Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, sidelined by a broken leg,
still leads the overall voting for February's National Basketball
Association All-Star game in fan balloting figures released.
Yao has 1,411,923 votes and boasts a huge edge over Phoenix's
Amare Stoudemire (485,642) at his position.
But the 7-foot-5 Chinese center, who is having the best season
of his career, broke his right leg against the Los Angeles Clippers
on Saturday and is unlikely to return before the All-Star Game,
meaning he will almost certainly miss the mid-season exhibition for
the first time in his NBA career.
He was voted onto the starting lineup the past four years.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is second among
vote-getters in the West, with 1,187,505 votes. He is followed by
Houston's Tracy McGrady (1,057,057) and Denver's recent import from
the East, Allan Iverson (975,319).
There is a close race at forward in the West, where Minnesota's
Kevin Garnett (785,865), San Antonio's Tim Duncan (715,916) and
Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki (684,620) are separated by little more than
100,000 votes.
With Iverson's move from Philadelphia, New Jersey's Vince Carter
has climbed into the top two among Eastern Conference guards in the
second returns of fan voting.
The New Jersey Nets' leading scorer, Carter trailed Iverson and
Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade when the league released the first
balloting return two weeks ago.
But Iverson, who was sitting idly on the trading block at the
time, has since undergone a dramatic change. The four-time scoring
champion was eliminated from the Eastern ballot after being dealt
to the Nuggets on December 20.
Since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976, only one player - Carter, in
2005 - was traded before the All-Star Game and still was voted as a
starter. This season's game is February 18 in Las Vegas.
The reigning NBA Finals MVP, Wade has collected 983,321 votes,
well ahead of Carter's 726,040. Washington's Gilbert Arenas and New
Jersey's Jason Kidd are third and fourth, respectively.
Cleveland Cavaliers star forward LeBron James leads all East
players with 1,323,989 votes.
Toronto power forward Chris Bosh is a distant second with
497,283 and owns a slight advantage over Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal
(437,164).
Miami center Shaquille O'Neal, out since November 12 with a knee
injury, has received 855,544 votes. Orlando Magic youngster Dwight
Howard is second among East centers with 665,434.
The starters will be announced January 25 and reserves -
selected by coaches in each conference - will be revealed February
1.
(China Daily via AFP December 29, 2006)