MASAM SPORTS 27: THE 2022 ALL-STAR GAME STARTERS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 31 Jan 2022
LeBron James and Kevin Durant will once more act as the captains for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game which will be held February 20 in Cleveland, Ohio at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. It will be the 71st edition of the annual mid-season event. This will be the third time that the Cleveland area will host the All-Star Game.
James has been a team captain in each All-Star of the five years since the NBA has used the new format to select its competing teams, and Durant is captain for a second straight year.
James will now have joined 18 All-Star teams, equaling Kobe Bryant for second place after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who had 19 All-Star games.
Together with James as starters from the Western Conference are Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant in the backcourt, while 2021 NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and forward Andrew Wiggins of the Warriors will play the frontcourt.
In the Eastern conference, Durant, who was selected in 12 All-Stars, teams up with Chicago Bulls guard DeMar DeRozan and Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young in the backcourt, and Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo in the frontcourt.
However, Durant's availability is still questionable because he suffered a sprained knee ligament.
Wiggins' inclusion in the starting lineup raised some controversy even if he averages 18.1 points per game. He was able to beat teammate Draymond Green for the third West frontcourt slot.
The selection for the All-Star starters was taken from the fan ballots which constitute 50% of the vote, and a media panel for 25% and active players also made up 25%.
Wiggins received fewer player and media votes but ranked third among the fans' poll while Green was sixth. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Wiggins is the third first-time All-Star to be named starter in his eighth NBA season or later. Bob Boozer was selected starter in his eighth season in 1967-68 and Kyle Lowry in his ninth season in 2014-15.
Curry becomes an eight-time All-Star and has led the Golden State back to the top of the Western Conference after two unsuccessful years tormented by injuries which cut the Warriors' five straight NBA Finals appearances.
Morant is on his first All-Star appearance as member of Memphis Grizzlies, and helped his team a lot in placing third in the Western conference.
Jokic will be on his fourth straight All-Star Game, and maintained his last year's MVP form with 26.2 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game for Denver Nuggets.
DeRozan, on his fifth All-Star selection, was taken by the Bulls as a free agent and is one of the contributors to Chicago's comeback to the top of the Eastern Conference with 26.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
Young joined his second All-Star team with 27.7 points and 9.3 assists per game posting high shooting percentages of 45.3% overall and 38% from 3-point territory.
The coaches will choose the All-Star reserves, and both teams will make a selection in both conferences. The reserves will be announced next Thursday. James and Durant will pick their respective team line ups, a format the league first instituted in 2018.
Starting in 2018, the highest vote-getters for each conference are designated as team captains and both can choose from the list of All-Star reserves to form their teams regardless of conference. LeBron James and Stephen Curry became the first players to choose teams through the new format,
The captains for the 2019 All-Star Game are James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the teams played for a charity of their choice in order to make the games more competitive.
The head coach of the team with the best record in each conference is chosen to mentor their respective conference in the All-Star Game. A prohibition against consecutive appearances, known as the "Riley Rule", was instituted after the Los Angeles Lakers head coach Pat Riley led the Western Conference team eight times in nine seasons between 1982 and 1990. The coach of the team with the next best record gets the slot in his place.
The idea of organizing an All-Star Game started during a meeting between NBA President Maurice Podoloff, NBA publicity director Haskell Cohen and Boston Celtics owner Walter A. Brown. During that time, the sport was controversial because of the college basketball point-shaving scandal.
In order to revive public interest in the league, Cohen suggested the league to host an exhibition game featuring the league's best players, similar to Major League Baseball's All-Star Game.
Several fans, including Podoloff, were pessimistic about the plan, Brown was confident that it would turn out to be successful, and he offered to host the game and to shoulder all the expenses and possible losses that might come up from the game.
The first All-Star Game was hosted at the Boston Garden on March 2, 1951, as the Eastern All-Stars team defeated the Western All-Stars team, 111–94. Boston Celtics' Ed Macauley was chosen as the first NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, and the All-Star Game became a success, attracting an attendance of 10,094, far too high than that season's average crowd of 3,500.
In 2010, the NBA All-Star Game established the biggest attendance record for a basketball game with 108,713 people attending the event at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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