BREAKING: ANNOUNCING THE 2013 NBA ALL STAR RESERVES

There's a celebration brewing up in Da Club!  Sources close to the situation have confirmed your 2013 All-Star Game Reserves.  Let's begin with the Eastern Conference:

East:
Front Court: BOSH, Brook Lopez, Joakim Noah
Back Court: Paul George, JRUE MOTHAFUCKIN HOLIDAY
Wild Cards: Carlos Boozer, Kyrie Irving

West:
Front Court: Tim Duncan, David Lee, Serge Ibaka
Back Court: Tag-teamin duo of RussRuss Westbrook & James Harden
Wild Cards: Tony Parker, Seth Curry

Narrow misses include Tyson Chandler, Luol Deng, Brandon Jennings, Deron Williams, ZBO & Marc Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge, Al Jefferson

Notes on the selections and non-selections:

• JRUE HOLIDAY!  So well-deserved.  Philly is underachieving as a team this year, which you might expect when your franchise player/best center in the conference hasn't played a single game.  But they're afloat because Jrue is having a career year, putting up 19 & 9.  Sure the turnovers are high, but that's expected for a young guard suddenly getting the keys to the offense.  His game is growing by leaps and bounds this year, and Da Club couldn't be happier to see him get some recognition.
• Bosh/Lopez/Noah - Pretty solid, but you could have probably put Tyson Chandler in there instead of Bosh.  Hate to trash the namesake of Da Club, but Chandler is such a huge reason the Knicks are good, and he deserves to be noticed.
• Paul George and Carlos Boozer have come on real strong lately, equally vital to their teams keeping pace in the East.
• KYRIE and STEPH CURRY.  Can't overstate how much I like these two.  Two of the best young guards in the league, and it will be awesome to watch them go at each other.  Even with some injuries, I support Kyrie over Paul Pierce/DWill/Brandon Jennings 100%.
• Real, real tough to leave out both ZBo and M.Gasol.  Would like to see one of them above Tony Parker. 
• Tim Duncan, David Lee, Ibaka, RussRuss, Harden - Can't argue there. 

All in all, I think things are shaping up nicely for the ASG.  Still think most of the fans are big dumb idiots for their voting records, but as usual the coaches managed to fix those errors for the most part.  If you haven't already, reserve your tickets now for the Club Bosh VIP Pussy Poppin Pregame Party! 

Introducing the 2013 Edition of Chuck's Lucky Ducks

(click to enlarge)

Introducing your 2013 All-Star team as established by Charles Barkley himself.

In the West's Frontcourt: K. Smooth, Serge Ibaka and Z-Bo.  The West's Guards: The Black Mamba and Smooth J and Jeremiah.

In the East's Frontcourt: Melo, The Queen and Anderson Varejao.  The East's Guards: Jrue and Raging Rajon.

I'll list my omissions in order.

I had more trouble with the West's Frontcourt group than anywhere else.  Notable omissions to this group: Kevin Love (has been hurt, but one of my favorite players, Milk Chocolate) and Blake Griffin (he can fly!! and gave this up).  The West's guard omissions were Steph Curry (finally healthy) , Chris Paul (no links, he's a bitch) and OJ Mayo (having a career season).

In the East's Frontcourt, the only person I had trouble leaving out was Joakim Noah because I like keeping Wentz happy.  The East's guard omissions were Uncle Drew (seriously!?) and Brandon Jennings (playing for a contract).

I posted the current results to the voting below.  It is an absolute JOKE that fucking D. Wade has almost 600,000 more votes than Jrue Holiday.  It makes me want to sit on a thumbtack actually.  Jrue is playing 38 minutes per game with career highs in points, assists and 3 point % at 18.1, 8.8 and 35.5.  Couple that with 1.3 steals per and 4 boards while shooting 45% from the field and it is a crime against humanity that he isn't going to be making his first all-star appearance.

In the West, Dwight Howard has no business even sniffing at a chance for Houston based on this season and if you disagree, you're a moron.

