Kyrie Irving Leads All Guards In NBA All-Star Voting
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Kyrie Irving is one popular guy.
The NBA released their first update on All-Star voting on Thursday, and the Celtics point guard is getting a whole lot of love from fans everywhere. Irving leads all NBA guards with 910,329 votes, over 100,000 more votes than Golden State guard Stephen Curry.
In overall voting, Irving trails only his old pal LeBron James (1,083,363 votes) and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (991,561 votes). Not too shabby.
Irving dazzles every night he steps on the floor, whether it's his ridiculous shot-making or unbelievable passing. He's putting up some MVP-like numbers during Boston's sluggish start to the season, dropping 23.1 points off 49 percent shooting while averaging 6.6 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game -- both career-highs.
While Irving is the only Celtic to make the Top 10 guards list, a trio of C's players are in the Top 10 in the East's frontcourt. Jayson Tatum leads that pack with 214,622 votes -- good for fifth among East frontcourt players. Rounding out the list, and this is where it gets a little silly, is Gordon Hayward (66,492 votes) and Al Horford (62,288 votes). It's nice to see Horford get some love from NBA fans, but Hayward has looked nothing like an All-Star in his comeback season, aside from two big performances against the Minnesota Timberwolves. If anything, Marcus Morris deserves a few votes for being Boston's second-best player during the first half of the season.
But that is life when fans decide, and they account for 50 percent of the vote to determine the 10 All-Star starters (the media and players split the other 50 percent). Fans can vote for their favorite players online through Monday, Jan. 1 at 11:59 p.m., with the All-Star get set for Sunday, Feb. 17 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
