NBA ALL-STAR GAME : Fans Switch to A.C. and It Causes Turnoff

The team of the ‘80s dominates the starting lineup for the first NBA All-Star Game of the 90s, but there are questions about whether one of the three Lakers should be on the first five.

It’s only the fifth time in 24 years that one team has had three players on the starting five, but the fan selection of A.C. Green over Karl Malone has raised some eyebrows.

With the Lakers appearing in eight of the last 10 NBA Finals, it’s no surprise they dominate the all-star squad.

And no one would question that Magic Johnson is a starter, and a case could be made that James Worthy is one of the best forwards in the West.

But Green over Malone? Utah’s Karl Malone, who gives real meaning to the term ‘power forward’?

“Karl Malone is the premier power forward in basketball, but that’s not the way the voting went,” said Lakers coach Pat Riley, who will coach the West for the eighth time in nine years. “He will play significant minutes. But the voting was put in the hands of the fans, and the fans are a big part of the game. Maybe there has to be some kind of adjustment.”

Maybe. Certainly Los Angeles is the media center that Salt Lake City is not.

Malone, chosen to the All-Star Game as a reserve by Western Conference coaches, and Green are not comparable statistically.

Malone is the No. 2 scorer in the NBA and averages nearly 31 points and 11 rebounds. Green, who in the week before the All-Star Game had consecutive games in which he scored two and zero points, averages 13 points and nine rebounds.

“A.C. Green has proven to be incredibly talented and popular,” Riley said. “I’m tickled that he made it. The fact we have three guys in the All-Star Game is because we have had the best record in the league and all three of these players have had good seasons.”

The only recent All-Star Games with three starters from one team came in 1986 when the Lakers had Worthy, Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and in 1983 when the Philadelphia 76ers had Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Maurice Cheeks.

In 1977, both the East and West had three starters from one team. The 76ers had Erving, George McGinnis and Doug Collins while Denver had Bobby Jones, David Thompson and Dan Issel.

You have to go back to 1966 to find another three-starter All-Star Game.

From 1953 to 1966, when the NBA had significantly fewer teams than today, nine All-Star squads had three starters from a single team. On four occasions, it was the Boston Celtics who had three starters.

Green himself is caught in the middle of the controversy. He doesn’t want to suggest he’s a better player than Malone, but he doesn’t want to sound ungrateful to the fans that put him in the game.

“I know there are a lot of comments directed toward me,” he said. “I don’t really have an opinion on them. I’m honored to be selected for the game, and that’s the bottom line. I’m thankful to my teammates and the people who voted for me.”

He said if the selection process becomes a problem, “I’m sure the NBA will change.”

Worthy said that if coaches or the media selected the starters, there probably would be different starters.

“Ninety-eight percent of the time, the guys who make it deserve it, but every now and then, because of fans’ control, it’s hard to have a true opinion,” Worthy said. “TV has something to do with it, but if you’re good enough to be an All-Star, you’re going to be known.”

Worthy pointed out that deserving players who don’t start make the team as reserves and sometimes play more than the starters.

“Since it’s the fans that are choosing the starters, I look at it as what they want,” he said. “After all, it’s their weekend.”

Riley and Detroit’s Chuck Daly are the coaches by virtue of their teams having the best record in each conference on Jan. 28. The game is old hat for Riley, but it’s the first time for Daly.

“I had reservations for both Miami and the Bahamas,” Riley said, “so I would have been happy either way. But it’s always an honor to represent the conference.”

Joining the three Lakers in the starting lineup for the West will be Malone’s teammate, John Stockton, at guard and Houston center Akeem Olajuwon.

The East starters are forwards Larry Bird of Boston and Charles Barkley of Philadelphia, New York center Patrick Ewing and guards Isiah Thomas of Detroit and Michael Jordan of Chicago.