When » Sunday, 8 p.m.
Where » Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas
TV » TNT
With somewhere between 80-90,000 expected to be on hand at Cowboys Stadium Sunday night, the NBA will nearly double its all-time attendance record for its signature meaningless event. (The regular-season record is 62,046 in 1998, when the Hawks hosted Michael Jordan and the Bulls at the Georgia Dome.)
Starting lineups
| East | West | |
| Rajon Rondo, PG With Allen Iverson out, Stan Van Gundy gets to decide. Here’s the deal: if the Celtics do overcome their age and injuries to return to the finals, it will be because of Rondo (14.3 ppg, 9.7 apg), who deserves the nod. |
Steve Nash, PG With Chris Paul out, don’t be surprised to see Nash (18.3 ppg, 11.1 apg) take on and surpass the 14 assists the New Orleans Hornets star dished out last year. |
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| Dwyane Wade, SG Miami started as well as any team in the league. But that roll didn’t last, rekindling talk that Wade (26.5 ppg) might bolt for free agency this summer. |
Kevin Durant, SG Although the All-Star Game is in Dallas, where Dirk Nowitzki plays, George Karl ought to recognize that the future of the NBA currently plays one state to the north. Durant (29.7 ppg, 7.4 rpg) should start in place of Kobe Bryant. |
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| LeBron James, SF With a league-leading 29.8 ppg, James can play 1-on-5 any time he wants, but with 8.2 apg (sixth in the NBA), he’s showing he doesn’t have to. |
Carmelo Anthony, SF Snubbed last year, Anthony has been on a tear this season, making the Nuggets a clear No. 2 in the West with a career-best 29.5 ppg, third-best in the NBA. |
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| Kevin Garnett, PF Boston needs Garnett at his best to challenge for the title. But his production (14.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg) is the lowest it has been since his rookie season, and he recently missed 10 games (knee). |
Tim Duncan, PF As reliable as the seasons: If it’s the All-Star Game, Duncan (19.4 ppg, 10.8 rpg) is in the frontcourt for the Western Conference. |
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| Dwight Howard, C Howard is doing exactly what he did at this point last season: leading the NBA in rebounds (13.4) and blocks (2.7). He had three rejections in last year’s All-Star Game in Phoenix. |
Amar’e Stoudemire, C The only thing different about Amar’e this year? Nothing, actually. He’s averaging 21.2 points and 8.6 rebounds a game and about three trade rumors a week. |
State of the teams
East
TNT will be anxious to try and get Dwight Howard to do his impression of Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy, which will be a nice way to add angst for an Orlando team trying to get back to the NBA Finals. Van Gundy, chosen because Cleveland’s Mike Brown wasn’t eligible after coaching last year, has the same starting five as Brown did. Of course there’s LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, but the highlights might come from All-Star first-timers Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose since Allen Iverson is out and Kevin Garnett is sure to play limited minutes like he did last year.
West
George Karl got the gig for the same reason as Van Gundy — Phil Jackson wasn’t eligible — but that’s where the similarities end. Especially without Kobe Bryant, Karl now has all the reason in the world to unleash his own superstar, Carmelo Anthony, as well as two players that anchor the NBA’s next generation of greatness: Kevin Durant and Deron Williams. With Williams and Steve Nash taking turns in the backcourt and Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tim Duncan up front, the West might very well end up with 50 assists.
The Examiner predicts
Dirk will have a big game in front of his hometown crowd, but the whole thing will feel an awful lot like a Cleveland Cavaliers playoff game, with LeBron vs. a team that has far too many weapons. Anthony will walk away with MVP.
WEST 140, EAST 120
