National Basketball Association

Nowitzki's All-Star assignment: Guarding LeBron

Published Feb. 13, 2010 12:11 a.m. ET

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For earning a starting nod in Sunday's NBA All-Star game, George Karl had a reward for Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki: the first crack at guarding LeBron James.

``I don't think it's really a good matchup for me out there with LeBron,'' Nowitzki said Friday of defending the reigning league MVP. ``But just being out there, being part of this game, it's exciting to go out there and represent the Mavericks.''

Defending James is the capper for what's been a hectic couple of weeks for the nine-time All-Star.

Nowitzki has been an ambassador for the city of Dallas as it hosts its first NBA All-Star game in 24 years. His image is even featured on a downtown skyscraper promoting the festivities.

``It's a little awkward when everything is centered around me,'' Nowitzki said Friday. ``I don't like being the center of attention.''

Nowitzki will have a little more focus on him after Karl, the Western Conference coach, picked him to replace injured Kobe Bryant as a starter.

San Antonio's Tim Duncan earned the final forward starting spot three weeks ago when he narrowly beat out Nowitzki in the fan vote.

``I love Dirk,'' Karl said. ``I think he's had a tremendous career. The circumstances of the game being here, getting him into the starting lineup was a no-brainer.''

Nowitzki said he's trying to make the most of having the All-Star game in his adopted hometown. A group of friends are flying in from Germany, and he will be playing alongside Dallas teammate Jason Kidd and one of his best friends, former Mavericks point guard Steve Nash.

``It's special to me,'' Nowitzki said. ``Everything still feels surreal. It's been an amazing ride the last 12 years. This kind of caps it off.''

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DALLAS HOMECOMING: Dallas native Chris Bosh said his return home was unusually quiet because of the record snowfall that hit the city Thursday.

As the city began to thaw from the 12 inches of snow that covered the ground, the Toronto Raptors forward said he began to get more ticket inquiries for Sunday's game.

``It's been kind of like a ghost town,'' Bosh said. ``It's starting to pick up. I'm starting to get more calls, more requests and more begging.''

Bosh led Lincoln High School, which is about five miles outside of downtown Dallas, to a state championship his senior season. He normally has a vocal group of friends and family in the stands when the Raptors visit the Mavericks once each season.

He admits this All-Star experience has a special meaning.

``I never thought the All-Star game would be coming to Dallas, let alone be playing in it here,'' Bosh said. ``I just want to have as much fun as possible and not take the situation for granted.''

Another All-Star with area ties is Utah point guard Deron Williams. He played in high school at The Colony, a suburb about 30 miles north of Dallas.

Williams said he got a suite at Cowboys Stadium for family and friends.

``Being home in front of my family is great,'' Williams said. ``If the game was somewhere else, I don't know if I could get all of my family flown out to the game and stuff.''

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DUNCAN NOT READY TO QUIT?: Tim Duncan joked that the San Antonio Spurs are going to ``tell him to go home'' when his contract runs out after the 2011-12 season.

However, Duncan said he would consider playing beyond 2012 if he could compete at a high level.

``I'd love to play as long as I can,'' said Duncan, averaging 19.4 points and 10.7 rebounds in his 13th season. ``I want to be effective on the court. I don't want to be on the court just to be on the court. I'm a competitor. If I can do it the way I want to keep doing it, then yeah, I'll keep doing it.''

Duncan is not focused on retirement just yet. Right now, he wants to help the Spurs get out of their midseason doldrums. San Antonio has lost eight of its past 14 games and is tied for fifth with Oklahoma City and Phoenix in the West.

``We've played awful this first half of the season,'' Duncan said. ``This is going to be a great race to the finish line.'' ---

CARMELO'S CONTRIBUTIONS: Carmelo Anthony's image off the court has improved just as much as his team has on it.

Before he starts for the West All-Stars on Sunday night, Anthony will host a brunch for his Carmelo Anthony Foundation, which provides opportunities for children in his home communities. He said the purpose of the event is to let ``everyone recognize what I'm doing and what I'm trying to do. What better way to kick it off than Dallas?''

A temperamental rookie whose behavior was widely criticized when he played for the U.S. Olympic team in 2004, Anthony has gone on to earn recognition for his many charity works in his hometown of Baltimore and elsewhere.

He committed $3 million to the building of a basketball practice facility at Syracuse, where he won a national title in 2003, and in 2006 was ranked No. 8 in a list of charitable donations by celebrities after contributing nearly $4.3 million.

While Anthony said he doesn't need public recognition for that - ``Good things show for themselves, I don't have to go out there and say, 'Look here, I'm doing this,'' he said - he believes his Nuggets deserve proper attention.

Though they reached the West finals last season, the Nuggets were widely picked to finish behind the Lakers and Spurs this season. Yet they go into the break with the second-best record in the conference even after their leading scorer was sidelined with a sprained ankle.

He admits he was bothered by talk that the Nuggets would take a step back this season.

``I knew, and we knew as a team, that we didn't take any steps back, and we actually took steps forward,'' Anthony said. ``So for people to start saying that we took steps back, that kind of bothered me a little bit because I knew the progress that the team had made. We just went out there and right now we're just proving it.''

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QUICK HITS: LeBron James is a Dallas Cowboys fan and attended the first regular-season game at the team's new stadium in Arlington. ``I think it's going to be an unbelievable thing,'' James said of playing in the stadium. ``(Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones definitely put together one of the biggest venues in sports today. So to be part of this historic moment, I'm humbled.'' ... New York Knicks forward David Lee was supposed to be at his best friend's wedding in Houston this weekend. But his plans quickly changed when he found out yesterday that he would be replacing Allen Iverson on the East roster. ``I had like 20 minutes to get ready,'' Lee said.