soaked weekend in Hollywood, the NBA's two biggest constellations of stars are teaming up to see if they can take down Kobe Bryant in the NBA All-Star game. The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat have a combined seven players on the East team for Sunday night's game at Staples Center, including Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. But playing at home, Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers' five-time NBA championship winner, will have the crowd behind him and the rest of the West team. “Oh, people in L.A. don't like us too much,” said the Heat's Chris Bosh, playing on the East squad. “We'll get booed. It's OK, though. It's only the All-Star game. Everybody is just here to have fun.” The annual All-Star contest pits the best players in the NBA's Eastern Conference against the best players from the Western Conference, with the starters selected by fans in a vote and the reserves chosen by coaches from each division. The East won last year's matchup, 141-139. The NBA's biggest names couldn't wait to report to the city that pretty much invented modern celebrity Friday for a weekend that also includes gimmicky games and contests, opulent parties and endorsement appearances. “It's great for the game,” Wade said. “This is our showcase weekend, and especially having it out here in L.A., it really brings the All-Star kind of feeling to it. This is Hollywood, and they've done a great job of making it special.” Much of the NBA's spike in television ratings and overall fan interest in recent years is due to the teams stacked with stars in Boston, Miami and Los Angeles. For the All-Star game, Wade, James and Bosh will form an uneasy alliance with their rivals on the Celtics – Pierce, Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. With Atlanta also sending two All Stars, just six teams are represented on the East squad. “We'll be rivals once again when we walk out of here,” James said. “But for right now, we're trying to win for each other.” East coach Doc Rivers was already talking strategy on Friday, saying fans should look out for a lineup with James playing alongside four Celtics. James liked the idea, saying he could play power forward in that configuration. The West team will be led by Bryant, a 13-time All-Star player who will become the first athlete to put his hands and feet in the cement outside Hollywood's famous Grauman's Chinese Theater Saturday. “It seems like it was yesterday that I was at the (Madison Square) Garden for my first one,” Bryant said. “It's pretty surreal. It's always fun playing an All-Star game, but to host it makes it a little bit more exciting.” Bryant is still the basketball king of Los Angeles, but his likely heir works just down the hallway at Staples Center – Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers. Griffin is the first player since Yao Ming in 2003 to be named an All Star in his first year playing in the league. But the high-energy forward also participated in Friday night's less prestigious rookie-sophomore game, in which the league's best first-year players take on a team of top second-year players. The rookies won the game 148-140, getting 33 points and 14 rebounds from Sacramento's DeMarcus Cousins, 22 assists from Washington's John Wall and 14 points from Griffin. Griffin also plans to take part in Saturday's dunk contest. “You know, why not?” he said. “You don't know how often you're going to get this opportunity, so I think I should make the most of it.”
