Thursday night, the NBA officially announced the starting lineups for the 2015 All-Star Game, as voted on by the fans. Warriors PG Stephen Curry, the leading vote-getter in the entire League, will start alongside Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol, Blake Griffin and Kobe Bryant (though Kobe will likely need a replacement due to today’s injury news). In the East, it’s LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, John Wall and Kyle Lowry.
From the NBA, via Twitter:
The final #NBAAllStarNYC Balloting presented by @Sprint Results. pic.twitter.com/HDKtYJPi1b
— #NBAAllStar (@NBAAllStar) January 23, 2015
And more details on the voting breakdown, from the League’s official press release:
NEW YORK — Dramatic late runs by Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors headline the final results of NBA All-Star Balloting 2015 presented by Sprint. Curry (1,513,324 votes) edged the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James (1,470,483) to become the top overall vote-getter after trailing by 13,285 votes in the most recent balloting update. Curry, who started in last year’s NBA All-Star Game, is the first Warrior to be named a starter in back-to-back All-Star Games since Chris Mullin in 1991-92.
Lowry (805,290) rallied from a deficit of more than 100,000 votes at the last balloting update to overtake the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade and join the Washington Wizards’ John Wall (886,368) in the starting backcourt for the Eastern Conference. Wall, making his second straight All-Star appearance and first start, is the first Wizards starter since Gilbert Arenas in 2007. This is the first All-Star appearance for Lowry, who becomes the first Raptor to start since Chris Bosh in 2008. The East will have two first-time starters in the backcourt for the first time since Allen Iverson (Philadelphia) and Eddie Jones (Charlotte) in 2000.
The 64th NBA All-Star Game will tip off Sunday, Feb. 15, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game will be seen by fans in 215 countries and territories and will be heard in 47 languages. TNT will televise the All-Star Game for the 13th consecutive year, marking Turner Sports’ 30th year of NBA All-Star coverage.
James, the top vote-getter last season, will start his 11th All-Star Game in 12 seasons. He was followed in the overall voting by the New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis (1,369,911), who finished with the most votes among frontcourt players in the Western Conference. At 21, Davis is the youngest starter in this year’s game, which features five first-time starters and 10 starters from 10 different teams.
James, who this month became the youngest player in NBA history to reach 24,000 points, is joined in the East frontcourt by the Chicago Bulls’ Pau Gasol (974,177), an All-Star for the fifth time, and the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony (647,005), who earned his eighth All-Star nod. Anthony boasts the fourth-highest scoring average (21.1 points) in All-Star history and is the 10th player to earn four All-Star selections with two different teams (Denver, New York).
Gasol’s brother Marc of the Memphis Grizzlies was picked to start for the West, marking the first time in history two brothers will start an NBA All-Star Game. The Gasols are the first brothers to appear in the same All-Star Game since Tom and Dick Van Arsdale played in the 1970 and 1971 games.
Curry, who this month became the fastest player in NBA history to hit 1,000 career three-pointers (369 games), is joined in the West backcourt by the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (1,152,402), named an All-Star for the 17th time, second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19). Bryant, who in December passed Michael Jordan for third place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, is the all-time leading scorer in All-Star Game history with 280 points.
Davis and Marc Gasol (795,121) will share the West frontcourt with the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin (700,615), an All-Star for the fifth consecutive season and the only player in the NBA averaging at least 23.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists this season. It’s the second straight All-Star nod for Davis, who leads the NBA in blocks (2.95 bpg) and ranks among the top 10 in scoring (24.3 ppg), rebounding (10.4 rpg) and field goal percentage (56.3). This is the second selection for the Grizzlies’ Gasol, who is averaging a career-high 19.3 points, nearly five points above his previous best.
