Mourning, Hill Are Voted to East All-Star Team

Alonzo Mourning of the Miami Heat has been sidelined all season because of a kidney ailment and Grant Hill of the Orlando Magic has played in only four games, yet their reputations helped them make the Eastern Conference team for the 50th NBA All-Star game.

Mourning received 917,866 votes at center, and Hill, on the disabled list because of a broken left ankle, received 904,885 votes at forward in the fan balloting.

The Toronto Raptors’ Vince Carter led the voting for the second consecutive year. He received 1,717,687 votes out of more than 4.8 million ballots cast.

The All-Star game will be played Feb. 11 at MCI Center in Washington.

Carter said this year’s experience will be much different than last year, when he was overwhelmed by everything he had to do. Carter isn’t participating in the slam dunk contest, which he won last year.

“I can’t tell you anything about the All-Star game last year,” he said. “It was just go here, go there, do this, do that. I never got a chance to stop and take a breath.”

Mourning, Hill and Carter were joined on the East’s starting lineup by guards Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers (1,508,142) and Tracy McGrady of the Magic (827,122), who will be making his All-Star game debut.

“I spoke to Iverson,” Carter said, smiling. “I let him know we have to outrun those big guys to have a chance. . . . They’ve got some height.”

Beginning with Laker center Shaquille O’Neal, the leading vote-getter for the Western Conference team (1,541,298). Other starters include forwards Chris Webber of the Sacramento Kings (1,306,243) and San Antonio Spur Tim Duncan (1,096,522), as well as guards Kobe Bryant of the Lakers (1,433,747) and Jason Kidd of Phoenix (1,062,837).

The 29 NBA coaches will vote for the remaining members of the All-Star teams in their respective conferences, and their selections--seven for each team--will be announced Tuesday.

Larry Brown of the 76ers will coach the East and Rick Adelman of the Kings will coach the West.

The New York Knicks’ Latrell Sprewell finished behind Hill at forward in voting for the East team (817,855), and the 76ers’ Theo Ratliff was runner-up to Mourning at center (637,585).

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San Antonio Spur guard Antonio Daniels will be sidelined for up to 10 days because of a sprained ligament in his right knee.