookie Brandon Jennings and Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook were eliminated in the first round. Westbrook replaced Rose, who sat out due to a bruised right hip.

Nowitzki led the hometown contingent to capture the Shooting Stars competition for Team Texas. Nowitzki was teamed with Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Silver Stars and former Houston guard Kenny Smith. The trio needed 34.3 seconds and 13 shots to finish the last round and edged a team from Los Angeles in the final round.

The stars competition is made up of NBA, WNBA and former NBA stars attempting to make baskets from six different marked spots on the court.

The Lakers' Gasol, Sparks' Marie Ferdinand-Harris and NBA TV analyst Brent Barry were from Team Los Angeles. They finished in second place with a time of 55.2 seconds.

The Atlanta team (Hawks' Johnson, Dream's Angel McCoughtry and NBA TV analyst Steve Smith), Sacramento squad (Kings' Tyreke Evans, Liberty's Nicole Powell, TNT and NBA TV analyst Chris Webber) were both eliminated in the first round.

Durant also won the second annual H-O-R-S-E competition besting Rondo and Casspi.

Finally, Bakersfield's Brian Butch captured MVP honors in the Developmental League All-Star Game. Butch scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, as the West raced past the East, 98-81.

Diamon Simpson of the Los Angeles D-Fenders added 15 points, while Rio Grande Valley's Mike Harris had 14 points for the West Squad.

The Iowa Energy's Earl Barron, who spent parts of three seasons with the Miami Heat, paced the East team with 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting.

The festivities kicked off Friday night in spectacular fashion when Sacramento's Evans, the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year, scored 26 points and San Antonio's DeJuan Blair had 22 points and 23 rebounds, as the 2009-10 class of NBA rookies bested the sophomores, 140-128, for the first time in eight years in the annual Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam.

Evans, who leads all first-year players in points per game, shot 11-of-15 from the field, grabbed six boards and dished five assists with as many steals to take home MVP honors.

Jennings and Oklahoma City's James Harden also scored 22 points for the rookie squad, which showcased a talented group that has made immediate impacts for their respective teams this season.

Curry, who produced his first-ever triple-double in the Warriors' final game before the break, chipped in 14 points and Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA, added 13 points representing the Kings.

The sophomores were led by Westbrook's 40 points. The Thunder's emerging star shot 18-of-29 from the field, while Miami's Michael Beasley contributed 26 points and seven rebounds.

Also Friday, the West beat the East, 41-37, in the celebrity game. Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens and rapper Common were the standout celebrities in the game.

The NBA's D-League also put its best forward on Friday night as Dar Tucker of the Los Angeles D-Fenders, Andre Ingram of the Utah Flash, and the NBA D- League Shooting Stars team of Pat Carroll (Iowa Energy), Trey Gilder (Maine Red Claws) and Carlos Powell (Albuquerque Thunderbirds) all came away victorious at the third annual D-League skills competition.

Tucker earned perfect scores on each of his four dunks en route to being crowned NBA D-League Slam Dunk Champion over Thunderbird Tony Danridge, Alonzo Gee of the Austin Toros and Gilder.

In the Three-Point Shooting Competition, Utah's Ingram defeated the reigning Three-Point Shooting Champion, Bakersfield's Blake Ahearn by a score of 39 to 37.

Meanwhile, in the inaugural NBA D-League Shooting Stars competition, the trio of Carroll, Gilder and Powell set a Shooting Stars record with a time of 15.6 seconds to complete all six shots in the first round.