ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 27, 1997 TAG: 9701280022
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
Michael Jordan, the leading vote-getter in the history of the NBA All-Star Game, on Sunday became the first player to receive more than 2 million votes in one season.
In final fan voting for the Feb.9 game at Cleveland, the Chicago Bulls guard led all players in votes for a record eighth time. He was named on 2,451,136 ballots.
Joining Jordan in the Eastern Conference starting lineup will be forwards Grant Hill of Detroit (1,868,020 votes) and Scottie Pippen of Chicago (1,683,956), center Patrick Ewing of New York (1,395,759) and guard Anfernee Hardaway of Orlando (1,132,024).
For the Western Conference, the starters will be forwards Charles Barkley of Houston (1,877,232) and Shawn Kemp of Seattle (1,713,049), center Hakeem Olajuwon of Houston (1,487,310) and guards Gary Payton of Seattle (1,206,539) and John Stockton of Utah (1,127,250).
The rest of the players on the 12-man teams will be selected by the coaches in the respective conferences and announced this week. Houston's Rudy Tomjanovich will coach the West and Doug Collins of Detroit will coach the East.
Jordan, the MVP of last year's 129-118 East victory in San Antonio and the MVP in the 1988 game, will be playing in his 11th All-Star Game. During his career, Jordan has received 12,009,832 votes.
This will be the 12th All-Star appearance for Olajuwon, the 11th each for Ewing and Barkley, the ninth for Stockton, the seventh for Pippen, the fifth for Kemp, the fourth for Payton and the third each for Hill and Hardaway.
Olajuwon is second to Jordan in career All-Star votes, with 8,945,262, and former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson is third, with 8,216,466.
A record 8,879,330 votes were cast in this year's McDonald's All-Star balloting program, surpassing the mark of 6,446,259 set last year. In addition, a record 13 players each received more than 1 million votes.
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines KEYWORDS: BASKETBALLby CNB