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| | Wednesday, February 9 | |||||
| NEW YORK -- In the East, Dale Davis got the nod over Latrell Sprewell.
In the West, it was Cliff Robinson, Scottie Pippen and Shareef
Abdur-Rahim who were squeezed out.
The reserves for the NBA All-Star game were announced Tuesday,
with seven first-timers among the 14 players. Coaches made the
selections.
"I wasn't surprised but I was disappointed," said Sprewell,
who earlier in the year made no secret of his desire to make a
triumphant return as an All-Star to Oakland Coliseum Arena -- the
venue where he played when with the Golden State Warriors. "This
is not the end of my career. I'll have another shot to make it."
The East reserves are Milwaukee's Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson,
Indiana's Davis and Reggie Miller, New York's Allan Houston,
Detroit's Jerry Stackhouse and Atlanta's Dikembe Mutombo.
The West reserves include All-Star perennials Karl Malone and
John Stockton of Utah and David Robinson of San Antonio. They are
joined by Sacramento's Chris Webber, Portland's Rasheed Wallace,
Seattle's Gary Payton and Dallas' Michael Finley.
Davis, Glenn Robinson, Allen, Stackhouse, Houston, Wallace and
Finley are first-time choices.
"Sometimes it's like drawing straws, who gets the short one,
who gets the long one," said Davis, whose averages of 11.4 points
and 10.0 rebounds won out over Sprewell's 19.1 points and 4.7
rebounds.
"I'm really happy for Allan and equally disappointed for
Latrell," said Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, who will coach the
East. Phil Jackson of the Los Angeles Lakers will coach the West.
"They all are deserving in their own ways. I just think Latrell
played extremely well. I also was surprised that (Stephon) Marbury
and (Jamal) Mashburn didn't make it."
Previously selected as starters were Allen Iverson, Eddie Jones,
Alonzo Mourning, Vince Carter and Grant Hill for the East, and
Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd and Kevin
Garnett for the West.
The All-Star Game will be played Feb. 13.
"This one is a little different because maybe Karl Malone and I
will be the elder statesmen on the team," Miller said. "Who would
have thought that?"
Robinson was left off the Western Conference team because of the
glut of talented forwards. He is averaging 20.0 points for the
Phoenix Suns and is having one of the best all-around seasons of
his career.
Also left off was Pippen, who created a controversy in January
when he said that Finley, averaging 22.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and
6.0 assists, didn't deserve a spot because of Dallas' record.
"That comment Scottie made, I said it before and I will say it
again: It was an All-Star making a comment. He's an All-Star not
having an All-Star season," Finley said. "He'll always have next
year.
"Believe it or not, I think his comment brought more attention
to me and the team. Being the type of player he is and the
recognition he has been given, the media and the coaches paid
attention to that and the game (Dallas' victory over Portland on
Jan. 15). Fortunately for us, we won that game and fortunately
enough for me, I played really well.
"He brought a lot of attention to the situation and I just
expanded on it."
Of the NBA's scoring leaders, the top 11 will be playing in the
All-Star game. The players ranked 12th (Isaiah Rider), 13th
(Marbury), 17th (Shareef Abdur-Rahim) and 19th (Antoine Walker)
were left off.
Another notable omission was that of Milwaukee guard Sam
Cassell, who is second in the league in assists (9.4) behind Kidd. | ALSO SEE Newly-named All-Star Finley has last say vs. Pippen All-Star starters named with Carter top vote-getter Carter takes over in final All-Star voting Aldridge: My All-Star team Van Gundy gets All-Star duty as Knicks top Kings  | |||||