Garnett, Bryant lead All-Star voting

NEW YORK, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Boston's Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers led the final voting for this year's NBA All-Star Game, it was announced Thursday.

The game will be played Feb. 17 in New Orleans.

Garnett, in his first year with the Celtics, will be joined in the Eastern Conference's starting lineup by Orlando's Dwight Howard, Cleveland's LeBron James, Miami's Dwyane Wade and New Jersey's Jason Kidd.

"It means a lot to me," James said. "I work hard every summer to prepare myself to go out and play the game at a high level like I do every night and it's recognized by the fans."

Garnett, who will be making his 11th All-Star Game appearance, received 2,399,148 votes in the fan balloting.

Bryant led the West with 2,004,940 votes. Also starting for the West will be Denver's Allen Iverson, San Antonio's Tim Duncan, Houston's Yao Ming and Denver's Carmelo Anthony.

The All-Star reserves will be announced Jan. 31.