Two Timberwolves are among the top five All-Star vote-getters at their position in the Western Conference.
With the first returns tallied in the 2012 NBA All-Star Balloting program, Rick Rubio is third among Western Conference guards with 133,520 votes. Kevin Love, with 143,814 votes, is fifth among forwards in the conference.
Rubio, who is the only Western Conference rookie to appear in the top 10 vote-getters at any position, is averaging 10.2 points and 7.9 assists in the Timberwolves' first 10 games, and he has more assists than any other rookie. Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul were the only guards to receive more votes than Rubio.
Love, who's had a double-double in each of his 10 games this season, is averaging 23.6 points per game. That's more points than three of the four forwards who've received more votes than he has—among that group of Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol, only Durant averages more.
Voting for this year's NBA All-Star game concludes January 31.
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