NBA 2009-2010 All-Star Weekend!

The date was February 10, 2010.

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz at home, securing their 52nd win of the season.

This allowed the Lakers to clinch a Western Conference playoff berth before the All-Star Game even began, with a 52-3 record—the best in the league and the best record through 55 games in NBA history.

Well...

Even in the brutal Western Conference, the Los Angeles Lakers were simply far too dominant.

Today was the deadline for All-Star voting.

The Eastern and Western Conference voting results were as follows:

[Eastern All-Stars]:

Head Coach: Stan Van Gundy.

[Starting Lineup]:

LeBron James (Eastern Conference vote leader, 2,549,639 votes)

Dwyane Wade (2,311,123 votes)

Tracy McGrady (1,511,681 votes)

Kevin Garnett (2,010,999 votes)

Dwight Howard (2,414,233 votes)

That was right.

After two years, McGrady had returned to the All-Star Game—and as a starter, no less.

Incidentally, he had squeezed out Joe Johnson for one of the guard spots.

Of course, McGrady's ability to make the All-Star Game after being reborn with the Boston Celtics had a great deal to do with the fact that he was currently in the East.

[Western All-Stars]:

Head Coach: George Karl.

The Denver Nuggets currently held the second-best record in the West. By rights, Phil Jackson should have been the coach after setting the NBA record with 39 straight wins, but... the fans were truly tired of seeing him. For the past three years, it had been the Zen Master every single time.

[Starting Lineup]:

Kobe Bryant (2,969,639 votes)

Steve Nash (1,222,222 votes)

Carmelo Anthony (2,131,000 votes)

Zhou Ze (All-Star vote leader, 3,111,007 votes)

Yao Ming (2,711,999 votes)

As the NBA's current number one player, Zhou Ze once again received more than three million All-Star votes this year, successfully retaining his position as the league's vote