Arenas surges into All-Star starting slot

NEW YORK -- Gilbert Arenas pulled out another late victory.

The Washington star surged past Vince Carter in the final days of All-Star voting to claim the second Eastern Conference guard spot by 3,010 votes yesterday.

Cleveland's LeBron James, the MVP last year, led all players with more than 2.5 million votes for the Feb. 18 game in Las Vegas.

The first All-Star Game held outside an NBA city will maintain one traditional look: Shaquille O'Neal was chosen to his 14th straight All-Star Game, tying Jerry West and Karl Malone for the most consecutive selections.

Arenas was 214,460 votes behind Carter two weeks ago, but finished with 1,454,166 to Carter's 1,451,156.

"It is an unbelievable feeling," Arenas said. "Two years ago, I was voting myself in for the game. Now fans are voting me in, and I'm going to do what they are looking for. "

Arenas's rally was the latest January highlight for the guard who has forced his name into the MVP discussion with a series of clutch performances. He hit long 3-pointers to win games against Milwaukee and Utah, is second in the NBA with 29.7 points per game, and will become the first Washington player to start since Michael Jordan in 2003. Jordan wasn't voted in by fans but started in place of Carter, who gave up his spot in the lineup.

Arenas, O'Neal, and James will be joined in the East lineup by Dwyane Wade and another first-time starter, Toronto forward Chris Bosh.

Injured Houston center Yao Ming led all West players with more than 2.4 million votes.

Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan were voted in at forward, while Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady won the guard spots.