Iverson gaining ground in bid for All-Star starting spot

Dmac

Iverson gaining ground in bid for All-Star starting spot

Allen Iverson is closing on Tracy McGrady for the second guard spot in the Western Conference All-Star lineup.

McGrady had 1,331,511 votes in the totals released by the NBA on Thursday, just 31,263 ahead of Iverson in a battle of perennial starters.

Iverson started for the East in the last seven All-Star games while playing for Philadelphia, and was the MVP in 2001 and '05. McGrady has started in five of his six appearances.

Kobe Bryant is the leader among West guards with more than 1.5 million votes.

The other close race is in the East, where Toronto's Chris Bosh is a little more than 63,000 votes ahead of Jermaine O'Neal in the quest to join LeBron James in the starting frontcourt.

James, the MVP of last year's game, leads all East vote-getters and is slightly more than 1,100 votes behind Houston center Yao Ming for the overall lead.

Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan seem set to start at forward for the West, with Dwyane Wade and Vince Carter likely doing the same in the East backcourt. Shaquille O'Neal, despite playing only four games this season, is the leader at center in the East.

The All-Star game will be played Feb. 18 in Las Vegas. Paper balloting continues through Jan. 15 and fans can vote online until Jan. 21. Starters will be announced Jan. 25.

Credit - ESPN