Utah Jazz: Millsap a surprise on All-Star ballot

BOSTON — For the first time in his career, Jazz backup power forward Paul Millsap is listed on the NBA's All-Star Game ballot.

For the first time since his 2001-02 rookie season, Jazz starting small forward Andrei Kirilenko — an All-Star in 2004 — is not.

Millsap is joined by three teammates — two-time All-Star Carlos Boozer at forward, one-time All-Star Mehmet Okur at center and first-time hopeful Deron Williams at guard — on the ballot revealed by the league Tuesday.

Omitted, though, is Kirilenko, who at $16,451,250 is tied with Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers as the NBA's 11th highest-paid player this season.

The forward from Russia, however, ironically played one of his best games in quite some time Monday night.

Kirilenko scored 23 points in a 95-93 victory at New York, matching Boozer for game-high honors while also hitting 5-for-8 from 3-point range, pulling down six rebounds and dishing six assists while logging a team-high 41 minutes.

Millsap, meanwhile, has struggled at the start this season.

Recipient of a new four-year, $32 million contract this past summer, he had only four points and shot just 1-for-5 from the field in New York.

That dropped Millsap's season scoring average to 8.3, well down from his 13.5 average last season, though he did have 23 while almost singlehandedly lifting the Jazz to an Oct. 30 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

The four Jazz players are among 120 — 60 from the Western Conference, 60 from the Eastern Conference — chosen from a media panel that included Knicks announcer and ESPN's/ABC's Mike Breen, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News, Pro Basketball Writers Association president Doug Smith of The Toronto Star, Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports, ESPN.com's Marc Stein and Sports Illustrated's Ian Thomsen.

Fans will select starters for the game, and NBA head coaches will pick the All-Star reserves after starters are announced Jan. 21 on TNT.

The 59th annual All-Star will take place Feb. 14 at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, where the league expects a crowd of 80,000 to watch live and set a new all-time basketball attendance record.

Fans can vote in more ways than ever this year, including at NBA arenas, on NBA.com and the Jazz's team Web site, and even via text messaging.

To vote by phone, a player's last name can be texted to 6-9-6-2-2 (MYNBA), via Web2Go on T-Mobile phones or wap.nba.com for all wireless carriers. (One SMS vote per phone number is allowed per day.) Balloting widgets are also available at NBA.com for personal Web sites, blogs and social network pages.

Traditional paper balloting will be ongoing at arenas throughout the league through Jan. 10, and wireless balloting will end Jan. 18.