NEW YORK, February 3 – Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets and Shaquille O’Neal of the Miami Heat both eclipsed the all-time single season record for votes received in the NBA All Star Balloting program that determines starters for the 2005 NBA All Star Game. Yao received the most votes (2,558,278) in NBA history while O’Neal collected the second-highest total with 2,488,089 votes as each earned the starting center spot in their respective conference.
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Through the 2005 All-Star Balloting program, NBA fans from around the globe were responsible for voting in the starters for the 54th NBA All-Star Game, which will be played in Denver on Sunday, February 20 at Pepsi Center. More than six million ballots were cast, a 14 percent increase from last year’s totals.
The game will be broadcast live on TNT, Rogers Sportsnet, ESPN Radio and audio in several languages on NBA.com (http://nba.com) at 8 p.m. (EST).
Yao is joined in the Western Conference starting lineup by Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett (2,087,200) and San Antonio’s Tim Duncan (1,812,522) at forward and Rockets teammate Tracy McGrady (1,993,687) and Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (1,815,952) at guard.
O’Neal is joined in the Eastern Conference starting lineup by New Jersey’s Vince Carter (1,803,529) and Orlando’s Grant Hill (1,497,489) at forward and by Cleveland’s LeBron James (1,661,204) and Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson (1,590,400) at guard.
O’Neal has been selected to his twelfth NBA All-Star Game; Garnett to his eighth; Bryant, Duncan and Hill to their seventh; Carter and Iverson to their sixth; McGrady to his fifth; Yao his third; and James will be making his first appearance.
The 30 head coaches will vote for the remaining members of the All-Star teams in their respective conferences, and their selections will be announced on Tuesday, February 8. Coaches must vote for seven players in order of preference but are not allowed to vote for players from their team. The selections must include two guards, two forwards and a center. Two other players are chosen regardless of position. Also, if any player cannot participate in the All-Star Game, NBA Commissioner David Stern will select a replacement after the coaches select reserves.
Stan Van Gundy of the Miami Heat will coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars and at this time the coach for the Western Conference All-Stars has not been determined. Head coaches for the East and West All-Star teams are based on teams with the best winning percentage in each conference following the Sunday games (February 6) played two weeks prior to the All-Star Game with San Antonio’s (37-10, .787) Gregg Popovich and Phoenix’s Mike D’Antoni (37-11, .771) the leading candidates.
For the third consecutive year, NBA All-Stars will wear uniforms created just for the game. This year’s All-Stars will be outfitted in new uniforms from Reebok which were inspired by the Denver Nuggets uniform design. The West will wear white jerseys and the East will wear blue while the shorts will feature a star encapsulated NBA logo on each side, a conference logo on the waistband and a “05DN” wordmark on the center back which represents 2005 Denver.
Through the 2005 NBA All-Star Balloting program, which ran from November 18, 2004 through January 23, 2005, fans had the opportunity to vote in more ways than ever. The balloting program expanded to include 19 languages on the NBA.com Network, downloadable ballots via Verizon Wireless and approximately 150 Loews Cineplex Entertainment movie theaters in the United States. This year, Twentieth Century Fox joined Sprite, America Online, Reebok and approximately 2,100 Foot Locker and Champs Sports stores in the United States and Canada as All-Star balloting partners. Ballots were also distributed in all 29 NBA arenas and all six NBDL arenas.
NBA All-Star 2005 is a week-long celebration that enables fans to experience the thrill of the world’s greatest athletes playing the game they love and features a full slate of community enhancing activities and fan festivals.
2005 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING |
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