San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich gets to coach three first-timers -- Blake Griffin of the Clippers, Kevin Love from Minnesota and OKC's Russell Westbrook. Love and Westbrook played their brief collegiate just down the road from Staples Center at UCLA.
(For Joe McDonnell's take on Blake Griffin's inclusion in the All-Star festivities, CLICK HERE.)
The East, however, is quite the opposite.
Boston's Doc Rivers has four of his Celtics on the team -- Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. They've played in a combined 35 ASGs. He also has The Big Three from Miami -- LeBron, Wade and Bosh, veterans of 20 All-Star appearances. With the exception of starter Derrick Rose of the Bulls, Atlanta's Al Horford and Rondo (all with two), no one on the East roster has less than five ASGs under their belts.
But experience may be negated by the fact that Griffin is virtually unstoppable, and Westbrook is a blur going up the court, which will help a Western Conference fast break that was outscored 56-24 in last year's game.
And they also have the greatest closer in the game ready to fire away at the East down the stretch.
"You know I like having the ball with the game on the line," said Kobe, who was earlier surrounded by a media contingent 7-8 deep and a total of well over 100 in a hotel ballroom. "But with all the great players on this team hopefully we can win this before the last seconds or minutes of the game.
"This weekend is sorta becoming like (the Super Bowl) in terms of public reaction. It's grown into that, I think.
"Putting on the best possible show for our fans is important. But we're here to win. No doubt."
CLICK HERE for more All-Star coverage from FOXSportsWest.com
