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Kevin Garnett Out - Abdominal strain.
Ray Allen was added to the Eastern Conference All-Star roster by commissioner David Stern on Wednesday, replacing injured Washington forward Caron Butler.
Allen's eighth All-Star selection means the NBA-leading Boston Celtics will again have two players in Sunday's game in New Orleans. Kevin Garnett was the top vote-getter in fan balloting, but had to pull out because of an abdominal strain.
Celtics forward Paul Pierce is going as a reserve. The East will be coached by Boston's Doc Rivers. Butler has a left hip flexor. He would have been playing in his second straight All-Star game.
It looked for a minute like the Pistons might have two players starting in the All-Star Game Sunday.
Rasheed Wallace was one. Coach Doc Rivers will either choose Wallace or Chris Bosh to replace injured starter Kevin Garnett. Then there came news of a proposed trade that would have sent Jason Kidd to Dallas.
Had that happened -- and it still might -- Chauncey Billups might have been tabbed to start in his place. "Wow, I never even thought about that," Billups said.
Wednesday was the last game before the All-Star break and players were preparing to scatter. Richard Hamilton was planning to celebrate his 30th birthday in Miami today before flying to New Orleans for the All-Star weekend.
Billups and Wallace are flying to New Orleans Friday morning. The team did not provide a charter for All-Star bound players or employees this year.
Some are heading home and others are bound for the Bahamas or other tropical resorts.
Kobe Bryant's finger is still bothering him, and the Lakers star was set to see a doctor in Los Angeles on Thursday to determine whether he'll play in the All-Star game this weekend.
Bryant, who dislocated his right pinkie last week, scored 29 points in 35 minutes in Wednesday's 117-92 win at Minnesota. Bryant sat out the fourth quarter and had the finger X-rayed after the game.Coach Phil Jackson said he'd prefer Bryant not play in the All-Star game. Bryant said he'll travel to New Orleans for the festivities, but he's probably out for the 3-point contest and isn't sure about suiting up for Sunday's exhibition.
"We'll see what doc has to say," Bryant said.
If the trade goes through, it could affect the Pistons in one minor way -- point guard Chauncey Billups could become the starter in Sunday's All-Star Game. Kidd was voted an Eastern Conference starter by the fans, but if he's traded to Dallas, it's assumed he'll have to suit up for the West.
If so, All-Star coach Doc Rivers would pick the new starter, and Billups is the only point guard remaining on the current roster.The league would pick a player to fill the emptied roster spot, with the choice likely between Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu and Toronto's Jose Calderon.
Boston's Ray Allen was named Wednesday to replace the injured Caron Butler (hip flexor strain) of Washington. Told of the situation before the game, Billups looked surprised, then smiled, saying, "I hadn't even thought about that."
Kobe Bryant's finger is still bothering him, and the Lakers star was set to see a doctor in Los Angeles on Thursday to determine whether he'll play in the All-Star game this weekend.
Coach Phil Jackson said he'd prefer Bryant not play in the All-Star game. Bryant said he'll travel to New Orleans for the festivities, but he's probably out for the 3-point contest and isn't sure about suiting up for Sunday's exhibition.
"Every time it gets hit, it swells up again,'' he said.
Kobe Bryant was diagnosed with a torn ligament in his right pinkie finger Thursday and the Lakers All-Star has decided not to undergo surgery that could sideline him for six weeks. The damage occurred when Bryant dislocated the finger at New Jersey on Feb. 5, and was aggravated in Wednesday night's game at Minnesota.
The team said Thursday that the damage was more extensive than first believed. There is a complete tear of the radial collateral ligament and avulsion fracture, in which a small bone fragment had been pulled off by a tendon. Bryant was examined in Los Angeles by Dr. Steven Shin, a hand specialist who recommended surgery to repair the ligament. "My current thinking is to give my finger some treatment and rest for a few days, and hope I can still continue to compete at a high level after that rest," Bryant said in statement. "I would prefer to delay any surgical procedure until after our Lakers season, and this summer's Olympic Games. But this is an injury that myself and the Lakers medical staff will just have to continue to monitor on a day-to-day basis."
It was unclear if Bryant will play in Sunday's All-Star Game at New Orleans. But he will skip the 3-point shooting contest, with Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas replacing him.
If the NBA ever had any doubts about New Orleans' ability to provide security for the All-Star game this weekend, Mardi Gras took care of it. "The NBA security team has visited the city at least 20 times," Mayor Ray Nagin said. "They started getting comfortable with our ability to handle crowds pretty quick, but once they saw the crowd at Mardi Gras and the way we did things, they said if any city in the country can give us a good, safe game, this is it." Security is the league's No. 1 priority, said NBA vice president Ski Austin, and Mardi Gras certainly reassured them New Orleans could provide it."We had been able to get a behind the scene look at plans for that event, and then come back and see it in motion," Austin said. "It was certainly an impressive display." Soon after the NBA announced that the All-Star Game would be played in New Orleans, some questioned whether the city, still in the throes of a shaky recovery from Hurricane Katrina, was ready for such a big event. NBA players' union director Billy Hunter had expressed doubts that New Orleans could accommodate the league's showcase game."That's one man's opinion," police superintendent Warren Riley said. "I can't guarantee anything, but we stand here to say this NBA event will be a success. We are ready for big and small events."
Hunter's remarks were made months before the city successfully hosted a string of major events, the New Orleans Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Bowl Championship Series title game and then the 12-day Carnival celebration that culminated on Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, on Feb. 5. The bowl games drew an estimated 200,000 people, while several hundred thousand hit the streets for Mardi Gras. New Orleans police have worked 12- to 16-hour days for 23 of the first 45 days of the year covering special events, said Riley, whose department has long prided itself on its ability to host major events. There were six shootings in the city near the sites of Carnival celebrations. Police attributed the shootings to personal grudges or drug deals unrelated to the Mardi Gras parades and noted that visitors to the city were not harmed. The All-Star Game brings four days of events to town and once again gives New Orleans a chance to shine under an international spotlight. That in turn requires the city, which is still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina, and the police department, which is also still recovering from the 2005 storm, to prevent problems that would steal the focus.
Security inside the New Orleans Arena, home to most of the events, will be tight, spokesman Bill Curl promised."Any time there is a major event, levels of security go up," Curl said. "The thing is the communications lines are in place. We work together with the police all the time."The security plan for the city, away from the arena, includes closing off vehicular traffic to the French Quarter and making sure pedestrians are safe."Downtown will look like Christmas, you'll have officers all around the place," Riley said. He said his major concern is private parties during the event. "We're going to have things going on around the city, celebrities at parties and people wanting to get into them," Riley said. "I'm a little concerned about parties we're not aware of going in and may have to provide security for."
Gibson OK: Daniel Gibson, who missed the past three games with a strained right hamstring, was cleared to play Wednesday, but Brown held him out. Gibson will compete in the rookie-sophomore game and the 3-point shooting contest during this weekend's All-Star festivities.
The Los Angeles Lakers are hoping that Kobe Bryant gets clearance from the league to miss Sunday's All-Star Game in New Orleans after announcing Thursday that Bryant has a torn ligament in his right pinkie.
But Bryant doesn't yet have that clearance -- and may not get it.
A league official confirmed Thursday night that the NBA is not looking for potential replacements to fill Bryant's spot on the Western Conference squad. That's because the league office still expects Bryant to start and play for the West, even if it's only for a brief cameo, after he played for the Lakers all the way through to their final game before the All-Star break Wednesday in Minnesota.
