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Bench press Malone, Stockton, Robinson picked as All-Star reserves
Posted: Wednesday February 02, 2000 08:08 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- 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.
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