East Favored To Topple West In NBA All-Star Game

Sports News - February 14th, 2010 - Written By John Ritter

The NBA All-Star game will be sans one of it's biggest stars Sunday, but plenty others will be on hand as the league hopes to gain a record attendance.

An eventful skills festival went off without a hitch, and now Dallas is bracing for the largest crowd to watch a basketball game ever as the main event comes to Cowboys Stadium.

"It's going to be such an amazing, huge event. I mean this will be the biggest All-Star ever," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said. "There's going to be so much going on, it literally could be for North Texas the largest party weekend in the history of the United States. That's how big this thing has gotten."

That's good news for Cuban and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. After securing the bid for the exhibition game, the pair have been working on getting as many people as possible squeezed into the football stadium to break the previous attendance record of over 78,000, which was set during the 2009 NCAA championship between North Carolina and Michigan State.

"You guys have been to All-Star weekend in other places," Cuban told a group of reporters. "I mean, we shut down cities. I mean, literally, you go to any city and it basically shuts it down. So imagine having 100,000 people and all the people come for the parties. I mean, literally, it'll be the largest party weekend in the history of this country. I don't think there's going to be any question about it."

Cuban also said the frenzy would "make the Super Bowl look like a bah mitzvah."

Both teams had to do some scrambling to fill out their rosters, but the East team is favored by two in the NBA Odds, according to BetUS, with a 263-point over/under. They still have their best scorer in LeBron James, and several other stars that could make a serious run for the game's MVP.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is out with an ailing right foot, and was replaced by Clippers forward Chris Kaman. Guards Allen Iverson and Chris Paul are also scratches for injury reasons, allowing Denver's Chauncy Billups, and New York's David Lee to squeeze into the game.

Bryant's absence only makes a cleaner path for Cleveland's LeBron James to win the MVP award. He was already the favorite, according to Bodog, with 2/1 odds, but now seperates even further from the pack. Behind him, local favorite Dirk Nowitzki has the second-best odds at 3/1, and Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant (5/1) is the third horse.

The list jams up at the middle with Amar'e Stoudemire, Joe Johnson and Rajon Rondo hanging around the 15/1 range.

The West team won 146-119 last year, but the two squads have rotated wins overt the last four years. The East team was the last to repeat victories in 2005 and 2006

There are nine players making their All-Star debuts on Sunday, most since 2002. Good timing considering they probably won't play in front of a bigger crowd for the rest of their careers.

"I think that in those big venues it's tougher on shooters getting their scope, I think your depth perception is just off a little bit just because of the background," said former Boston Celtics great Kevin McHale. "But it's going to be so much fun to be in there with that crowd and that environment."

The West has seven players who average 20 points or more, and both Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant go for 29 per. But the East has more players (four) who average double-doubles.

Nowitzki is the second-best free throw shooter at 89.7-percent, and averages 24.6 points anda 7.7 rebounds.