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The NBA announced its All-Star team on Thursday and the Thunder's Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were named to the Western team.
The Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks has been named the head coach for the Western Conference All-Star team in Orlando Feb. 26. The team that has the best record by Feb. 15 is named the coach, but coaches can not coach an All-Star game two years in a row. Brooks was named the head coach after theThunder defeated the Utah Jazz on Friday night. The closest competition for the head coaching job came from the Los Angeles Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs.
Brooks will get to coach two of his own players in Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. This is the first time that Brooks has been the head coach of an NBA All-Star team and his counterpart in the Eastern Conference is likely to be the Chicago Bulls head coachTom Thibodeau.
For more on the Oklahoma City Thunder, check out Welcome To Loud City.
According to CBS Sports, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook was named to the NBA All-Star Western Conference reserve team along with six other players.
@CBSSports
CBS SportsNBA Western Conference All-Star reserves announced: L. Aldridge, M. Gasol, K. Love, S. Nash, D. Nowitzki, T. Parker, and R. Westbrook.
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Thunder forward Kevin Durant is one of the starters for the Western Conference team so Westbrook, who has averaged 22.3 per game through the 2011-2012 season, will be two Thunder players on the All-Star team.
For more on Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder, check out Welcome To Loud City, and for more on the NBA All-Star reserve rosters, visit SB Nation's stream.
The NBA's All-Star weekend is set for the last weekend in February and the starters for both Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams have been set. For the West, the starters are Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Andrew Bynum. The Oklahoma City Thunder already has one player in the All-Star game, Kevin Durant, but there's a chance they could have two.
The NBA is announcing their All-Star reserve players tonight on TNT at 7 p.m. (ET) and one of the players that could be named is Thunder guard Russell Westbrook.
ESPN's Marc Stein believes that Westbrook will be named to the All-Star reserve roster.
The unflattering reviews of Westbrook's quarterback play from early in the season are gradually starting to fade. Like a lot of us, I'd still prefer to see Kevin Durant playing alongside a more pass-minded point guard, but Westbrook is inching away from his defiant approach and is back to being OKC's best player some nights. Which means his second straight selection to the West All-Stars is just a formality.
SB Nation's Tom Ziller also believes that Westbrook will be named to the team.
GUARD NO. 1: Russell Westbrook. The fourth-year guard had a slow start, but he's been a beast of late and is playing as well as he did in his All-Star 2011 campaign. This isn't about rewarding the Thunder; it's about rewarding one of the league's very best guards, a guy who would be a legitimate starting option had Chris Paul been traded East.
Westbrook is averaging 22.3 points per game this season, the most he has throughout his four-year career.
For more on the Thunder, visit Welcome To Loud City, and for more on the All-Star rosters, visit SB Nation's story stream.
Kevin Durant To Replace Joe Johnson In Three-Point Shootout
The withdrawal of Atlanta Hawks SG Joe Johnson from All-Star Weekend due to knee tendinitis has opened up a spot in the Three-Point Shootout to Kevin Durant:
It will be Durant's third consecutive appearance in the event, as he was part of the field that lost to Paul Pierce in 2010 and James Jones in 2011.
At 6'10 with a 7'5 wingspan, the Oklahoma City star has one of the most effortless strokes in the NBA and he's currently shooting a preposterous 51.2% from the field to go with a 37% percentage from beyond the arc.
This year, he'll be competing against Jones, Mario Chalmers, Kevin Love, Ryan Anderson and Anthony Morrow.
For the latest news and notes on the Thunder, head over to Welcome To Loud City.
Feb 23 1:50p by Jonathan Tjarks