NBA All-Star game preview

So here it is, this Sunday the NBA’s most exciting and talented players will team up at the Amway Centre for the 61st All-Star Game in Orlando.

With the fans selecting two Western Conference starting players from the L.A. Clippers and two from the L.A. Lakers, one thing is clear, 2012 is the year for Los Angeles basketball.

After a dysfunctional off-season that saw sports headlines orbit around the NBA lockout, the arrival of Chris Paul to the Clippers, a.k.a. Lob City, had many fans drooling over the highlights he and reigning rookie of the year Blake Griffin would bring.

The other side of L.A. meanwhile is home to the most lethal basketball player in the league today, Kobe Bryant, a.k.a. Black Mamba. The five-time NBA champion will be appearing in his record-tying fourteenth consecutive All-Star Game alongside Lakers teammate, Andrew Bynum.

Following the retirement of Yao Ming last season, Bynum will start in his first All-Star Game of his career in what he feels is a deserved role.

“For me, it feels good because this year I’m putting up the kind of numbers that qualify me for it and it’s great because the fans voted me in.” Bynum said.

Joining Bryant, Bynum, Griffin and Paul on the Western Conference starters will be Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and head coach Scott Brooks.

Starting in front of his home crowd for the Eastern Conference will be Dwight Howard. The top vote-getter with 1.6 million votes, Howard will be joined by Miami duo LeBron James and Dwyane Wade while reigning MVP Derrick Rose and New York’s Carmelo Anthony will complete the starting line-up. Coaching the East in his first All-Star appearance will be Chicago Bulls’ head coach, Tom Thibodeau.

The five starters for both conferences were selected via fan voting while the thirty first-team coaches have voted for their preferred reserves in their conference.

The Eastern Conference hold’s a dominant lead in the all-time series (35-23) but it is the West who have won six of the last ten All-Star Games including last seasons 148-143 epic and will look to continue their recent control of the series.

The game will be broadcast worldwide as fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages will be able to experience the spectacle. One man who didn’t make the cut but still intends on watching the game will be Clippers’ big-man DeAndre Jordan.

“It will be Lob City in Orlando,” Jordan said of Paul and Griffin playing in the All-Star Game. “I can’t wait for the game so I can watch them go out there and do work.”

We’re with you there DJ.

Western Conference
G – Chris Paul
G – Kobe Bryant
F – Kevin Durant
F – Blake Griffin
C – Andrew Bynum

Head Coach: Scott Brooks

Eastern Conference
G – Derrick Rose
G – Dwyane Wade
F – LeBron James
F – Carmelo Anthony
C – Dwight Howard

Head Coach: Tom Thibodeau