Current totals according to NBA.com:

2013 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING PRESENTED BY SPRINT EASTERN CONFERENCE
Frontcourt: LeBron James (Mia) 970,314; Carmelo Anthony (NYK) 891,759; Kevin Garnett (Bos) 328,716; Chris Bosh (Mia) 308,194; Tyson Chandler (NYK) 260,000; Paul Pierce (Bos) 171,601; Joakim Noah (Chi) 129,331; Josh Smith (Atl) 111,260; Anderson Varejao (Cle) 99,955; Amar'e Stoudemire (NYK) 90,996; Shane Battier (Mia) 88,800; Andrew Bynum (Phi) 84,939; Luol Deng (Chi) 76,400; Brook Lopez (BKN) 67,991; Jeff Green (Bos) 52,785.
Backcourt: Dwyane Wade (Mia) 645,875; Rajon Rondo (Bos) 574,272; Deron Williams (BKN) 309,778; Kyrie Irving (Cle) 258,193; Ray Allen (Mia) 195,142; Monta Ellis (Mil) 71,287; Raymond Felton (NYK) 66,745; Jrue Holiday (Phi) 56,683; Jason Terry (Bos) 52,833; Brandon Jennings (Mil) 49,122.
2013 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING PRESENTED BY SPRINT WESTERN CONFERENCE
Frontcourt: Kevin Durant (OKC) 924,898; Dwight Howard (LAL) 616,150; Blake Griffin (LAC) 489,795; Tim Duncan (SA) 299,434; Pau Gasol (LAL) 197,377; Kevin Love (Min) 189,949; Omer Asik (Hou) 131,002; Rudy Gay (Mem) 125,562; Serge Ibaka (OKC) 111,963; Marc Gasol (Mem) 99,271; Zach Randolph (Mem) 97,778; LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 97,090; Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 93,491; Metta World Peace (LAL) 85,279; Chandler Parsons (Hou) 78,235.
Backcourt: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 977,444; Chris Paul (LAC) 542,564; Jeremy Lin (Hou) 496,133; James Harden (Hou) 283,691; Russell Westbrook (OKC) 232,074; Steve Nash (LAL) 166,262; Tony Parker (SA) 111,032; Ricky Rubio (Min) 96,466; Stephen Curry (GS) 78,380; Manu Ginobili (SA) 70,813.

Oh shit (Part 3)

While avenging an embarassing loss to the Pistons from November, yaboi Jrue Holiday took the time to fold Brandom Knight in half (possibly assisted by Hawes) and drain the J.  Nice exclamation point to the win.  These are the games the 123456ers have to win if they want any hope of a playoff spot sans Frederick Douglass. 

While we're here, go take a minute and vote Jrue to the All-Star team.  Putting up 18-9-4 (Third, behind only Rondo and CP3 in assists!) and keeping the hopes of Philadelphia alive. 

Sixers Undefeated

Blackface and I went to the Sixers opener last night to watch 'Dre and 'Dre reunite on the floor for the first time since their days together in South Philly.  Much of the same product.  Iggy made his first jumper, but went 4-12 after that including a miserable 0-4 from 3 (many of the same stupid pull up 3's) and a frustrating 1-3 from the line.  Every time Iggy touched the ball, he was booed.  It was SO Philly.  I got a bit nostalgic halfway through the first quarter when the last 45 seconds of game 6 of the Chicago series was played on the scoreboard, but then I reminded myself that was the highlight of Iggy's 8 YEARS in Philly and I snapped out of it.  I don't know if the Sixers' defense looked good last night or the Gallinari-less Nuggets were just that bad (they were), but they held the Nuggets to an abysmal 75 points.  The Sixers winning a game after shooting 35% from the field and 28% from three is encouraging especially with all the preseason hype Denver has gotten.  Don't get me wrong, if the Sixers want to compete in the Eastern Conference this year, the offense needs to get markedly better, but a win is a win.  The offense is definitely running through Jrue as he matched his season high from last year in assists with 11 while scoring 14 points on a lackluster 5-16 shooting.  As the season progresses, I'm sure we'll see the Jream get into a rhythm and that shooting percentage will pick up. 

I pushed over a small child to grab a Jrue's Jream Team T-Shirt out of the mother of all t-shirt cannons, but the highlight of the night was definitely a packed Wells Fargo chanting 'MVP' for Spencer Hawes after he put up 16, 12 and 2 along with 2 steals and 2 blocks.

Photo cred to Blackface Logan from his iPhone... step your quality game up, Apple.