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The 2015 NBA All-Star game Sunday in New York City brings with it some of the best visual delights the game can offer with the defending league MVPs in LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the special shooting and panache of Stephen Curry and James Harden and the veteran savvy of Tim Duncan and Chris Paul.

But there are only two …

Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers’ leading scorer at more than 22 per game, had just gone out for the season with shoulder surgery. Second leading scorer Nick Young was out injured. The Lakers were starting some guys the Bulls had heard of, but not many along with Jordan Clarkson, Ryan Kelly and Wayne Ellington. The Lakers had lost nine …

The new Jimmy Butler was introduced Thursday to start against the Lakers.

You know, All-Star Jimmy Butler.

“It’s an honor,” Butler told reporters before the game in his first comments about being named a first time All-Star. “I think everybody would love to make the All-Star team in their career. I feel like I’ve come a long way since I …

Bulls center Pau Gasol Thursday was voted to start the NBA All-Star game, the first All-Star start and fifth All-Star appearance for Gasol. He will join his brother as the first brothers in NBA history to start against one another in an NBA All-Star game.

And Pau was one very happy man after the Bulls Thursday defeated the San Antonio …

It was the first game for Pau Gasol after he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008. Gasol took a pass, spun and put the ball in smoothly. Kobe Bryant lit up. As he ran back on defense, he yelled to coach Phil Jackson, “We’ve got a big man.”

And so do the Bulls, who got one of …

Pau Gasol seems almost certain to earn his first All-Star game start, according to the latest fan voting returns released Thursday.

Gasol remains second among Eastern Conference front court players behind only votes leader LeBron James. Carmelo Anthony is third followed by Chris Bosh and Kevin Love. The top three players will be starters. Gasol has almost a 200,000-vote margin …

Jimmy Butler moved ahead of Derrick Rose in the latest All-Star game fan balloting, though it seems unlikely either will be voted to start the game.

Bulls center Pau Gasol, however, appears likely to be named a starter as he moved up from third to second among Eastern Conference front court players in the second returns released Thursday.

Fans voting …

Could it be? Who knows? Something’s coming, something good? You’re not sure what it is, but it could be great. Yes, there could be a heck of a West Side story developing in the United Center.

“The good thing I feel when you look at the Chicago Bulls, there’s a green arrow,” Joakim Noah was saying after the Bulls delivered …

It’s never a scientific process to identify the point where a great athlete’s career changes, sort of the beginning of the end.

Sometimes it’s an injury, or just the natural aging process. It can be both. Maybe it will be for Kobe Bryant, who is playing in his 19th season after returning from major injuries and having played just six …

Your 2015 NBA All-Star starters.

For the Eastern Conference, John Wall and Dwyane Wade at guard; LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Pau Gasol in the front court.

That’s the result of the first vote released Christmas Day morning.

For the Bulls, Derrick Rose was fifth among the Eastern Conference guards and Jimmy Butler sixth.

What that means is that it’s …