Kevin Love Added To NBA All-Star Game In Place Of Injured Yao Ming

Kevin Love will replace Yao Ming on the Western Conference’s NBA All-Star team, the league announced late Friday. Commissioner David Stern had the option of choosing any player from the West -- not just a big man. But the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Love was most frequently mentioned as the All-Star Game’s biggest snub after the league announced coaches’ reserve choices on Thursday. Love lost out to Tim Duncan, Blake Griffin and Russell Westbrook in coach voting.

Love, a third-year power forward, leads the NBA in rebounding with 15.5 per game. He’s on pace to become the first player since Moses Malone to average 20 points and 15 rebounds per game, and he’s tallied 34 consecutive double-doubles.

Kevin Love was the most surprising absence from the NBA All-Star reserves announced Thursday. The Minnesota Timberwolves forward was left off the Western All-Stars; in his place, the West’s coaches chose Clippers rookie Blake Griffin, Spurs legend Tim Duncan, Lakers forward Pau Gasol, Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki and whichever reserve guard (Manu Ginobili, Russell Westbrook or Deron Williams) rated lowest and thus took a wild card spot.

Love is averaging 21.4 points and a league-best 15.5 rebounds. He’s tallied 34 straight double-doubles, he has a True Shooting percentage of .593, is No. 6 in the league in PER, No. 5 in Win Shares (despite a team in the bottom five in wins) and is on pace to be the first player since Moses Malone to average 20 and 15 in a season.

Chris Bosh and four members of the Boston Celtics have been chosen as NBA All-Star reserves for the Eastern Conference, Yahoo! Sports reported on Thursday. The NBA was set to announce the reserves, as voted by the head coaches of the Eastern Conference, at 7 PM ET, but the results leaked early.

Joining the Miami Heat’s Bosh in the frontcourt will be Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce of the East-leading Celtics, as well as Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks. Boston guards Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen and the Atlanta Hawks’ Joe Johnson make up the bench backcourt. The East All-Stars’ starting five includes LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Amar’e Stoudemire, Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard. Boston’s Doc Rivers will coach the team.

Blake Griffin and Pau Gasol were among the NBA All-Star reserves chosen by Western coaches, Yahoo! Sports reported on Thursday. The NBA was set to announce the All-Star rosters at 7 PM ET on TNT, but per usual the names were leaked a little early.

Griffin and Gasol are joined in the frontcourt by Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan, surprisingly leaving Kevin Love, who is on pace to be the first player since Moses Malone to average 20 points and 15 rebounds per game for the season, on the outside. The guards chosen to be All-Star reserves were Manu Ginobili, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook.

Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers thinks the Eastern Conference’s NBA All-Star reserves should include four of his players. It’s not surprising that a coach would stump for his own player or players. In fact, Rivers may have the best case of all: Rondo is clearly one of the three best guards in the conference, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are living legends have great seasons for the East’s best team and Ray Allen has produced as well as any contender for the second reserve guard spot.

That Rivers happens to be in line to coach the East All-Stars probably helps. The last team to land four All-Stars was the 2006 Detroit Pistons (Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace). Much ado was made about those four playing together in the All-Star Game with Dwyane Wade, who could have been a Piston had Joe Dumars reconsidered his Darko Milicic pick in the 2003 draft.

Blake Griffin is among the hundred or so West forwards hoping to be named to the NBA All-Star reserves. The official announcement will land at 7 PM ET on TNT. The L.A. Clippers’ rookie is fighting for one of the maximum five big man All-Star slots out West with Pau Gasol, Kevin Love, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge, David West and Lamar Odom.

Gasol and Nowitzki are locks, and Duncan -- whose Spurs have the league’s best record and no All-Star starters -- seems a likely addition. Love is certainly deserving of a spot. That doesn’t leave much room for Griffin, the most electric rookie since Kevin Durant, or perhaps even LeBron James.

Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics has been named to the East’s NBA All-Star team, according to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The point guard finished third in fan voting for the Eastern Conference team, trailing just Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade and Chicago Bulls lead guard Derrick Rose. Rondo actually had a lead on Rose for the second guard spot in early voting, but Rose, mentioned in MVP discussions this season, moved ahead.

Head coaches (or, more likely, their teams’ PR units) select seven All-Star reserves from their own conference. They must select at least two guards, two forwards and a center, though there is some latitude on how “center” is defined.

As the votes for the 2011 NBA All-Star game continue to pour in, the usual suspects top the list in the Eastern and Western Conferences, but a pair of new faces are gaining steam in the East.

In the NBA’s final balloting update before the starters are announced on Jan. 27, the Knicks’ Amare Stoudemire has surged past Kevin Garnett with 1,493,391 votes (vs. KG’s 1,049,544), while Chicago’s Derrick Rose looks like the front-runner to start at point guard now that he’s overtaken another Celtic, Rajon Rondo, with 1,225,575 votes (to Rondo’s 1,171,311).