Boston's Garnett tops voting for all-star game

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett topped the voting for the NBA all-star game line-ups announced on Thursday.

Garnett, who will be appearing in his 11th all-star game received over 2.3 million votes, pipping LeBron James of Cleveland who will be the other forward on the Eastern Conference starting team, to be coached by Boston's Doc Rivers.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant led the Western Conference voting with just over two million votes.

Bryant became the youngest all-star in NBA history in 1998 and he will team up with Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony, making his first career start in the showcase game.

Chinese center Yao Ming of Houston is the only non-American player named as a starter for the 57th edition of the game, which will be played at the New Orleans Arena on Feb 17.

Starting teams:

Eastern Conference - Kevin Garnett (Boston), LeBron James (Cleveland), Dwight Howard (Orlando), Jason Kidd (New Jersey, Dwyane Wade (Miami).

Western Conference - Carmelo Anthony (Denver), Tim Duncan (San Antonio), Yao Ming (Houston) Kobe Bryant (L.A. Lakers), Allen Iverson (Denver).

(Reporting by Simon Evans in Miami, editing by Alastair Himmer)