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Fan favorite Carter tops All-Star voting for third year in a rowPosted: Saturday January 26, 2002 3:16 PMUpdated: Saturday January 26, 2002 5:21 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- The NBA's fans have spoken with their votes, and Michael Jordan will honor their wishes with his presence. Jordan, who finished more than 500,000 votes behind Vince Carter in final balloting totals for the All-Star Game announced Saturday, will be in the starting lineup for the East in two weeks. Click here for the final tallies. "I could use the rest, obviously, but when the fans vote you in, it's a responsibility of upholding and living up to what they expect," Jordan said. "I think if they wouldn't have voted me, I would have probably preferred to take the weekend off and just rest the body and get ready for the second half of the season." Washington's Jordan will be joined on the Eastern Conference All-Star team by Toronto's Carter, Philadelphia's Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo, and Boston's Antoine Walker. Carter, the leading vote-getter in 2000 and 2001, received 1,470,176 votes, joining Jordan (four times) and Julius Erving (nine times) as the only players to lead the voting at least three times. Shaquille O'Neal received the second-most votes of any player, 1,247,438, and will be joined on the Western Conference team by Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant, Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, San Antonio's Tim Duncan and Houston's Steve Francis. The All-Star Game is Feb. 10 in Philadelphia. Jordan, listed on the ballot as a guard even though he plays forward for the Wizards, was chosen for his 13th All-Star Game, while O'Neal was selected for the ninth time and Mutombo for the eighth. Francis is the only first-time All-Star in either starting lineup. The closest race in the balloting was for the second guard spot in the West, where Francis beat out Seattle guard Gary Payton by almost 90,000 votes. In the East, the closest race was Walker beating out injured Orlando forward Grant Hill by almost 120,000 votes. The reserves will be announced Tuesday after voting by the NBA's 29 coaches, who must select two forwards, two guards, one center and two other players.
Byron Scott of the New Jersey Nets will coach the Eastern
Conference team. The West's coach will be either the Lakers' Phil
Jackson, the Timberwolves' Flip Saunders or the Mavericks' Don
Nelson, depending on who has the best record after Sunday's games.
Sacramento's Rick Adelman, whose Kings have the NBA's best record,
is ineligible because he coached the West All-Stars last year.
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