Who’s your fave NBA All-Star?

It’ll be another unforgettable National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star extravaganza in Houston this weekend and fans are eagerly anticipating the annual gathering of the league’smost outstanding cagers in the world’sgreatest hoop show.

To celebrate the event, the NBA is—once again—making available merchandise, not available locally, for you to win by joining our All-Star contest. The NBA sent 10 items from its New York office and they’re exclusive All-Star Game stuff.

The items are: three red short-sleeve 2006 NBA All-Star Game T-shirts, two short-sleeve ladies 2006 NBA All-Star Game T-shirts, three white short-sleeve 2006 NBA All-Star Game T-shirts, one black 2006 NBA All-Star Game collared shirt and one 2006 NBA All-Star Game backpack.

To win the merchandise, just answer these questions: (1) Who is this year’s East All-Star coach? (2) Who is this year’s West All-Star coach? (3) Who is the East starter not able to play in this year’sAll-Star Game because of an injury? (4) Who is the East player picked by NBA commissioner David Stern to replace the injured East starter in this year’sAll-Star Game? (5) Who is your favorite NBA All-Star and in 100 words or less, why is he your favorite?

Write down your answers in a slip of paper. Send to "The 2006 NBA All-Star Game" "A Sporting Chance" Philippine Star, sports section, 13th and Roberto Oca Streets, Port Area, Metro Manila. Don’t forget to write your name, address, telephone number, age, occupation (if student, what year, course, school) and signature. Deadline for entries is Monday, Feb. 21—when the All-Star Game will be shown live on Philippine TV by Solar Sports.

We will announce the winners late next week.

The items up for grabs were flown in by the NBA exclusively for The Star’s readers. This is your only chance to win 2006 NBA All-Star Game merchandise so don’t hesitate to join. The items are destined to be collectors’ items.

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Four Detroit Pistons are in the East All-Star lineup and coach Flip Saunders had nothing to do with their selection. However, none was voted a starter. Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace were picked as reserves in a poll involving the league’s 30 coaches.

The voters were asked to name seven players for each conference (East and West), broken down as follows: two guards, two forwards, one center and two players regardless of position. The coaches were not allowed to vote any player on their teams.

Saunders, who was fired as Minnesota coach before joining the Pistons this season, got the East job because Detroit had the best winning percentage in the East through games of last Feb. 5. The Pistons’ record at the cut-off was 31-5. It will be Saunders’ second coaching stint in an All-Star Game. He made his debut as the West coach in 2004.

The other East reserves are Toronto’s Chris Bosh, Boston’s Paul Pierce and New Jersey’s Vince Carter. Washington’s Gilbert Arenas was picked by Stern to replace injured East starter Jermaine O’Neal.

Aside from O’Neal, the other East starters who were voted by fans are Miami’s Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade, Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson and Cleveland’s LeBron James.

Although Arenas was chosen to replace O’Neal, it doesn’t mean he’ll start for the East. Saunders will choose O’Neal replacement as a starter. The likely choice is Rasheed Wallace who’s averaging 15.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 35.6 minutes this season.

West coach Avery Johnson is making his first appearance in the All-Star Game. He took over as Dallas coach from Don Nelson with 18 games left in the 2004-05 season and clinched the West job because the Mavericks led the conference with a 32-10 mark as of last Feb. 5.

The West has a stratospheric lineup led by 7-6 Yao Ming, 7-foot Pau Gasol, 7-foot Dirk Nowitzki, 7-0 Tim Duncan and 6-11 Kevin Garnett. Also in the mix are 6-8 Tracy McGrady, 6-8 Elton Brand and 6-7 Shawn Marion.

The West starters are Yao, Kobe Bryant, T-Mac, Duncan and Steve Nash. Coming off the bench are Gasol, Tony Parker, Ray Allen, Nowitzki, Brand, KG and the Matrix.

Saunders’ team is fully loaded at every position. Billups is AI’s backup at point guard. Rotating at two-guard are Rip, Pierce, Carter and Wade. LeBron will start at the three-spot but he, too, plays two. Shaq and Big Ben will take care of the middle while Bosh and Sheed will be awesome at the four-spot. If Saunders goes with a three-guard alignment, the East will run the West to the ground.

Nash will try to keep things in synch for the West with backup Parker making his All-Star Game debut. Kobe is in the fold so you can expect him to jack up a lot of shots which won’t make him too popular with his teammates, particularly T-Mac and KG. With Kobe firing at will, Allen might not find too many opportunities to score. Johnson, who likes to quote from the Bible, will try to motivate his All-Stars to play as a unit but that’s easier said than done. Johnson has done a masterful job getting things organized in Dallas but he’s far from gaining the stature of a Pat Riley or a Phil Jackson.

The way I see it, the East will try to outrun the West while the West will play slow and deliberate to take advantage of the size mismatch. Yao and Duncan make a formidable Twin Towers combination. So do Pau and KG. But the East has the speed and athleticism to run rings around them. My pick is the East to win in a scorcher.