LA teams get 2 All-Star starters

Associated Press

NEW YORK

From Kobe Bryant to Chris Paul, Blake Griffin to Andrew Bynum, the NBA All-Star game is shaping up as an L.A. story.

Two Lakers and two Clippers were voted as starters Thursday for the game, the first time in 15 years that two pairs of teammates have been voted to start for one conference.

Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant prevented a clean Los Angeles sweep of the Western Conference starting lineup by earning a forward spot for the Feb. 26 game in Orlando.

Dwight Howard of the host Magic — unless he’s traded first — was the overall leading vote-getter with 1.6 million. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are going together again from Miami, while MVP Derrick Rose of Chicago and New York’s Carmelo Anthony round out the East starters.

The Clippers and Lakers are developing a spirited rivalry this season, but they’ll have to get along for a night to give the West a second straight win in the NBA’s midseason event.

Bryant and Paul will be in the same backcourt two months after the NBA, as owners of the Hornets, killed a trade that would have sent Paul to the Lakers. Instead, he was dealt shortly after to the Clippers, and he has teamed with Griffin to make them one of the league’s most exciting and improved teams, leading the Pacific Division over their Staples Center co-tenants.

Griffin and Bynum are first-time starters, while Bryant earned his record-tying 14th consecutive nod.

It’s the first time since 1997, when Houston had Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley, and Seattle sent Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, that two pairs of teammates have been voted to start for one conference.