NBA All Star Voting
Eastern Conference Reserves
At long last, the voting is over and the NBA All Star Reserves are set. The Eastern Conference has been gaining talent over the past few years trying to keep pace with all of the talent out West. The All Star Starters for the Eastern Conference were revealed earlier in February and here are the 5 top tier players in the Eastern Conference as voted on by the fans.
PG: Kyrie Irving — Brooklyn Nets
SG: Bradley Beal — Washington Wizards
SF: Kevin Durant — Brooklyn Nets
PF: Giannis Antentokounmpo — Milwaukee Bucks
C: Joel Embiid — Philadelphia 76ers
This left the rest of the talent in the Eastern Conference fighting for an All Star Reserve spot. Those players were announced on Tuesday as the voting around the league has been completed. Unlike the starters, the Reserves are decided by an aggregate vote from fans, players, media members and coaches. Here are the Eastern Conference All Star Reserves.
James Harden — Brooklyn Nets
Julius Randle — New York Knicks
Jayson Tatum — Boston Celtics
Jaylen Brown — Boston Celtics
Zach Lavine — Chicago Bulls
Ben Simmons — Philadelphia 76ers
Nikola Vucevic — Orlando Magic
Like the past few years, this All Star game will not be played as your typical All Star game of Eastern Conference Vs Western Conference. There will be two captains (one from each conference) and they will have a televised draft to select their All Star roster. Those teams will then face off in an All Star game with the new and exciting ‘Elam Ending’.
The ‘Elam Ending’ made the 2020 All Star Game in Chicago arguably the most exciting All Star Game of all time. While it did end at the free throw line which was rather anticlimactic, the 4th quarter was very competitive and interesting. The ‘Elam Ending’ states that teams will play to a ‘Target Score’ that is decided at the beginning of the 4th quarter. The first team to reach the set target score will be declared the winners.
Again, it was a new wrinkle added to last year’s All Star Game and will continue this year. It made for an extraordinary All Star experience as players were actually competing in the final stages of the game rather than letting one another put on a dunk show (which I enjoyed), but the game as a whole is more competitive with the ‘Elam Ending’ included than it has been in the past.
